MIT Senior Leaders

This is my second LinkedIn newsletter. As you read it, please consider how many systems had to fail, how many good people had to turn away for this level of corruption and crime to take hold within one of the most privileged communities in the world.

And then understand that the same failed systems are destroying climate action across the U.S. We can't wait for the elite to wake up. We must hold them accountable. And fix the broken systems.

Until I posted my first newsletter yesterday, I didn't really understand how newsletters worked on LinkedIn. It turns out that they have the functionality that LinkedIn #Articles should have had. And combined with LinkedIn's Search functionality, which is the best of any platform I know of, and LinkedIn's hashtags, an underused and misunderstood powerhouse, LinkedIn is providing a global blogging platform which climate action and global environmental justice urgently needs.

For now, I just want to document what happened at MIT, for reasons that I hope because overwhelmingly obvious over the course of the next few newsletters, so that I can then go on and showcase how LinkedIn has a unique role in climate action and environmental justice around the world.

Yesterday's newsletter brought over 2k subscribers. I don't know what I was expecting but certainly not that. And at least a fourth were people who are not in my network, and virtually all of them are from occupations and industries that show up in my Views analytics but almost never publicly in the Likes or comments. We are not going to be saved by social media and I am not trying to achieve a viral anything. But I haven't yet been able to clearly explain what happened at MIT, accountability will continue to elude us. Lawsuits against fossil fuel companies are important. But unless those lawsuits discuss carbon capture, the fossil fuel industry will always have a get out of jail card. Exposing how the fossil fuel industry funded fraudulent research at MIT, Stanford, and Columbia is the only possible path to exposing carbon capture as the fraudulent solution it is.

This is how the corruption at MIT began, with the Koch Brothers and Ernest Moniz and "The Future of Coal." But over the next 20 years it morphed into something far, far worse. The critical transition point was the 2011 agreement with Russia, when MIT partnered with Russian oil oligarchs and Russian weapon manufacturers to launch the Skolkovo Institute in Moscow. This led to the resignation of Susan Hockfield. The Koch Brothers appointed a puppet president and then opend the gates of hell at MIT. I know, I know, implausible, absurd.

Fair enough. But what if we revisit that absurdity a few newsletters down the road?

Schlumberger paid "Leo" Rafael Reif $4.5 million dollars

The Jeffrey Epstein coverup

Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was brought in to fund fraudulent research at the MIT Media Lab, just one of the "dark money" operations that the Koch Brothers began to set up starting in 2011.

When the New Yorker exposed part of the story in 2019, MIT launched a coverup. The key piece of evidence was an email from January 13, 2015, which refers to "the most recent news," and clearly says that MIT senior leadership, including President Rafael Reif, participated in a discussion of Epstein's new $10 million offer. Virginia Giuffre's lawsuit against Epstein was just about to hit, and Epstein needed his friends at MIT to turn dirty money into good publicity.

The Epstein scandal at MIT received global attention and campus-wide outrage. But when MIT produced its preposterous coverup, not a single person stood up and said, "Hold on here."

Fraudulent research

MIT said an empty box with lights would feed a hungry world, and millions poured in. Covering up fraudulent scandals, and settling them without any damage, is the new normal in academic. Hence the appointment of Sally Kornbluth as MIT's new president.

So far, MIT lawyers have been able to contain the story, but this is one small corner of much larger corruption, and so far the Massachusetts courts have continued to rule against MIT and allow this lawsuit to move forward. And then god for the in-depth coverage from the Boston Business Journal, stepping up to the plate in the face of the shameful silence from Boston Globe's billionaire CEO, Linda Henry, who have turned the Globe into a tip sheet for MIT's "tough tech" startups.

Endangering the MIT community

Susan Hockfield resigned without explanation three months after MIT signed a $300 million agreement with Russian weapon manufacturers to develop the MIT-Russia Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology.

In August 2022, the US State Department issued sanction against "Skoltech" for a "decade of partnerships" with Russian weapon manufacturers.

The Department of State is designating the SKOLKOVO INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (SKOLTECH) pursuant to Section 1(a)(i) of E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the technology sector of the Russian Federation economy.? Skoltech is a pioneer in cutting-edge technologies and seeks to foster new technologies to address critical issues facing the Russian Federation.?? As additional information, for nearly a decade, Skoltech has had a close relationship with Russia’s defense sector.? Contributors to Skoltech’s endowment include numerous sanctioned Russian weapon development entities including JSC Tactical Missiles Corporation, Uralvagonzavod (which makes Russian tanks), JSC MIC Mashinostroyenia (which manufactures Russian missiles), JSC United Aircraft Corporation (which manufactures Russia’s combat aircraft), JSC Concern Sozvezdie (which produces electronic warfare systems for the Russian military), JSC Almaz-Antey (which manufactures Russia’s surface-to-air missiles systems), and JSC Corporation Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology (which manufactures Russian missiles).? Over the course of the last decade, Skoltech has had partnerships with numerous Russian defense enterprises – including Uralvagonzavod, United Engine Corporation, and United Aircraft Corporation – which have focused on developing composite materials for tanks, engines for ships, specialized materials for aircraft wings, and innovations for defense-related helicopters.? Skoltech has also presented advanced robotics at the Russian Ministry of Defense’s premier defense exhibition. — "Imposing Additional Costs on Russia for Its Continued War Against Ukraine" August 2, 2022, https://www.state.gov/imposing-additional-costs-on-russia-for-its-continued-war-against-ukraine/.

I started working on this Newsletter at 8am this morning and it's now almost 1pm. Obviously these are just pieces. They are meaningless to journalists but they are relevant as evidence, and that is what I am trying to achieve: to provide the evidence that legal teams need for RICO lawsuits against MIT, for conspiracy and racketeering in the service of a global oil cartel. These are dangerous people doing dangerous things. Exposing the corruption within US universities is a more manageable goal. All the evidence is as visible as trash lying on a beach. All that has been lacking is the understanding of what corruption is possible in elite institutions, and the stupefying silence of good people failing to do the right thing.

#MITreparations