Valeria Chomsky, wife of the renowned linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky, has released a public apology acknowledging the couple’s past professional and social contacts with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, describing how they were deceived by his carefully cultivated persona and “unknowingly opened a door to a Trojan horse.”
The statement comes amid renewed public scrutiny following the recent release of millions of pages of Epstein-related documents by the U.S. Justice Department under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law in November 2025.
In her detailed message, Valeria explained that the Chomskys first met Epstein in 2015 at a professional event where he presented himself as a science philanthropist and financial expert interested in supporting academic work. The couple, she said, did not conduct sufficient due diligence on his background—a “grave mistake” they later regretted.
It was only after the Miami Herald’s landmark investigative series in November 2018 exposed the full scope of Epstein’s 2008 Florida conviction and the lenient plea deal he received that the Chomskys became aware of the true nature and extent of his criminal activities.
Valeria emphasized that Epstein deliberately exploited Noam Chomsky’s well-known criticisms of “cancel culture” and institutional power to portray himself as a victim of unfair persecution—an image Noam accepted in good faith at the time.
Their interactions, she clarified, remained strictly professional and were limited to:
Academic discussions
Lunches and dinners in public or academic settings
Brief stays connected to work-related events
She explicitly stated that the couple never visited Epstein’s private island, never witnessed any wrongdoing, and never observed the presence of children or underage individuals during their encounters.
The statement firmly expressed solidarity with Epstein’s victims:
“We recognize the gravity of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and the profound suffering of his victims. Nothing in this statement is intended to minimize that.”
Valeria also addressed the financial aspects of their contact. Epstein provided administrative assistance on a private matter unrelated to his crimes, including facilitating a $270,000 transfer of Noam Chomsky’s own funds and sending a $20,000 check to support a linguistics initiative. These were characterized as technical facilitation arrangements, not donations in either direction.
Noam Chomsky, now 97, suffered a severe stroke in June 2023 that left him unable to speak or communicate publicly. He has been under constant medical care since then, looked after exclusively by Valeria without any public relations assistance or media team.
Valeria’s apology highlights the painful irony: Noam Chomsky’s lifelong intellectual project has been rooted in challenging abuses of power, exposing exploitation, and advocating for the marginalized—values that stand in direct opposition to the predatory behavior Epstein embodied.
The recent Justice Department release—comprising more than 3 million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images—has shed further light on Epstein’s extensive network of contacts among business leaders, billionaires, government officials, and media figures in the United States and internationally.
Epstein was found dead by suicide in a New York City jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges involving dozens of underage girls.
Valeria concluded her statement by reaffirming the couple’s regret over the lapse in judgment and their unwavering support for survivors of sexual abuse and exploitation.
The apology has drawn a range of reactions online, with some observers acknowledging the couple’s transparency while others continue to question how high-profile intellectuals and public figures could have been unaware of Epstein’s reputation even before the 2018 Miami Herald exposé.
