Epstein once attended an elite arts camp. Years later, he used it to find his victims

It's famous as an incubator for young artistic talent and boasts alumni such as Josh Groban, Norah Jones, Chappell Roan, Felicity Huffman and Da'Vine Joy Randolph. Epstein's association with Interlochen dates back to 1967, when as a 14-year-old bassoon player, he attended the school's summer camp. When he renewed his ties to the school in the 1990s, Interlochen viewed him as a loyal alumnus and major benefactor, administrators said. He lavished the school with donations and used his power and influence to gain access to spaces where the administrators felt young kids and artists were safe. "In hindsight, mistakes may have been made, but it was just out of naivete," Russ McMahon, a former administrator, said of the ability Epstein had to access the campus. From 1994 to 2003, McMahon was the director of annual giving and later the director of major gifts at Interlochen. She says they began a relationship that started with grooming and led to sexual abuse. NPR does not name victims of sexual abuse. Law Powerful people, random redactions: 4 things to know about the latest Epstein files A few summers later, Epstein and Maxwell met a 14-year-old student who said her first contact with them at the school was the start of a manipulative and controlling relationship that lasted years. Former administrators at Interlochen told NPR that at the time of these encounters, the campus — which includes the summer camp and a year-round boarding school — was very open, with students, faculty, visiting artists and concertgoers all mingling in the common areas. Interlochen says it has long maintained a policy that prohibits unsupervised contact between donors and students, but because of that open atmosphere, former administrators said that enforcing that rule was difficult or impossible. However, since Epstein's crimes have become public, Trey Devey, the current president of Interlochen, said no student is allowed to be unsupervised with any outside adult and the campus has significantly increased security. Epstein visited the school for brief stays over several summers between 1994 and 2000, according to testimony from Epstein's personal pilot found in DOJ documents. In recent years, the two women who said he preyed on them related similar stories — one in court records and the other in an interview with NPR — about their initial on-campus contact with Epstein and Maxwell, saying the pair walked a small dog that they used to help break the ice. After getting to know the young artists, Epstein would then dangle the prospect of financial support for their education, according to the women's stories. The woman who met Epstein and Maxwell in the late '90s and spoke to NPR recently said Epstein went on to pay her tuition for Interlochen's year-round boarding school and offered to also finance her attendance at a top-tier conservatory after graduation. "Every kindness, every conversation, every moment you thought someone believed in you was calculated," she said. AP/New York State Sex Offender Registry hide caption Interlochen says Epstein's last donation to the school came in 2003. He died in prison about a month later. Maxwell was also convicted on sex-trafficking charges in 2021 and is serving a 20-year sentence. The woman said she spent time alone with Epstein and Maxwell at Epstein's lodge on campus. As an adult, she said that she now views their actions as the beginning of "grooming behavior," designed to make her feel comfortable, and that they had taken a special interest in her and her aspirations. The woman said she never reported the relationship to Interlochen officials. Law Jeffrey Epstein files: Tracing the legal cases that led to sex-trafficking charges Years after those meetings on campus, she said the relationship began to fray when she started saying no to some of Epstein and Maxwell's requests. When she refused, she was cut off emotionally and financially, with Epstein reneging on a promise to continue funding her education. If you said 'no' to them, there was fallout," the woman told NPR, describing the end of the relationship. She said she believes they felt "no remorse" for betraying the trust of children. Jon Elswick/AP hide caption The woman who testified as "Jane Doe" during Maxwell's 2021 criminal trial said she was approached by Maxwell in 1994 while sitting on a bench in the main campus area eating ice cream with classmates. Maxwell was walking a "cute little Yorkie" that the girls asked to pet, she said. After the other students returned to class, the girl stayed behind with Maxwell, who was then joined by Epstein, according to the woman's testimony. The pair asked for a phone number, contacted her mother and arranged a meeting with the mother and daughter at Epstein's Palm Beach, Fla., home, the woman said in her testimony. In a 2020 interview with the FBI, the mother recalled phoning Interlochen to inquire about Epstein. It is not specified when the call took place. Consider This from NPR The DOJ released the final Epstein files. Where do the survivors go from here? In December of last year, Interlochen said in a statement that the school conducted two internal reviews, one in 2008 and another in 2019, and found no report or complaint involving Epstein. According to "Jane Doe's" testimony, her relationship with Epstein and Maxwell would go on to span years of grooming and sexual abuse that lasted until 2002. Ambrose's time at the school coincided with a series of large donations from Epstein that eventually totaled more than $400,000 over a 13-year period. Through his gifts and with the help of Maxwell, Epstein built trust with academy officials such as Ambrose, whose job it was to work with donors and who was the point person for the pair. "In the time that I was there ... there was nothing that made us aware of Mr. Epstein's reputation," Ambrose said, adding that while he had spoken to Maxwell on the phone, he only briefly met Epstein, who at the time "could have walked on campus and people wouldn't have even known" him. Interview highlights What one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims wants from the Trump administration Ambrose told NPR that in November 1993, he began discussions with Epstein on funding a ski-lodge-style fourplex that Interlochen could rent out. But Epstein changed his mind, saying he wanted a simpler rental cabin, the proceeds from which were to fund a newly created scholarship in Epstein's name, according to Ambrose. In a February 1994 letter, Ambrose thanked Epstein for the $200,000 donation for the lodge and noted that Epstein could use it for up to two weeks each year and still legally get a full tax deduction for it. "Naturally, we would like you to visit the new lodge this summer," he wrote, noting the upcoming Perlman concert in August. Ambrose described Epstein as mysterious and aloof. Maxwell would ask for the lodge to be stocked with a few items, such as orange juice and organic bread, and Ambrose would "pick [up the items] and usually some flowers for the place. And I'd leave them" in the lodge, he said. Ambrose said Epstein and Maxwell tended to arrive at the start of a weekend and "would self-check in and self-check out" from the lodge. Typically, he wouldn't see them at all. When he tried to meet face-to-face with Epstein, he said, he was often rebuffed. "They just want[ed] to be left alone. If you would like to [meet] the students, we will help arrange a meeting on campus as well." That was common practice at the time, because it made big donors "feel good about making a charitable contribution of the size that they did," Ambrose told NPR. "Obviously, you'd want to introduce that young student to a donor," he said. Even so, Ambrose said: "I don't know that I ever arranged, or did anybody ever arrange, a meeting between someone who received a scholarship from the fund and Mr. Epstein." Around the same time, Epstein was admitted into Interlochen's President's Club for high-level donors. Members were to "assist Interlochen by attending concerts, events and special meetings, identifying prospective students and providing counsel to the president on issues and policies of the institution," according to an email to Epstein from another school administrator. Devey, the current Interlochen president, said campus security today is much tighter than it has ever been. Unlike in the 1990s, for example, the campus now has front gates, 24/7 safety patrols and surveillance cameras. Since the start of Devey's tenure in 2017, four external safety audits have been done on the campus, he said. Interlochen also has an anonymous reporting form, and concerns submitted through the form are shared with senior administrators. "A lot has changed over the years, not just with us, but with any educational institution," Devey told NPR. Devey said that what occurred with Epstein is "heartbreaking" and "horrific" and belies Interlochen's core mission, where "there's really great work happening with young people that's changing their lives for the better." "It's a shame that there are people like Jeffrey Epstein that are manipulating systems and [that he] did it on such a pervasive basis and at so many institutions. "It's still this magical place where amazing things happen. There are lots of people in this world. There are not that many Jeffreys and Ghislaines." Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor