Editor’s note: This article cites several emails with spelling and grammatical errors, as well as some that contain profanity. These emails are quoted verbatim, with [sic] inserted to indicate that the error belongs to the source.
This article is part of a series on Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to Cornell University. Find the other pieces here.
Multiple doctors and scientists formerly and currently employed by Weill Cornell Medicine maintained ties with financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to files released by the Department of Justice on Jan. 30.
These interactions occurred after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008.
Epstein corresponded with former Weill Cornell urologist Dr. Harry Fisch and current thoracic surgeon at Weill Cornell Jeffrey Port. Fisch maintained frequent professional and personal communications with Epstein from 2015 until Epstein’s death in 2019, files show, while Port corresponded with Epstein to try and secure investments for his cell therapy venture, Angiocrine Biosciences, in 2015.
Emails also appear to show Epstein’s assistant handling a request from Dr. Allen Chen, then a Weill Cornell professor, to arrange an appointment for former Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jaber Al Thani. In 2017, a New York City dermatologist reached out to Epstein asking if he could help land the son of his friend, the dean of Cornell Weill in Qatar, a hedge fund job.
Harry Fisch
Epstein corresponded frequently with Fisch, a celebrity urologist who worked as a clinical professor of urology and reproductive medicine at Weill Cornell until 2021, according to his LinkedIn. In his position, he focused on men’s health issues, such as male infertility and reproduction. He also operated a private practice in Manhattan, where Epstein was a patient.
Fisch is mentioned hundreds of times in the files in his capacity as both Epstein’s urologist and friend, according to the released emails.
The urologist previously hosted a weekly men’s health radio show, “The Dr. Harry Fisch Show,” on the Howard Stern channel of SiriusXM. The program covered male medical and sexual issues as listeners called in with concerns.
Emails show that Fisch provided much of Epstein’s medical care outside of traditional office visits, often coordinating lab work, communicating about prescriptions and answering medical questions over text and email. Messages between the pair show that Epstein was frequently tested for bacterial cultures in his semen and urine and expressed concerns to Fisch about a variety of conditions, including varicoceles, or enlarged veins in the scrotum, and a swollen prostate.
The pair’s correspondence about Epstein’s medical affairs was often interwoven with evidence of a shared knowledge of Epstein’s private life. The two also texted frequently, with Fisch once sending Epstein a video of a toilet flushing, writing, “too much Kishka results in this sound.”
Fisch’s attendance at Epstein’s dinners appears to have begun in November 2015, when Epstein invited Fisch to a dinner with Woody Allen, the controversial actor-director. Fisch was a frequent guest at Epstein’s dinners and social events with Allen, and his correspondence with Epstein includes him recalling the gatherings with gratitude and amusement.
In a November 2015 email, Fisch thanked Epstein for inviting him and stated, “I almost made Woody spit up his Lactaid Milk with s=mething [sic] I said. I think I was alluding to small balls in an ‘80 year old ma=’. That could be my greatest achievement in life.”
Then, in a December 2016 email, Fisch thanked Epstein for inviting him to another dinner with Leon Black — the financier who paid Epstein $158 million — and Allen, who Fisch stated was “absolutely brilliant.”
Fisch also wrote, “Best line o= the night. The woman gave herself an abortion and Woody said she use a woo=en [sic] hanger. C'mon, that is pure brilliance!” In the same email, Fisch shared the results of Epstein’s urine test.
The pair even discussed a proposed script for a sitcom written by Fisch. “Attached is my sitcom treatment written by me and 2 former Letterman w=iters [sic]. Let me know what you think,” Fisch wrote in January 2016. “fun,” Epstein replied.
Fisch asked Epstein to pass the script on to Allen, but later mentioned in March 2016 that HBO and Terence Winter, the creator of Boardwalk Empire, were interested in his script.
A June 2017 email shows that Epstein’s assistants organized a haircut for Fisch. An email from a redacted name to Epstein states, “Dr Fisch loves his haircut! He says he does not look gay.”
In November 2018, Epstein introduced Fisch to Boris Nikolic, the managing director of Biomatics Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in biotechnology companies. Fisch shared a slide deck for his company, Veru Pharmaceuticals, and appeared to be seeking investments or guidance from Nikolic.
Veru is a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company that develops solutions to inflammatory diseases, according to its website. Fisch founded the company and is currently the company’s chief corporate officer.
Veru did not respond to a request for comment.
In the same correspondence, Fisch shared that Veru had, at the time, merged with The Female Health Company, which manufactured and sold the FC2 Female Condom. Fisch requested that Nikolic introduce him to “the right person” at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in order to “get grants” to provide female condoms to countries in Africa.
Fisch was apparently unable to get funding from Nikolic, though. In the email chain, Nikolic responded to Fisch, stating that Biomatics Capital only focuses on and invests in private companies.
Epstein and Fisch also appeared to exchange gifts.
Fisch corresponded with one of Epstein’s associates about an Apple Watch as a gift from Epstein in November 2018. The email asks Fisch about his preferences for the watch band and where to ship the watch.
Fisch’s Gray Aluminum watch arrived in December 2018 with a listed address of Harry Fisch of HBRK Associates, an entity used by Epstein and his associates.
Many correspondences between the pair were purely social, unrelated to business or medical affairs. Fisch, responding to a photo sent by Epstein in a June 2018 email, wrote, “Holy shit. Chunky!!!! I forgot about that. What time do you want to get pizza and grape soda tomor=ow [sic]?” Fisch had asked when he and Epstein were going to “pizza and grape soda” in February of 2018 as well.
In a January 2019 email, Epstein’s longtime personal assistant Lesley Groff sent Epstein an email stating, “Dr. Fisch is asking if you could do lunch TODAY… he says he has =ifts [sic] for you for your 75th birthday…;).”
On more than one occasion, Fisch requested Epstein’s help in learning more about Fisch’s parents’ life in Israel. An unrelated email shows that Fisch was invited to a dinner in February 2019 with “Ehud.” Epstein met often with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Over iMessage in December 2018, Fisch stated, “Jeffrey, my parents were Israeli, just like me. My father came to Israel in 1939 and left for US in 1962. Want to know more about him, particularly in 1939-1950.” Fisch also included his parents’ Israeli ID numbers.
Fisch did not respond to several requests for comment.
Jeffrey Port
Similar to Barany, who corresponded with Epstein and asked for funds for cancer and Ebola research, Port emailed Epstein and his associates regarding funding for his own bioscience venture, Angiocrine Biosciences.
In July 2015, Port emailed Epstein, pitching the financier to back Angiocrine, even offering a “25% discount.”
“I think a very good deal,” Port wrote, later requesting a meeting for July 9, 2015.
Two months after the July 2015 meeting, Paul Finnegan, the CEO of Angiocrine, sent Epstein “deliverables” that he said Epstein “requested” when Finnegan and Port met Epstein at his “residence in NYC earlier this summer,” including projected profits and losses, proof of the company’s valuation and a capitalization table.
Finnegan and Port sent Epstein two more updates in March 2016 and May 2017, including information on the company’s valuation, and calling its innovations “potentially transformative.”
Nikolic, a top advisor to Epstein and Bill Gates, weighed in after Epstein forwarded him a May 2017 email sent from Finnegan on the Angiocrine venture: “Would not come close to this! Perhaps they are just very bad in putting stuff together - but there is not much meat as is.”
“It does not make sense,” Nikolic wrote to Epstein, citing a lack of experienced investors and disapproval for Angiocrine’s portfolio.
After calling the listed office number from Port’s appointment page, The Sun was referred to Cornell Media Relations..
"Dr. Port was introduced to [Epstein] through contacts in the medical community as a potential investor in a biotech startup company,” a University spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Sun in response to questions about the nature of Port’s relationship with Epstein.
“They met once in a business capacity based on the individual’s reputation at that time as a funder of scientific research. No funding was received," the spokesperson wrote.
Epstein as a Middleman
Dr. Allen Chen, a former adjunct assistant professor at Weill Cornell, appeared to connect former Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jabor Al Thani to medical care in New York in August 2017.
“I've got my first VIP task for you,” Chen wrote to an administrative coordinator. “The Prime Minister or something of Qatar,” wanted to set up an appointment, Chen wrote. Chen said Al Thani had been referred to him by one of his “other VIP patients.”
An emailer signing by the name “Jabor” wrote to the coordinator to confirm he had “followed up” regarding an appointment and said Chen promised him something, though exactly what Chen promised is redacted in the DOJ files.
The email chain between Chen and the administrative coordinator at the Columbia University Medical Center was forwarded to Epstein by Groff, who stated that she would continue to be a “liaison” between the administrative coordinator and Al Thani in the email chain.
Epstein corresponded often with Al Thani and brokered a meeting between him and former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak in 2018.
Chen and Al Thani did not respond to a request for comment.
Epstein was also asked in April 2017 to help get the son of the dean of Cornell Weill in Qatar a job in finance.
“My friend who is Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College son is looking for a job in a NYC Hedge Fund,” wrote Dr. Steven Victor, a New York City dermatologist and CEO of a stem cell company to Epstein. “Any introductions you can help with.”
Javaid Sheikh has been the dean of Cornell Weill in Qatar since 2010. Sheikh did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
Epstein did not appear to respond in the correspondence released in the files.
“It was a brief forwarding of a job inquiry, something I have done on occasion for various individuals over the years,” Victor wrote in a statement to The Sun regarding the nature of his relationship with Epstein. He added that it was common practice for him to forward job inquiries to “those in the hedge fund world.”
Victor added that he “[does] not know whether the individual ultimately received a position,” and said that he had only limited interactions with Epstein.
Atticus Johnson is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a senior writer for the News department and can be reached at ajohnson@cornellsun.com.
