The Finding
Mindshift was not only a conference. In the same weeks that Jeffrey Epstein was assembling it, he and its organiser were each rewriting their public records — and Epstein was coaching the work.
The conference was then pitched to the Templeton Foundation as a fundable project with "financial breakdowns, returns." Epstein was already corresponding with a Templeton executive about structuring an anonymous gift "which templeton could not then promote."
How to read this page
Attending a conference is not evidence of wrongdoing. No attendee is accused of anything here. The record indicates they were invited to a scientific meeting by its sponsor and had no visibility into what follows in Sections 03 and 04. This page documents the conduct of the sponsor and the organiser.
Text is drawn from a PII-redacted compilation of the DOJ release covering 94.1% of documents. Quotations should be checked against the linked original.
Section 01
What Was Advertised
The announcement Al Seckel posted publicly described a gathering "to push the frontiers of substantive topics," on St Thomas and at Little Saint James. Epstein is listed first among attendees, as "Entrepreneur, philanthropist, sponsor."
Artificial Intelligence
Complexity Theory
New Trends in Theoretical Physics
Evolutionary Biology
Cognitive Neuroscience
Minimally Invasive Surgery
Encryption and Decryption
New Financial Systems and Methods
Emerging Technologies
Seven of the nine are ordinary scientific fields. Two are not. "Encryption and Decryption" and "New Financial Systems and Methods" sit oddly beside evolutionary biology — and they are the subjects that connect to what Epstein pursued afterwards.
Section 02
Who Was Invited
Thirteen names were sent to Epstein’s account on 12 October 2010. The contract covered 32 attendees including spouses, so this is not the full room.
Murray Gell-Mann
Nobel Laureate in Physics; Santa Fe Institute. Died 2019.
Frances Arnold
Caltech. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018.
Gerald Sussman
MIT — artificial intelligence.
Christof Koch
Neuroscientist — consciousness research.
Leonard Mlodinow
Physicist and author.
Nathan Myhrvold
Intellectual Ventures. Listed as unconfirmed — "waiting, trying to coordinate his schedule."
Ron Reisman
NASA research scientist.
Pablos Holman
Technologist.
Brock Pierce
Digital-currency entrepreneur.
Dan Dubno
Technologist and broadcast producer.
Al Seckel
Science writer. Organiser. Died 2015.
A Nobel laureate, a future Nobel laureate, and senior figures from MIT, Caltech and NASA. That is what makes the sponsorship matter: in January 2011, a registered sex offender convened this room on his own island and was named as its host.
EFTA007526132010-11-05The announcement: "Jeffrey Epstein and Al Seckel have assembled a diverse and eclectic intimate group… on the Island of Saint Thomas and at Jeffrey Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James." Nine subjects listed. EFTA007782922010-10-12Contract via Darren Indyke: "Attendees 32 (Spouses) · Room Rate $599.00 · Initial Deposit $12,814.61 · Total for Rooms $45,114.88" EFTA024175742010-10-12Attendee list — thirteen names, sent to jeevacation@gmail.com EFTA007780782010-10-12"i need to see a list of people you know how i feel about spouses" EFTA019830582010-11-19"we need a real ageda . time hour by hour.. security requireds" EFTA019809212010-10-15Forwarded to Jes Staley: "this is the jan meeting if you and your daughter want to come ill send nov as well" Section 03
What Was Happening Simultaneously
On 5 November 2010 — the day the Mindshift announcement was posted — Seckel sent Epstein an account of edits he had made to his own public record.
"Also changed things like police found ‘nude photos’ to ‘found photos. Much more innocuous.’ After all, who cares if they found photos. A lot of the lawsuit stuff was removed. Added that cases were dismissed and all cases settled amicably. Removed stuff about threats, intimidation during lawsuits… Replaced Palm Beach links to links to the science and philanthrophy sites at the very top."
Epstein was directing the framing in the same thread: "it is the epstein foundation. next no instittions, third, only tell what is needed as opposed to what will be re[quested]."
Three days later he assessed his own results: "This weekend had the predicted results .. it is the google first page that had all the neg impact. Yahoo and google news are non-events… some old florida cases.. me suing the attorneys for the girls."
Two men were laundering their public records at the same time, in the same correspondence, while assembling a scientific conference under both their names.
Then it broke
On 26 November Seckel wrote:
"What have you done??? What are you trying to do to me???? As part of the settlement, I am only allowed to state that the case was settled… It’s all supposed to be sealed."
Epstein had already told him:
"the foundation people are going to pull up the lawsuit, and will forward all docs."
And: "you said you won the case, i transmitted what you said. you asked that i help fund your education proposal I did that."
Epstein had vouched for Seckel to a funder, on Seckel’s own account of a lawsuit — and the sealed settlement did not match. Four days later, Seckel sent the Templeton proposal anyway.
EFTA024178892010-11-05Seckel reports his edits: "changed things like police found ‘nude photos’ to ‘found photos. Much more innocuous.’ After all, who cares if they found photos. A lot of the lawsuit stuff was removed. Added that cases were dismissed and all cases settled amicably. Removed stuff about threats, intimidation during lawsuits. Replaced Palm Beach links to links to the science and philanthrophy sites at the very top." EFTA024178892010-11-05Epstein’s instructions, same thread: "first lets chi[ll]/mate jeffrey, it is the epstein foundation. next no instittions, third, only tell what is needed as opposed to what will be re[quested]" EFTA024452062010-11-08Epstein on his own results: "This weekend had the predicted results .. it is the google first page that had all the neg impact. Yahoo and google news are non-events. re your questions no new actions.. some old florida cases.. me suing the attorneys for the girls" EFTA007517042010-11-30"Full Executive Summary on Mindshift Proof of Concept Project": "This is the only document you should forward to the Templeton Foundation… with financial breakdowns, returns, etc… i need to generate some immediate income." EFTA007766802010-11-27Epstein: "your settlement docs say march 6… statment is march 5 — only one day before. the foundation people are going to pull up the lawsuit, and will forward all docs." EFTA007766862010-11-27Seckel: "What have you done??? What are you trying to do to me???? As part of the settlement, I am only allowed to state that the case was settled… It’s all supposed to be sealed." Epstein: "you said you won the case, i transmitted what you said. you asked that i help fund your education proposal I did that." Section 04
The Templeton Channel
The Templeton Foundation was not a cold prospect. Epstein had been in direct correspondence with a Templeton executive since at least 2009.
In May 2009 Barnaby Marsh wrote to Epstein about an $11 million Templeton grant to Martin Nowak’s Harvard programme: "if we could somehow raise $6M to add our $11M to that would be ideal… I’m going to put $6M of our grant in an external philanthropic vehicle (either a DAF or sim[ilar])… I’m going to be asking Templeton to approve an additional $2M supplement."
In June, Lawrence Krauss reported back: "met with Barnaby in NYC… We decided would be best to do anonymous gift, which templeton could not then promote.. he wants to start with $2M and then go to $10M if we perform. Would you be willing to match?" Epstein’s reply: "did i hear thank you."
The structure being discussed is explicit: keep the gift anonymous so the foundation cannot publicise it. Eighteen months later, Mindshift was packaged as a "Proof of Concept Project" with "financial breakdowns, returns" and routed to the same foundation — and a parallel "MINDSHIFT/ASU" track was under discussion with Krauss’s university.
EFTA018290092009-05-12Barnaby Marsh of Templeton to Epstein: "When we made the $11M grant… if we could somehow raise $6M to add our $11M to that would be ideal… I’m going to put $6M of our grant in an external philanthropic vehicle (either a DAF or sim[ilar])… I’m going to be asking Templeton to approve an additional $2M supplement." EFTA018294042009-06-18Krauss to Epstein: "met with Barnaby in NYC… We decided would be best to do anonymous gift, which templeton could not then promote.. he wants to start with $2M and then go to $10M if we perform. Would you be willing to match?" Epstein replies: "did i hear thank you" EFTA018054062010-11-19"MINDSHIFT/ASU" — a second event with Arizona State under discussion What is not established
Whether Templeton received the Mindshift proposal, responded, or funded anything — and whether the anonymous structure discussed in 2009 was ever executed. We hold the correspondence, not the outcome. Unresolved
Barnaby Marsh’s correspondence concerns grant structuring. Nothing here indicates he knew of or condoned anything else.
Section 05
What Survives, and What Does Not
Despite Epstein’s insistence on an hour-by-hour agenda, no agenda, paper, presentation or transcript from Mindshift has been located in the released corpus. Unlocated We hold the organisation of the meeting and the machinery around it — not what was said in it.
A second meeting is indicated and undocumented. Epstein’s note to Staley — "ill send nov as well" — points to a November gathering for which no attendee list, contract or announcement has been found. Unresolved
And one sequence is documented but unexplained. Mindshift listed "New Financial Systems and Methods." Brock Pierce, a digital-currency entrepreneur, attended in January 2011. In March a thread headed "Brock Pierce" ran between Epstein, Lesley Groff and Sarah Kellen. In June, Epstein was pursuing Bitcoin’s lead developer. That is sequence and shared attendance. It is not causation, and no document connects them.
Section 06
Chronology
May–Jul 2009
Barnaby Marsh of the Templeton Foundation corresponds directly with Epstein about an $11M grant to
Martin Nowak’s Harvard programme, moving $6M into an external vehicle, and raising matching funds.
EFTA01829009 · Primary source
Jun 18, 2009
Krauss reports meeting Marsh and proposes an
anonymous gift "which templeton could not then promote," asking Epstein to match.
EFTA01829404 · Primary source
Oct 12–15, 2010
Mindshift contracted through
Darren Indyke. Epstein demands the guest list, approves it, and forwards it to
Jes Staley.
EFTA00778292 · EFTA01980921 · Primary source
Nov 5, 2010
Seckel rewrites his public record; Epstein coaches the framing. Announcement posted the same day.
EFTA02417889 · EFTA00752613 · Primary source
Nov 8, 2010
Epstein assesses his own search results:
"the google first page that had all the neg impact."EFTA02445206 · Primary source
Nov 19, 2010
Epstein rejects Seckel’s loose format:
"we need a real ageda . time hour by hour.. security requireds."EFTA01983058 · Primary source
Nov 26–30, 2010
The settlement dispute erupts; days later Seckel sends the
Templeton proposal.
EFTA00776686 · EFTA00751704 · Primary source
Jan 7–12, 2011
Mindshift convenes on St Thomas and Little Saint James.
Documented
documentedreportedinvestigative questionno line = chronological coincidence only
Primary record
Every EFTA identifier on this page resolves to its original DOJ PDF.
The Mindshift correspondence runs to 76 documents; the Templeton thread to more than 200. Quotations should be checked against the linked original.
Open the corpus →