Peter Thiel’s secret society turns up in Epstein files

Just days after a leak exposed members of Peter Thiel’s secretive Dialog society, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)-retrieved Jeffrey Epstein files have revealed multiple connections between the disgraced financier and the exclusive network founded by the billionaire investor.

Among the documents is a February 2016 email in which Epstein discussed Thiel’s interest in what he described as a “secret society idea.”

“peter thiel LOVED the secret society idea,” Epstein wrote in an email to former MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito. “he has done alot of work on the concept. all failed so far.”

The email surfaced alongside another newly released record that references Dialog, the invitation-only organization Thiel launched in 2006 with entrepreneur Auren Hoffman. In a November 2012 email, renowned Harvard physicist Lisa Randall forwarded Epstein an invitation to attend Dialog 2014, an exclusive retreat held at Utah’s Sundance Resort (weekend rates at the resort currently range from $610 for a cottage to $1,651 for a mountain home).

“Is this worthwhile?” Randall asked Epstein.

The emailed invitation (appended at the bottom of this story), signed by Thiel and Hoffman, described Dialog as a gathering of “150 people to change the world” and promised intimate discussions among leaders in technology, business, science, and public policy.

Another email suggests the financier was receiving materials connected to the organization’s retreats. In a September 2013 message, Boris Nikolic — the prominent biotechnology executive who later became one of Epstein’s most well-known scientific associates — forwarded Epstein an email discussing a Dialog breakout session focused on bitcoin and foreign policy.

“You should have someone print you various materials in links below,” Nikolic wrote to Epstein. “It has a lot of interesting info/comments. You probably already know most of it but just in case…”

The forwarded message came from Steve Wayne, a Dialog participant, and referenced an upcoming retreat in Turkey. Wayne told recipients he would be moderating a discussion titled “Foreign policy implications for a computational currency like bitcoin” and encouraged fellow attendees to review background materials before arriving.

The email does not explicitly state that Epstein attended the retreat. But it does suggest he was receiving information connected to Dialog discussions and was in communication with individuals participating in the organization’s events.

The emails have taken on new significance following a recent leak that exposed alleged members of Dialog, a notoriously private organization that has spent years operating largely out of public view. The leak, first reported by WIRED, revealed details about a network whose participants reportedly include influential figures from technology, politics, finance, academia, and national security circles.

A who’s who of power

The Epstein files don’t just contain an invitation to Dialog. They also include documents describing the organization’s 2013 retreat and listing dozens of expected participants.

The roster reads like a cross between Davos, Silicon Valley, and Washington.

Among those listed were LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, KKR co-founder Henry Kravis, chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, future Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Stanford President Jonathan Levin, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Elizabeth Blackburn, former Indiana Gov. and Purdue University President Mitch Daniels, and Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass.

The list also included several figures tied to Peter Thiel’s orbit, including Palantir co-founders Stephen Cohen and Joe Lonsdale, as well as Thiel himself.

Harvard was heavily represented. The attendee list included economist Susan Athey, historian Niall Ferguson, Harvard Kennedy School professor Meghan O’Sullivan, and former Obama energy adviser Jason Bordoff, who later became dean of Columbia University’s climate school.

The document underscores Dialog’s role as a meeting ground for influential figures from technology, government, academia, finance, and national security — the same elite circles Epstein spent years attempting to cultivate through his relationships with scientists, professors, investors, and public officials.

A glimpse into Epstein’s elite circles

Neither email establishes that Epstein attended Dialog, became a member of the organization, or maintained a direct relationship with Thiel.

But the documents offer another glimpse into the elite intellectual and technology circles Epstein sought to cultivate after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Randall is among the world’s most prominent theoretical physicists. A professor at Harvard University, she has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and is widely regarded as one of the leading voices in particle physics and cosmology.

Her appearance in the files is notable because of Epstein’s extensive ties to Harvard.

A 2020 investigation commissioned by Harvard found that Epstein maintained relationships with numerous faculty members and researchers for years. The university reported receiving roughly $9.1 million from Epstein between 1998 and 2008 and documented dozens of interactions between Epstein and members of the Harvard community, some of which continued after his criminal conviction became public.

University investigators ultimately concluded that Harvard should have severed its relationship with Epstein much sooner.

The newly released email suggests that, by 2012, Epstein remained connected to influential academics and intellectuals who moved in some of the same circles as leaders in Silicon Valley and the technology industry.

The Dialog leak

The resurfaced emails arrive amid growing scrutiny of Dialog itself.

Earlier this month, researchers and journalists revealed that records embedded in the code of Dialog’s website appeared to expose details about members and participants of the secretive organization. The discovery offered one of the clearest looks yet into a network often compared to the Bilderberg Group for its mix of political, business, military, and technology leaders.

According to reporting on the leak, alleged members included executives, celebrities, government officials, academics, investors, and technology founders, such as Elon Musk, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Sen. Cory Booker, former record executive and talent manager (and boyfriend of Sydney Sweeney) Scooter Braun, and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

The newly surfaced Epstein emails add another layer of intrigue to an organization that has traditionally operated behind closed doors.

South Florida connections

The revelations also arrive as Thiel’s footprint in South Florida continues to expand.

Earlier this year, reports emerged that Thiel’s family office leased space at Miami’s 830 Brickell office tower, one of the city’s most prestigious corporate addresses. The tower counts Citadel Securities, Thoma Bravo, and Microsoft among its tenants.

Meanwhile, Palantir, the data analytics company Thiel co-founded, has deepened its presence in Miami as South Florida continues attracting major technology and finance firms.

The emails do not suggest wrongdoing by Thiel, Randall, or Dialog. Nor do they establish that Epstein ever participated in the organization.

What they do reveal is that one of Silicon Valley’s most secretive networks appeared more than once in Epstein’s correspondence — a coincidence that has become harder to ignore now that Dialog itself has been thrust into the spotlight.

More than a decade later, a few questions remain unanswered: Did Randall take up the invitation to join Dialog, and did Epstein ever join the group?

The records released so far don’t say.