After Elon Musk publicly claims he had ‘never even been to any Epstein parties’, photo shows him with Zuckerberg at ‘wild’ event
Epstein later boasted about the gathering in private emails, referring to the dinner as 'wild'
A photograph included in a newly released batch of Jeffrey Epstein-related files has sparked controversy, appearing to show Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk attending a lavish dinner party with the convicted sex offender in California in 2015.
The image, reportedly taken by Epstein himself, shows Musk and Zuckerberg seated across a long dining table. Musk is seen looking toward the camera, while Zuckerberg appears serious, staring straight ahead. Epstein emailed the photograph to himself on August 3, 2015—years after his 2008 conviction for trafficking minors for prostitution.
Epstein later boasted about the gathering in private emails, referring to the dinner as “wild”.
According to the correspondence, the event was attended by several prominent tech figures, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.
The dinner party is first mentioned in an August 2, 2015, email from Epstein to longevity influencer and CBS News contributor Peter Attia. “Where are you? I might be in LA Monday… tonite dinner with Musk, Thiel, Zuckerburg,” Epstein wrote. Attia’s name has also surfaced in the latest tranche of documents released by the US Department of Justice.
Epstein again referenced the dinner in an August 20, 2015, email to billionaire Tom Pritzker, cousin of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. In that message, Epstein wrote: “I had dinner with uckerburg, mu=k, thiel hoffman, wild.”
The gathering was first reported by Vanity Fair in 2019, which said the event was hosted by Reid Hoffman at his Palo Alto residence for MIT neuroscientist Ed Boyden.
The renewed attention comes weeks after Musk publicly claimed he had “never been to any Epstein parties ever.”
On January 31, Musk tweeted that the “acid test for justice” was not merely the release of Epstein-related files but the prosecution of “those who committed heinous crimes with Epstein.”
Reid Hoffman has acknowledged meeting Epstein in the past but has denied any involvement in his criminal activities. He has said the interactions were limited to fundraising efforts for MIT and were coordinated by Joi Ito, the former director of the MIT Media Lab. Hoffman has since expressed regret over those meetings.
“I only knew Jeffrey Epstein because of a fundraising relationship with MIT, which I very much regret,” Hoffman wrote last week. “The victims of Epstein’s abhorrent and vile actions deserve all the information they are seeking.”
Tensions escalated further last week when Musk and Hoffman engaged in a public exchange on X (formerly Twitter) over their mentions in the Epstein files. An email from 2013 reportedly shows Epstein thanking Musk for a tour of SpaceX. Musk responded to the revelation by saying, “I see,” though he had previously denied meeting Epstein in 2020.
The resurfacing of these documents has renewed scrutiny of Epstein’s extensive social network and raised fresh questions about the nature of his relationships with some of the world’s most powerful business leaders.
