Epstein's Associates were on the Navajo Nation

Epstein's Associates were on the Navajo Nation

(Above) These two men were both on the Navajo Nation, and both have resigned after their connections with Epstein were exposed. Miroslav Lajčák, Slovakian, was President of the U.N. General Assembly when he was in Monument Valley and told Epstein of his travel plans there. His emails with Epstein are lewd discussions about available women. Joi Ito, Japanese American, told Epstein that he was on the Navajo Nation. Joi was director of MIT Media Lab and funded by Epstein. MIT carried out a health screening of preschoolers on the western Navajo Nation after Joi was there, according to Censored News research.

Newly released Epstein Files Reveal Epstein Associates on the Navajo Nation, and E-mails of Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson

By Brenda Norrell, (c) Censored News, Feb. 20, 2026 Updated March 6, 2026

Update: The U.S. removed 2,000 of Joi Ito's emails, which now number 8,000.

The newly released Epstein files reveal that Jeffrey Epstein's associates were on the Navajo Nation and that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson kept Epstein informed of his dealings with Navajo President Ben Shelly.

The Epstein files reveal two of Epstein's associates were on the Navajo Nation and told Epstein of their plans after he was convicted of sex crimes in 2008. The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Slovakian, shared his travel plans with Epstein to go to Monument Valley on the Navajo Nation.

Another of Epstein's associates, Joi Ito, headed up the tech media of MIT and told Epstein he was on the Navajo Nation.

The year after Joi was on the Navajo Nation, MIT carried out screening of preschool children on the western portion of the Navajo Nation in Shonto, Tuba City and Monument Valley, a disturbing fact coming after the release of the Epstein Files.

Further, an unverified email claims that a Navajo held the key to all of Epstein's vaults. Those vaults contained the photos and videos of the sexual abuse of children were reportedly used to blackmail the leaders of the world as a method of control.

Following the release of more than 2 million of Epstein Files, Censored News is now researching these files for ties to the Navajo Nation and Indian country.

New Mexico Gov. Richardson and Navajo President Shelly

Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson sent Epstein updates on his dealings with the Navajo Nation. The news articles forwarded to Epstein included news of Navajo President Ben Shelly and an agreement regarding wild horses.

(Below) : In the Epstein Files -- Gov. Richardson's assistant sent news articles about brokering a deal with Navajo President Ben Shelley and a link about protecting wild horses.

The deal brokered by Richardson with Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly was an agreement for the protection of wild horses on the Navajo Nation. In 2013, Navajo President Shelly said there was an overpopulation of feral horses and the horses were causing damage to grazing lands. There was a plan to round up wild horses and send them to slaughter.

Richardson, who was co-founder of the Foundation to Protect New Mexico Wildlife, along with actor Robert Redford, negotiated directly with Shelly.

In regards to Navajo President Shelly, the Washington Post article that Gov. Richardson shared with Epstein is Richardson's op-ed article titled -- "I've made deals with dictators, here's my advice to Congress."

Richardson's lunches, home visits, trips and e-mails with Epstein span eleven years, 2007 to 2018, as revealed in the newly released Epstein Files.

Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein's emails on Jan. 2, 2007, show them making travel plans for Gov. Richardson to travel to the Sudan. Gov. Richardson's office asked Ghislaine about paying for a trip to the Sudan while Richardson was Governor.

Gov. Richardson's office asked:

"Ghislaine – Half the price of a charter plane to Khartoum would be around $183,000. Is this possible? Thanks --Janis
Janis L. Hartley
Office of Governor Bill Richardson

Epstein responded, "Have him call me today."

During those years, Gov. Richardson presented himself as a friend to the Navajo Nation and Indian country. The Epstein Files reveal he was a long time associate of Epstein, corresponding with Epstein for years. At the same time, Richardson was deeply involved in energy negotiations in Indian country, both as New Mexico governor, and as U.S. Energy Secretary.

Gov. Richardson was accused of sexual abuse by one of the underage girls who was trafficked by Epstein. She also revealed that she was trafficked to Prince Andrew, who no longer holds the title following the release of the files. Richardson's name appears on Epstein's flight logs for years.

(Below) From the Epstein Files -- New Mexico Governor Richardson's office setting time for Richardson to chat with Epstein on Dec. 17, 2012.

Epstein's Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, 30 miles southeast of Santa Fe, was never searched. One of the e-mail states that two foreign girls were abused and buried there.

(Below) An e-mail to Epstein shows Gov. Richardson's arrival at Epstein's private island, Little St. James, in the U.S. Virgin Islands on Nov. 27, 2010. Richardson had ongoing contacts with Epstein after he was convicted of sex crimes in 2008, including meetings at Epstein's New York townhouse and Zorro Ranch in New Mexico. 

Epstein Associate from MIT on the Navajo Nation

Joi Ito (Joichi Ito), Japanese-American, and former director of the MIT Media Lab, wrote to Epstein that he was on the Navajo Nation in 2015. Joi and MIT were funded by Epstein after his conviction for sex offenses, and MIT connected Epstein with Bitcoin. Joi was also involved in Epstein and non-profit funders at Arizona State University, which involved genetics.

Joi was on the Navajo Nation and wrote Epstein on May 21, 2015:

"And don't ask me what I'm doing in Navajo Nation." Joi's e-mails to Epstein said Joi was visiting "Navajo Indians." Joi's e-mails also discuss his Bitcoin projects.

Censored News research reveals that MIT hosted a program involving Navajo preschoolers the following year, in 2016.

It is a disturbing fact which comes after the Epstein Files reveal horrific abuse and torture of young children on Epstein's properties.

On the Navajo Nation, Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology carried out health screening clinics for preschoolers in Shonto, Tuba City, and Kayenta, on the western portion of the Navajo Nation in the summer of 2016. The health screenings involved the Navajo Nation Head Start programs.

The MIT students drew blood samples from the Dine' preschoolers. Some of the college students carrying out the health screening on Dine' preschoolers were studying genomics and DNA. link

The group of students from the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST) volunteer with a non-profit organization staffing health screening clinics for preschoolers in Navajo Nation in August of 2016, according to their report.

The college students assisted Dr. Danielle Paulin, associated with the Akron, Ohio children's hospital,  to carry out physical exams and blood draws, the college students said.

Navajo, Havasupai and White Mountain Apache children used in research by colleges

The extraction of blood from Native Americans became a legal issue when the Havasupai Tribe filed a lawsuit against Arizona State University.

The Havasupai Tribe in the Grand Canyon sued Arizona State University in 2004 after researchers misused blood samples—originally donated for diabetes research—for unauthorized, culturally sensitive studies on schizophrenia, inbreeding, and migration. The 2010 settlement included $700,000 in compensation, return of the samples, and aid for community projects.

Further, Johns Hopkins University has used Navajo and White Mountain Apache children in Arizona for more than 40 years in experiments for childhood vaccines.

In the 1980s, the Johns Hopkins University refused to reveal the type of research it was conducting at Fort Defiance Indian Hospital. Now, Johns Hopkins admits the research and experimental use of Native children on its website. More than 40 years ago, many Navajos and Apaches in Arizona spoke their own languages, and often did not understand the permissions that were asked of them in Indian Health Service hospitals where the vaccination experiments were carried out.

Epstein and Joi Ito Attempted to Lure in Dalai Lama

Buddhist Monk Tenzin, who works at MIT, with Dalai Lama. 

Epstein attempted to snare both the Dalai Lama and Robert Redford with dinner invitations. The Dalai Lama denies attending, and there's no proof Redford attended the Epstein dinners designed for trapping and blackmail. Many others were snared.

Joi Ito also wrote Epstein and sent Epstein an invitation to a presentation with a disciple of the Dalai Lama. Both Ito and the Dalai Lama's close associate worked at MIT. The connection with the Dalai Lama's disciple Tenzin, a Buddhist Monk, was viewed as a way of connecting with the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama's office said in a statement, “We can unequivocally confirm that His Holiness has never met Jeffrey Epstein or authorized any meeting or interaction with him by anyone on his Holiness’ behalf."

Joi Ito resigned after his connection with Epstein was revealed. Epstein funded Joi, and MIT, and they discussed Bitcoin and AI, which Joi promoted.

Tenzin is the founding director and CEO of The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT. Tenzin link

Slovakian and President of U.N. General Assembly at Monument Valley

Epstein received the travel plans of his associate Miroslav Lajčák, Slovakian and President of the United Nations General Assembly from 2017 -- 2018. Epstein received his plans to be at Monument Valley on the Navajo Nation, during a trip on July 22 -- 26, in 2018.

Lajčák stayed in Mexican Hat in Utah, and then took a Navajo-guided tour of Monument Valley on the Navajo Nation, and afterwards went to Lake Powell and Antelope Canyon, the travel plan shows.

Epstein provided Lajčák with tickets for Las Vegas shows, which the U.N. head thanked Epstein for, as shown in the e-mails just released.

Lajčák resigned his current position as an advisor to Slovakia's head of national security on Jan. 31, 2026, after the Epstein documents revealed his messages with Epstein about available girls, and diplomacy.

The disturbing relationship between the Epstein and Miroslav Lajčák, comes after many years of the U.N. ignoring the desperate testimony of Indigenous women.

In recent testimony, Indigenous women in Peru asked the U.N. for help, as the women and children defending their land from mining were being shot from Army helicopters. The U.N. took no action to help them.

In the Epstein files, Miroslav Lajčák, UN President of the General Assembly that 2017 -- 2018, shared his travel plans with Epstein to be at Monument Valley on the Navajo Nation.

Epstein's emails show Epstein was arranging dinners with Miroslav Lajčák, while he headed the U.N. General Assembly. The dinner plans at Epstein's home in New York included the two of them, and Israel's former prime minister Ehud Barak, as shown in the e-mails.

Epstein also arranged dinners with the U.N. head at his home with Woody Allen, and Soon Yi, Woody's step daughter that Woody married.

In a text exchange from October 2018 - when Lajčák was serving as Slovakia's foreign minister - Lajčák and Epstein could be seen lightheartedly discussing women and a forthcoming meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, reports BBC.

After Epstein sent an image, which cannot be seen in the record, Lajčák replies: "Why don't you invite me for these games? I would take the 'MI' girl."

"Who wouldn't," Epstein texts back. "You can have them both, I am not possessive. And their sisters."

Later on in the conversation, Epstein can be seen imploring Lajčák to ask Lavrov to get him a t-shirt featuring Lavrov and Viltaly Churkin, a Russian ambassador to the UN who had died the previous year.

"You get the tee shirt. Then you get the girls," Epstein writes, to which Lajčák agrees.

Epstein then says: "No kidding their sisters are both swimming in the pool."

"That's not fair!" Lajčák responds.

"Though they're all under 30. So. Probably too young for you," Epstein adds. "Or should I say under 50."

"Don't be mean," Lajčák replies. "You don't know me in action."

In an email to Epstein in November 2017, Lajčák asks Epstein to help a female film producer get her movie on the shortlist for that year's Oscars.

Unverified Claim: 'Navajo Has Keys to Epstein Vault'

In the Epstein Files, a person claiming to be Maxwell Ghislaine's sister wrote:

"My name is . Ghislane is my older sister. The man in the photographs from the Navajo Nation was the code keeper got the vault accessable only by a general on an island in Akhail Beach India. He has the keys to all the rooms of Epstein's video tapes."

Ghislaine Maxwell, British, was found guilty of child sex trafficking and other offences in connection with the deceased American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In 2022, she was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in the United States. 

In other Epstein files, Epstein requested an "Indian person" to explain the petroglyphs on his Zorro Ranch property in New Mexico.

Deb Haaland on Epstein Plane

The manifest shows Deb Haaland took a flight from Santa Fe Municipal Airport (now Santa Fe Regional Airport) to Washington Dulles in 2014 with former New Mexico  Attorney General and then-gubernatorial candidate Gary King while she was running for lieutenant governor, KOAT reports.

"The flight was coordinated by King and Epstein, with the client listed as JEGE LLC, a company owned by Epstein. Emails found by Target 7 reveal King requested Epstein's private plane for a flight to a breakfast in Washington, D.C., and Epstein was reminded on September 9th of 2024, the day of the flight, that King was taking the chartered jet." 

https://www.koat.com/article/new-mexico-politician-epstein-files-deb-haaland/70396783

Haaland served as head of the Interior Department during the Obama administration. 

Gary King's father, New Mexico Governor Bruce King, sold the Zorro Ranch to Epstein in 1993. The Zorro Ranch is located 30 miles southeast of Santa Fe.

Today's updates from the Epstein Files by Censored News, Feb. 16, 2026.

The Hyatt hotels executive chairman resigned today because of his relationship with Epstein, as revealed in the Epstein files. Hyatt operates the hotel at Santa Ana Pueblo's casino in northern New Mexico. Hyatt is also in negotiations with a Rancheria in northern California for a hotel.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida was in negotiations with Epstein to sell him a helicopter, but it appears the Seminoles took the helicopter off the market. Epstein used helicopters to transport high profile people to his islands and properties.

Joi Ito, director of MIT Media Lab, who wrote to Epstein about being on the Navajo Nation, also sent Epstein an invitation to a presentation with a disciple of the Dalai Lama. Both Joi and the Dalai Lama's disciple worked at MIT. The connection with the Dalai Lama's disciple Tenzin, a close associate of the Dalai Lama, was viewed as a way of connecting with the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama's office said he never met with Epstein.

Joi Ito resigned after his connection with Epstein was revealed. Epstein funded Joi, and they discussed Bitcoin and AI in their messages, which Joi was involved with promoting.

United Nations Fails to Include Own Involvement

U.N. experts state Epstein's role in exploiting and trafficking, and crimes against humanity -- but do not mention the U.N.'s own involvement with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

The President of the U.N. General Assembly, Miroslav Lajčák, who was on the Navajo Nation, made lewd remarks about available women with Epstein, as revealed in the Epstein Files. Lajčák has resigned his current national security position in Slovakia.

Ghislaine spoke before the U.N. many times promoting her non-profit, the TerraMar Project, a false front for saving the oceans. Ghislaine is now in prison and a convicted child sex offender.

Ghislaine Maxwell spoke before the United Nations more than once in connection with her nonprofit organization, the TerraMar Project. On June 25, 2013, she spoke at the UN Headquarters in New York, alongside Ambassador Stuart Beck of Palau.

By the United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner

GENEVA – The so-called ‘Epstein Files’ contain disturbing and credible evidence of systematic and large-scale sexual abuse, trafficking and exploitation of women and girls, UN experts* said today.

According to the experts, these acts could amount to sexual slavery, reproductive violence, enforced disappearance, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, and femicide.

“These crimes were committed against a backdrop of supremacist beliefs, racism, corruption, extreme misogyny, and the commodification and dehumanisation of women and girls from different parts of the world,” the experts said.

“The ‘Epstein Files’, which are suggestive of the existence of a global criminal enterprise have shocked the conscience of humanity and raised terrifying implications of the level of impunity for such crimes.”

“So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character, and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls, that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity,” they said.

Under international criminal law, crimes against humanity occur when acts such as sexual slavery, rape, enforced prostitution, trafficking, persecution, torture, or murder are committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population with, with knowledge of the attack. The experts warned the components reported patterns may meet this threshold and these crimes must be prosecuted in all competent national and international courts.

Continue reading at:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/02/flawed-epstein-files-disclosures-undermine-accountability-grave-crimes

Background:

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's involvement with Epstein

Gov. Richardson's name appears about one thousand times in the e-mails, and there are plans of visits to Epstein's apartment in New York, ranch in New Mexico, and Epstein's island.

Their relationship spanned many years. And Richardson is accused of abuse by one of the victims in early 2000s. Richardson's relationship continued for many years after that with Epstein. Epstein planned lunches and dinners to bring Richardson together with Woody Allen, Robert Redford and others. There is no indication that the meeting with Redford took place.

Survivor: New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson

Virginia Giuffre accused former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson of sexual abuse in connection with Jeffrey Epstein in a deposition given in 2016.The specific accusation came during Giuffre's May 3, 2016, deposition as part of her defamation lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell (filed in 2015 and settled in 2017). In the testimony, she alleged that Maxwell directed her to have sex with Richardson (by instructing her to give him a "massage") while she was underage and trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell in the early 2000s. She mentioned being "sent to" New Mexico for this purpose but could not recall exact dates or locations precisely.

Update: Gov. Richardson and Tex Hall's Falls from Glory

One of our readers asked about Gov. Bill Richardson's link to Dick Cheney, we found it in our Censored News files.

Richardson, who was friends with Epstein for years, is named as one of the abusers.

As U.S. Secretary of Energy, and Governor of New Mexico, Richardson posed as a friend to tribal leaders. Then, he joined the 'Blood Oil' industry, joining the board of Genie Oil and Gas, alongside Dick Cheney in 2015. Censored News link

There are two other names from Epstein's circle of friends in the emails that were also on Richardson's new 'blood oil' board: billionaire Larry Summers and a Rothschild banker in the hide-your-cash banking empire.

Richardson's fall from glory paralleled that of Tex Hall, who was the head of the National Congress of American Indians, NCAI, and celebrated during the same years. As head of the Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota, Tex Hall brought in massive oil and gas wells.

Eventually one of Hall's business partners was convicted in hired hits, the murders of two of their other business partners.

Both Bill Richardson and Tex Hall were exposed in the dark history of oil and gas.

Survivor: Prince Andrew

Virginia Giuffre (formerly Virginia Roberts), the primary Epstein survivor who accused Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, first made these allegations public in court documents in 2015. April 2015: Giuffre's allegations against Prince Andrew emerged in unsealed court filings related to a defamation case involving Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. In these Florida court documents (filed as part of efforts to challenge Epstein's 2008 plea deal), she explicitly described being sexually trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to Prince Andrew at age 17, claiming she was forced to have sex with him on three occasions in 2001 (in London, New York, and on Epstein's private island, Little St. James). This marked the first public, detailed accusation naming Andrew in connection with sexual abuse.

"When I was a teenage girl, I was trafficked to billionaires, politicians, and even royalty. They used me as blackmail against the powerful, so they would owe favors to Epstein. He recorded everything all the time so he could use it against me if anything happened to him."  -- Virginia Giuffre, one of the girls who was a victim of Epstein's pedophile network, was found dead by suicide after speaking these words and publicly accusing Prince Andrew of England of abusing her when she was only 17 years old.

Epstein and Prince Andrews

In December 2010, Epstein hosted a dinner at his Manhattan townhouse in honor of Prince Andrew (shortly after Epstein's 2008 conviction and release). Emails show a publicist (Peggy Siegal) invited Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn, along with others like Katie Couric, George Stephanopoulos, Chelsea Handler, and Charlie Rose. It was described as a "last-minute casual dinner" or "very interesting, fast, fun dinner." Allen later downplayed it, saying a publicist invited them to a dinner "with one of those British royals," and he thanked Epstein afterward with a note critiquing the food temperature ("food should always be served very hot; never lukewarm.")

Read more:

MIT's Joi Ito, who was on Navajo Nation, Resigned

The Guardian reports, "Joi Ito, the head of MIT’s world-famous Media Lab issued an apology last week for having accepted donations for the Media Lab and his own tech startups. In his open letter on the MIT Media Lab’s website, he said: “I take full responsibility for my error in judgment. I am deeply sorry to the survivors, to the Media Lab, and to the MIT community for bringing such a person into our network.

“Regrettably, over the years, the Lab has received money through some of the foundations that he controlled. I also allowed him to invest in several of my funds which invest in tech startup companies outside of MIT’s.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/18/private-jets-parties-and-eugenics-jeffrey-epsteins-bizarre-world-of-scientists

Phoenix: Arizona State University's Origin Project

Compiled from news articles:

The Origins Project was a research and outreach initiative at Arizona State University (ASU) founded in 2009 and directed by theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss until 2018. It aimed to explore fundamental questions about the origins of the universe, life, consciousness, and culture through interdisciplinary events, debates, and collaborations with prominent scientists, authors, and thinkers like Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins.

The project hosted public dialogues, workshops, and an annual science festival, often held at ASU's Gammage Auditorium, and was part of the university's efforts to promote scientific inquiry and public engagement.In the recently released Jeffrey Epstein files—comprising over 20,000 pages of emails, documents, and other records from the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation—"Arizona State University" appears nearly 3,500 times, with many references tied to the Origins Project and its connections to Epstein.

Epstein, a convicted sex offender and financier who positioned himself as a "science philanthropist," donated approximately $250,000 directly to the project through his Enhanced Education foundation between 2010 and 2017.

Additional funds totaling over $2 million came from Epstein's associates, including billionaire Leon Black and his wife Debra, who contributed $2 million in 2014–2015.

Epstein also hosted a science advisory committee for the project on his private island in St. Thomas in 2010.The files reveal a deeper personal and advisory relationship between Epstein and Krauss beyond funding. They exchanged dozens of emails from 2010 onward, discussing topics like climate change denial, travel arrangements, and scientific ideas.

Notably, during a 2018 Title IX investigation at ASU into sexual misconduct allegations against Krauss (which led to his removal as director and eventual resignation in 2019), Krauss sought Epstein's advice on public relations strategy, including drafting statements, handling media inquiries, and preparing cross-examination questions for accusers.

Epstein suggested categorizing the charges as "ludicrous" or minor issues like "ogling" and "jokes." Krauss described Epstein as a friend in these communications, and their exchanges continued even after Epstein's 2008 conviction for sex crimes.

ASU has stated that it was unaware of the full extent of Epstein's involvement at the time and has since distanced itself, with the Origins Project evolving under new leadership as the Interplanetary Initiative, focusing on space exploration and related origins themes.

The files highlight how Epstein used his wealth to ingratiate himself with academic elites, funding projects like this one while maintaining influence over them.

Copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News. Censored News content may not be used without written permission, or in any way for revenues.

About the author

Censored News is a service to Indigenous Peoples, with no ads or revenues. It is now in its 19th year. It was created after news reporter Brenda Norrell was censored and fired as a long time staff reporter at Indian Country Today in 2006. Norrell, a news reporter in Indian country for 44 years, was a reporter at Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation, and was a correspondent for Lakota Times, Associated Press, and USA Today.