The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is to investigate Joichi Ito, the director of the school's Media Lab, after it was revealed he accepted donations from American businessman and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The New York Times reported news of the "fact-finding" mission yesterday, after obtaining an email sent by the university's president L Rafael Reif to the MIT community.
Reif declared that the MIT's Media Lab, the school's research laboratory, had "received roughly $800,000 in donations from Epstein funds over a 20-year period".
Funds were accepted by Ito and the school's physicist Seth Lloyd, who had both met Epstein in person.
According to the New York Times Reif admitted that the school had made a "mistake in judgment", adding "with hindsight, we recognise with shame and distress that we allowed MIT to contribute to the elevation of his reputation, which in turn served to distract from his horrifying acts". School accepts funds from Esptein after his sex-trafficking convictions
The news of the school's deeper investigation comes a week after Ito issued a public apology regarding his ties to Epstein, which he continued after the American financier pleaded guilty to committing sex crimes in 2008.
"I met Epstein in 2013 at a conference through a trusted business friend and, in my fundraising efforts for MIT Media Lab, I invited him to the Lab and visited several of his residences," said Ito.

"I want you to...