Interlochen Investigation Documents Decades of Reported Abuse and New Jeffrey Epstein Accounts

PostedJuly 30, 2026

UpdatedSeptember 14, 2026

ByEpsteinWiki

Snapshot

In July 2026, the Interlochen Center for the Arts released a 97 page external investigation into historical sexual abuse involving adults connected to its Academy and summer Camp programs.

The investigation was conducted by Sanghavi Law Office after Interlochen and its Board of Trustees commissioned an independent review in September 2024.

Investigators conducted approximately 180 interviews with about 150 different people. They received approximately 70 firsthand accounts of physical sexual conduct involving students and identified 47 adults accused of such conduct.

The reported misconduct stretched from the 1950s through the 2010s. Most accounts concerned events before 2000.

The report also documents two alumni accounts involving Jeffrey Epstein. Both alumni said they met Epstein through their connections to Interlochen.

Key Takeaways

Investigators received approximately 70 firsthand accounts of physical sexual conduct involving students.
The accounts identified 47 adults affiliated with Interlochen, including faculty members, staff members, donors, trustees, and visitors.
More than one third of the 47 identified respondents were deceased when the report was prepared.
The reported conduct ranged from grooming and sexual comments to sexual touching, oral sex, vaginal intercourse, and anal intercourse.
Reported incidents occurred in faculty homes, school buildings, residence halls, bathrooms, cars, and during school related and private travel.
Two alumni reported physical sexual conduct by Jeffrey Epstein after meeting him through Interlochen.
One alum described physical contact at Epstein’s lodge on the Interlochen campus and further conduct during visits to his New York residence.
A second alum described being brought to a massage room in Epstein’s New York residence after he paid for her flight.
The second alum’s mother said she called Interlochen and warned that Epstein was preying upon students. She said no one from the institution followed up.
Interlochen records reviewed by investigators did not contain documentation of that reported warning.
Interlochen records confirmed that Epstein paid tuition expenses for a small number of students.
Epstein was an Interlochen donor from 1990 through 2003 and financed a lodge that carried his name.
Interlochen removed Epstein’s name from the building in 2009.
The building was demolished in June 2026 after law enforcement received an opportunity to photograph it for possible evidentiary purposes.
The investigators did not determine whether every reported incident occurred as described.
The report also did not reach conclusions about whether Interlochen’s historical responses were sufficient, timely, or appropriate.

Purpose and Scope of the Investigation

Interlochen Center for the Arts is a Michigan educational institution that operates the Interlochen Arts Academy and the Interlochen Arts Camp.

In September 2024, Interlochen and its Board of Trustees retained Sanghavi Law Office to examine historical reports of sexual abuse by faculty and staff.

The original investigation focused on reports concerning one faculty member. Interlochen expanded the inquiry in June 2025 to include reported physical sexual conduct by any faculty member, staff member, trustee, donor, visitor, or other adult affiliated with the institution.

Interlochen later directed the investigators to conduct specific outreach concerning Epstein and his historical access to students.

The complete document is available as the External Investigation of Historical Abuse report.

Important Limitation of the Report

The investigation documented what alumni, relatives, employees, former employees, and accused individuals reported.

The investigators explicitly stated that they did not decide whether each incident occurred as reported. They also did not make findings about the adequacy, timeliness, or appropriateness of Interlochen’s institutional responses.

This distinction matters. The report is an extensive record of firsthand and supporting accounts, but it is not a judicial ruling, criminal conviction, or formal finding that every allegation was substantiated.

Some accounts received corroboration from other people or institutional records. Other reports could not be confirmed because records were unavailable, alleged perpetrators were deceased, witnesses could not be located, or participants declined to be interviewed.

Scale of the Reported Misconduct

The investigative team conducted approximately 180 interviews. Because some participants were interviewed more than once, the number of different people interviewed was approximately 150.

Investigators received approximately 70 firsthand accounts from individuals who said adults affiliated with Interlochen engaged in physical sexual conduct with them while they were students.

The reports identified 47 accused adults. Some adults were accused of conduct involving more than one student or conduct spanning several decades.

The total does not include the many additional accounts involving grooming, sexual comments, flirting, boundary violations, or other conduct that did not include reported physical contact.

Types of Conduct Reported

Alumni described a broad range of alleged behavior, including:

Grooming
Flirting with students
Sexual comments
Sexualized attention
Inappropriate gifts or favors
Sexual touching
Oral sexual conduct
Vaginal intercourse
Anal intercourse
Relationships between adults and students

Some alumni described these experiences as consensual relationships when they were younger. The investigators emphasized that relationships between adult educators and high school students are inappropriate because of the age difference and the adult’s position of authority.

Where the Reported Conduct Occurred

The accounts described incidents in multiple settings associated with Interlochen.

Reported locations included:

Faculty homes
Campus buildings
Residence halls
Campus bathrooms
Vehicles
A nearby lake
School related trips
Private trips involving adults connected to Interlochen
Off campus residences

Several accounts described adults using private homes, transportation, travel, mentorship, or professional opportunities to isolate students from normal institutional supervision.

Jeffrey Epstein’s Relationship With Interlochen

According to the investigation, Epstein was an Interlochen donor from 1990 through 2003.

His financial support included tuition assistance for individual students and funding for a lodge on the Interlochen campus. The building was originally known as the Jeffrey E. Epstein Scholarship Lodge.

Federal evidence independently documents the donation, the lodge, and Epstein’s visits to Interlochen. Grand jury evidence preserved as EFTA00008631 includes testimony about Epstein’s donation, an Interlochen letter thanking him for the lodge, and his presence near the campus in August 1994.

Additional Interlochen correspondence appears in EFTA01265496.

Interlochen renamed the building Green Lake Lodge in 2009, after Epstein’s Florida conviction became public.

First Alum’s Account of Epstein

One alum told investigators that she met Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Interlochen.

According to her account, Epstein and Maxwell offered to pay her tuition. They provided that financial support but later withdrew support for additional schooling after she refused requested conduct.

The alum said Epstein and Maxwell invited her to Epstein’s lodge on the Interlochen campus. While she was there, she said Epstein brushed against her body over her clothing while presenting the contact as accidental.

She also described three visits to Epstein’s New York residence while she was still an Interlochen student. Epstein allegedly paid for the flights.

The alum said Epstein touched her during those visits. She described freezing until he stopped. She also recalled massaging his feet and rubbing his back.

She further alleged that Epstein placed his hand on her crotch while they crossed streets together.

The alum told investigators that she did not disclose Epstein’s conduct until decades later.

Scholarships as a Point of Access

Interlochen records confirmed that Epstein paid tuition for a small number of Camp and Academy alumni. The records included the alum who told investigators that Epstein and Maxwell offered to fund her education.

Records related to Interlochen tuition payments are preserved in EFTA00025018 and EFTA00024672.

The combination of financial assistance, travel, private meetings, and personal attention resembles the broader pattern documented throughout the Epstein case.

Educational support and mentorship could create trust with students and families. They could also create a sense of obligation to a wealthy donor who appeared to control access to tuition, travel, and professional opportunities.

Second Alum’s Account of Epstein

A second alum said she may have first met Epstein and Maxwell during a spring break visit to New York while she was an Interlochen student.

She did not describe anything remarkable occurring during that initial trip.

The summer after she graduated, Epstein allegedly paid for her flight to New York. She said she interacted with both Epstein and Maxwell during that visit.

According to the alum, Epstein gave her a tour of his residence and took her into a room containing a massage table. She said she gave him a massage and believed that he may have asked her to remove her top.

She ended contact with Epstein and Maxwell after leaving the residence.

Two other people provided information that investigators considered corroborative of this account.

The Mother’s Report to Interlochen

The second alum and her mother both told investigators that the alum disclosed the incident to her mother.

The mother said she called Interlochen soon afterward. She believed that she gave Epstein’s name and explained that he was an Interlochen benefactor.

According to the mother, she warned the institution that Epstein was preying upon its students.

The mother recalled being told that Interlochen did not know about problems involving Epstein, that he was not a teacher, and that the conduct had not occurred on campus.

She said the person receiving the call did not appear interested in pursuing the matter. She also said no one from Interlochen contacted her again.

The investigation found no Interlochen records documenting that call or another contemporaneous notice about Epstein’s conduct.

The absence of a surviving institutional record does not establish that the call did not occur. It does mean that investigators could not verify the reported warning through Interlochen’s retained records.

Federal Evidence Supports the Interlochen Connection

The Interlochen report did not rely on media reports, court filings, or federal investigative records when presenting the two alumni accounts.

However, separate federal evidence corroborates important parts of Epstein’s relationship with Interlochen.

Grand jury material in EFTA00008631 documents that:

Epstein and Maxwell met a young teenager at Interlochen in 1994.
Epstein presented himself as a scholarship donor and mentor.
Interlochen thanked Epstein for financing a scholarship lodge.
Flight records showed Epstein traveling to Traverse City in August 1994.
Flight records showed a passenger identified by Maxwell’s initials leaving Traverse City two days later.
An Interlochen letter to Maxwell referred to property found in the lodge where she had stayed.

A separate survivor complaint preserved as EFTA00019101 alleges that Epstein and Maxwell began grooming a 13 year old girl after meeting her at the Michigan arts camp in 1994.

These records do not prove every allegation in the 2026 Interlochen report. They do independently confirm that Epstein and Maxwell used the Interlochen setting to meet students and that Epstein’s donor status provided access and legitimacy.

Alleged Warnings About Epstein

One alum told investigators that two adults connected with Interlochen warned him about Epstein.

The alum remembered the position held by one of the adults but could not remember that person’s name. The other adult was deceased.

The report does not provide enough information to establish what those adults knew, when they learned it, or whether their concerns were reported through official channels.

However, the account raises an important question about informal knowledge. Institutions may lack a formal complaint while staff members, students, or community members exchange warnings outside official reporting systems.

Access for Donors and Visitors

Many participants did not personally meet Epstein or Maxwell. However, they expressed concern about what they understood to be broad access to the campus and its students.

Participants described Epstein’s presence as an example of a larger structural weakness. Adults who were not employees could gain proximity to students through donations, trusteeships, concerts, artistic programs, or social relationships.

The report identifies the access of donors, trustees, visitors, and guest artists as an important safeguarding concern.

Epstein’s wealth allowed him to appear as a supporter of young artists. His scholarship donations also created an institutional reason for Interlochen to welcome him.

Destruction of Green Lake Lodge

Interlochen removed Epstein’s name from the lodge in 2009 and renamed it Green Lake Lodge.

The institution demolished the building in June 2026. Before demolition, Interlochen gave local law enforcement an opportunity to photograph the interior and exterior for possible future evidentiary use.

An Interlochen photograph and correspondence concerning the renamed lodge appear in EFTA00159745.

The demolition eliminated the physical structure, but Interlochen stated that law enforcement documentation was completed first.

Institutional Notice and Record Problems

In several cases described throughout the report, Interlochen’s surviving personnel files contained no evidence that administrators knew about reported misconduct when it occurred.

That absence must be interpreted carefully.

Some survivors said they never reported the conduct at the time. Others said they attempted to report it but were ignored, dismissed, or discouraged. In other cases, relevant personnel records no longer existed.

Interlochen informed investigators that its current records retention policy generally requires personnel files to be maintained for seven years. Consequently, many records from earlier decades were unavailable.

The passage of time also limited the investigation because many witnesses and more than one third of the identified respondents were deceased.

Documented Institutional Responses

The report describes several cases in which Interlochen records did show contemporaneous notice.

In some cases, the institution conducted interviews, contacted parents, warned employees, terminated employment, reported matters to child protective services, or involved law enforcement.

In other cases, records indicated delayed action, incomplete documentation, continued employment, or letters of recommendation written after concerns had been reported.

Because the accused adults were anonymized, the public report limits the ability to compare every allegation with subsequent employment or institutional decisions.

The investigators did not formally judge whether each historical response was appropriate.

Reported Harm to Alumni

Many alumni described long term consequences from the conduct they experienced.

Reported effects included:

Depression
Anxiety
Shame
Self blame
Difficulty trusting others
Problems with intimacy and relationships
Substance use
Effects on education and artistic development
Career disruption
Estrangement from Interlochen
Pain caused by seeing accused adults celebrated by the institution

Some alumni also described positive memories of Interlochen. The report emphasizes that affection for the institution and trauma caused by an adult connected to it can exist at the same time.

Cultural Conditions Identified by Alumni

Participants described a culture that sometimes blurred the boundaries between students and adults.

Reported themes included:

Adults presenting themselves as substitute parents
Students entering faculty homes
Private lessons and meetings without adequate supervision
Adults transporting students in personal vehicles
Donors and visitors receiving broad campus access
Artistic ambition making students dependent upon powerful mentors
Institutional prestige discouraging criticism
Students fearing that reporting misconduct could harm their education or careers
Adults treating sexual relationships with students as normal or acceptable

The report also describes a culture in which talented students were encouraged to pursue recognition and professional success. That environment could make access to wealthy donors, famous artists, and influential teachers appear unusually valuable.

Current Safeguarding Measures

Interlochen reported that it now maintains policies governing contact among employees, visitors, donors, trustees, volunteers, and students.

Current measures described in the report include:

Background checks for employees, volunteers, and trustees
Mandatory reporting training
Professional boundary rules
Restrictions on students visiting faculty homes
Rules limiting private transportation and off campus contact
Structured donor meetings in supervised public or virtual settings
Staff review of scholarship thank you letters
Anonymous reporting options
An internal response team
Campus safety officers
Visitor registration and identification requirements
Building access controls
Security cameras
Residence hall supervision
Student counseling services

The report presents these measures as Interlochen’s description of its current practices. The investigators did not conduct a formal effectiveness audit of every policy.

What Alumni Asked Interlochen to Do

Participants requested cultural reform, accountability, transparency, and direct support for people affected by abuse.

Suggested actions included:

Public acknowledgment of institutional failures
Apologies to affected students
Financial assistance for mental health treatment
A survivor support fund
A survivor group
Stronger donor and visitor restrictions
Improved background checks
Better professional boundary training
Clear reporting procedures
Independent advocates for students
Education about healthy relationships between students and adults
Leadership with expertise in gender based violence

Several participants asked Interlochen not to distance itself from the past by treating the reported abuse as the conduct of a different era.

Why the Report Matters to Epstein Research

The Interlochen report provides new firsthand accounts of Epstein’s conduct within an educational setting.

It also demonstrates how a donor relationship could create access to minors, institutional legitimacy, and contact with families. Scholarships made Epstein appear generous. The lodge gave him a physical presence on campus. Travel and professional promises allowed contact to continue away from school supervision.

The report does not establish that Interlochen knowingly participated in Epstein’s abuse. It does document serious questions about visitor access, donor oversight, informal warnings, record preservation, and the response described by one alum’s mother.

Interlochen was not simply another name in Epstein’s address book. It was an institution serving talented young people where Epstein gained status as a benefactor and where at least two alumni now report that his access led to sexual conduct.

Important Epstein Data Evidence Files

EFTA00008631, federal grand jury evidence concerning Epstein, Maxwell, Interlochen, the scholarship lodge, and the 1994 visit
EFTA00019101, survivor complaint alleging that grooming began after a meeting at Interlochen
EFTA00025018, correspondence concerning Interlochen tuition records and Epstein payments
EFTA00024672, additional correspondence concerning tuition payments connected to Epstein
EFTA00159745, Interlochen correspondence and an image of the former Epstein Scholarship Lodge
EFTA01265496, historical Interlochen correspondence associated with Epstein records

Sources

Investigation-Report-External-Investigation-of-Historical-Abuse-Download

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Investigative Reporting