Convicted child sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein maintained a correspondence in 2016 with then-Cornell undergraduate David Karp ’16, son of Brad Karp, the chairman of powerful law firm Paul Weiss, according to emails released by the Department of Justice on Friday.
In the emails, Epstein connected Karp, an aspiring filmmaker, to meet with Woody Allen, the controversial actor-director, through Karp’s father, Brad Karp.
Throughout the exchanges, there seems to be no evidence that David Karp engaged in anything illegal with Epstein, or that he traveled to Epstein’s private island, Little St. James, though Epstein had already been convicted in 2008 for child prostitution.
At Cornell, David won the “MyCornell” sesquicentennial video contest and his photography was featured on Cornell’s Facebook account.
Brad Karp also communicated with Epstein through his representation of Apollo chairman Leon Black, writing in 2015 to Epstein that he “can’t thank you enough for including me in an evening I’ll never forget,” and that it was “‘once in a lifetime’ in every way, though I hope to be invited again.”
Though Brad emailed Epstein in June 2016 asking for David to work on Woody Allen’s new movie, Wonder Wheel, David was already connected with Epstein as early as January 2016, and attended another Allen screening in May 2014. It is not clear from the released emails when David got in contact with Epstein.
On Jan. 3, 2016, David emailed Epstein 20 questions for Woody Allen, who he was to have dinner with on Jan. 7. Epstein emailed back asking David to “give me your top ten tonite if possible.”
In a March 2016 email, Lesley Groff — Epstein’s longtime assistant and planner — wrote to Epstein to say that “Jeffrey will screen Woody Allen's new movie today at 3pm...he is asking if David (Karp) could join him for this...please let me know!”
Thirty minutes later, David emailed back to say, “So excited for the screening! My girlfriend is out of town, but I will be there. Thank you so much!”
Later that year, in June, Brad emailed Epstein asking for David to work on Woody Allen’s new movie, Wonder Wheel, writing “Can I raise a personal issue with you concerning my son David? … He would love to work, in any capacity, with Woody on his upcoming film project, if that's a possibility. He certainly doesn't need to be paid and he's a really good, talented kid.”
Epstein listened, texting Allen in August, “Re David he's 22 and worked on Scorsese production of Vinyl,” and writing 10 minutes later, “He will do anything and does not need to get paid.” Finally, Allen texted Epstein the number of his assistant, Helen Robin.
David met with Robin on Aug. 22, emailing Epstein immediately after, “she's going to put me in contact with the assistant directors so I can function as an additional production assistant on days with big shoots.”
“Thank you again for setting this up, it means a lot to me that you've taken such an interest in helping my film career,” he wrote.
Epstein and David remained connected through 2018, when Epstein asked Brad, “does your son have time to screen woodys new movie with me today at 2 pm. ?” According to email exchanges, David attended the viewing of A Rainy Day in New York, and after 2018, there are no further correspondences or mention of David in the files released by the Justice Department.
David Karp co-founded Thrice Cooked Media, a music and film production company, in 2018 and now works as a creative director at the company.
Atticus Johnson is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a senior writer for the News department and can be reached at ajohnson@cornellsun.com.
