Harvard Professor Sues NYT For Defamation Over MIT, Epstein Story

BROOKLINE, MA — A Brookline resident, activist and legal theorist who teaches at Harvard Law School is accusing the New York Times of publishing false and defamatory information in an article about him, effectively saying he was defending a practice by universities of secretly accepting money from Jeffery Epstein, when he said he told them repeatedly his message was the exact opposite.

Lawrence Lessig, a one-time U.S. presidential candidate, filed a lawsuit Monday against the Times in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Lessig wrote an essay online during the height of the Epstein scandal as he was working to help develop best standards for accepting and retaining donations from people who engage in wrongdoing.

His essay "On Joi and MIT," discussed Epstein's financial contributions to MIT's Media Lab. In the article, he wrote that it was wrong for MIT to accept Epstein's money, as he was a convicted sex offender, even if anonymously, but, he said, the Media Lab director should not have been fired as a scapegoat over it.

Lessig said that he spoke with the writer for about an hour on this, then in a subsequent phone call, explained he was concerned about the beginning of the story. He said he stressed at the time, days before the New York Times article was published, that the university should not have taken the money, even if anonymously, because of the damage it might do to the institution and people at the institution should they discover where the money came from later.

"A Harvard Professor Doubles Down: If You Take Epstein’s Money, Do It in Secret," the headline on the Times story read.

The first paragraph started; "It is hard to defend soliciting donations from the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard Law professor, has been trying."

When Lessig read the article, he sent a note to the reporter saying the opening was "just plainly not true." She replied to say that she understood that he had explained his position clearly and unambiguously and had included that in her article. But, she went on to say that he also defended someone who took the donations and defended him for taking them. "though of course with all the complexity in mind. Which is in the piece!" she said.

It was, he agreed in further correspondence, according to court documents.

But, he said, the beginning of the story lead readers to believe he was lobbying for something he was not. He reached out to an executive editor at the Times, who agreed with the reporter.

"The final article with its title displayed a reckless disregard for the truth," Lessig said in the lawsuit, arguing that his reputation had been defamed on account of the New York Times article.

"Defendants’ actions here are part of a growing journalistic culture of clickbaiting: the use of a shocking headline and/or lede to entice readers to click on a particular article, irrespective of the truth of the headline," the lawsuit reads. "Defendants are fully aware that many, if not most, readers never read past the clickbait and that their takeaway concerning the target of the headline is limited to what they read in the headline."

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).