BREAKING: Associate of Professor Seth Lloyd, former Mechanical Engineering lecturer Michele Reilly, visited Epstein’s island in 2015
Reilly co-founded start-up Turing Quantum with Professor Lloyd
U.S. DOJ
Further review of the Epstein documents by The Tech reveals that Michele Reilly, a part-time mechanical engineering research affiliate and lecturer from 2022 to 2025, visited sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s island in 2015.
Reilly, who works in the field of quantum computation, is not currently employed by MIT, according to an Institute spokesperson. However, the MIT course catalog still suggests that Reilly will co-teach the graduate-level course The Art and Science of Time Travel (2.984/CMS.343) in fall 2026, following previous iterations in the fall semesters of 2023 and 2024. In addition, Reilly affiliates herself with the Institute on social media; she also hosted an event with the MIT Museum on Dec. 6, 2025.
Reilly’s 2.984 co-instructor is Professor Seth Lloyd, also of the MIT mechanical engineering department. In 2020, a report by the firm Goodwin Procter released incriminating evidence that Lloyd accepted research donations from Epstein, obscured the nature of these donations, and maintained a friendship with Epstein even after his 2008 conviction for prostitution of minors.
Reilly, who was not an employee of MIT in 2020, was not named in the report. However, according to a 2023 interview, she and Lloyd were already associates by that year, having co-founded quantum computation start-up Turing in 2016.
Reilly appears to have been connected with Epstein via Joscha Bach, a former research scientist at the MIT Media Lab. On Jan. 8, 2015, Reilly visited the island with Michael Vassar, a “futurist, activist, and entrepreneur.”
Three days after visiting the island, Reilly exchanged emails with Epstein and Bach. Reilly wrote to Epstein, “You asked for ‘fun’ projects…what are your thoughts on funding and constructing your own intelligence agency?” In that same message, Reilly envisioned Epstein’s island, Little St. James, transforming into an “exclusive science salon.”
She wrote immediately after: “...outside of this I tend to think of my mate preferences as evidence of gentlemen to pay attention to. Caveat emptor. Like any decent trader you should estimate various lags/regime changes to seek relevant trends. High profile island orgies also independently come to mind; but I have a strong suspicion that you may already have that covered.”
In 2017 and 2018, Reilly appeared to have solicited funding from Epstein for Turing. In August 2018, Epstein provided his phone number to Reilly.
Although Lloyd was placed on paid administrative leave in Fall 2019, which limited his pay, ability to seek donations, and first-year advising capabilities, he retains tenure and has continued to teach after receiving “training on professional conduct.” He has taught or co-taught classes every semester since spring 2022.
A correction was made on Feb. 11, 2026: A previous version of this article described Reilly as a current lecturer at MIT. She is no longer employed at the Institute, having worked as a part-time lecturer from September 2024 to January 2025 and a research affiliate from May 2022 until April 2023, according to an MIT spokesperson.