LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman joked about ice cream ‘for the girls’ in gift to Jeffrey Epstein after staying at his island: report
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman stayed at Jeffrey Epstein’s private island and at his Upper East Side townhouse, sent the dead pedophile ice cream “either for yourself or for ‘the girls,’” and once hosted him at a dinner with Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, emails and documents show.
According to the trove of files recently released by the Department of Justice, Hoffman kept in contact with Epstein for years following the financier’s 2008 conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution — a relationship now drawing scrutiny as the billionaire venture capitalist has emerged as a major donor to the Democratic Party.
In one 2014 email introducing Epstein to a foreign diplomat, Hoffman, who had previously downplayed his ties to the disgraced financier, praised his judgment, according to the documents, which were earlier reported on by Bloomberg News.
“Jeffrey has exquisite taste in people (myself excepted),” Hoffman wrote.
The recipient of the email, Hardeep Singh Puri, who served as India’s ambassador to the United Nations and is currently that country’s oil minister, is facing calls to step down in light of the Epstein revelations. Puri, who has denied any wrongdoing, was not immediately available for comment.
Hoffman and MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito, who is said to have introduced the tech mogul to Epstein, boarded a private flight to Epstein’s island in the US Virgin Islands in November 2014, according to emails reviewed by Bloomberg News.
Days later, Epstein paid for Hoffman to fly to New York, where he spent the night at Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse before attending a breakfast the financier organized with Bill Gates and other high-profile guests.
On Christmas Eve, Hoffman told Epstein he had sent two gifts — a surfer statue for the island and ice cream “either for yourself or for ‘the girls,’” according to the report.
Gates, who met several times with Epstein after his 2008 guilty plea, recently admitted to having affairs with two Russian women while married to then-wife Melinda French Gates, though the software mogul denied doing anything “illicit.”
After a meeting involving Hoffman, Epstein and Gates, Epstein even ordered matching sweatshirts embroidered with the men’s initials and an American flag on the sleeve, Bloomberg reported.
In an early exchange arranging the introduction, Epstein asked Ito whether Hoffman had followed up “on the jail” — a reference to his conviction.
“I talked to him about it and he got it,” Ito replied in an email reviewed by Bloomberg. “He doesn’t judge people.”
Epstein cultivated ties across Silicon Valley during the years after his 2008 conviction, forging relationships with a number of prominent tech executives and investors.
Hoffman at one point hosted Epstein at a dinner attended by Zuckerberg, Musk and Thiel, according to the Bloomberg report.
Epstein later boasted about the gathering in an August 2015 email, describing a dinner with Zuckerberg, Musk, Thiel and Hoffman as “wild.”
“[Meta CEO] Mark [Zuckerberg] met Epstein in passing one time at a dinner honoring scientists that was not organized by Epstein,” a Meta spokesperson told The Post.
“Mark did not communicate with Epstein again following the dinner.”
After new allegations against Epstein surfaced in 2015, Hoffman even offered to help the financier manage the fallout.
“Been giving a bit of thought to how I can help with recent press,” Hoffman wrote in an email reviewed by Bloomberg News, adding he was “mostly looking for help on the on-line front.”
Epstein replied that there was “nothing to do during a storm, but hunker down, and wait until it blows over.”
Emails reviewed by Bloomberg also show Epstein advising Hoffman on a range of personal and business matters — including the venture capitalist’s interest in purchasing a private plane.
Epstein also helped arrange introductions for Hoffman with powerful figures overseas, including the British royal formerly known as Prince Andrew.
According to the emails, Epstein coached Hoffman ahead of a London lunch with the royal.
British police last month arrested the former Prince Andrew — now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after being stripped of his royal titles by King Charles III — on suspicion of misconduct in public office tied to his past links with Epstein.
The duke, who spent about 11 hours in custody before being released under investigation, has denied any wrongdoing through his lawyers and has not been charged.
The Post has sought comment from Hoffman, Musk, Thiel, Ito and Gates.
