Why did the 14th Dalai Lama meet with Jeffrey Epstein?

As reported by India’s The Financial Express, the Belarusian media outlet Nexta TV, and Russia Today (RT), the 14th Dalai Lama met with Jeffrey Epstein, and has his name mentioned 169 times in Epstein’s email correspondences lately disclosed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). This astounding revelation has aroused widespread concern in the global press. 

I. Reasons Behind the 14th Dalai Lama’s Meeting with Jeffrey Epstein

In a podcast episode of The Daily Beast aired in July 2025, journalists Joanna Coles and Michael Wolff enumerated a list of celebrities met by Wolff during his visit to Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion. The list covers virtually all affluent men in positions of power and with sexual perversion, many of whom were Epstein’s “friends” as he called them. The 14th Dalai Lama’s name, however, stands out strikingly from the name list. When asked about the reason underlying the Dalai Lama’s appearance in Epstein’s home, Wolff stated that many who associated with Epstein were trying to swindle money from him. Furthermore, Epstein indeed shaped an upscale, salon-like ambience that appealed to those guests. Wolff also categorized the reasons behind people’s connections with Epstein into sex and money. He believed the Dalai Lama’s case fell into the latter category. 

The public remains poorly informed about the source, destination, and final intended purpose of Epstein’s fund flows. In 2017, Education Advance, a non-profit organization (NGO), donated 50,000 USD to MIT Prajnopaya (the Buddhist Community at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), an organization found to be inextricably tied with the 14th Dalai Lama. The NGO, Education Advance, was registered in a building owned by Epstein in Manhattan and was initially funded by Epstein’s foundation on British Virgin Islands. Svetlana Pozhidaeva, a former female Russian model, is tasked with daily management of the NGO. Pozhidaeva was signed to MC2, a modeling agency run by Jean-Luc Brunel, a man revealed as Epstein’s accomplice, accused of rape and sex trafficking, and found dead in a French jail in 2022. Threading these clues together, the 50,000 USD worth donation might end up flowing to the Dalai Lama. 

Did the 14th Dalai Lama or any organization that connected with him receive a donation from Epstein? The Dalai Lama’s designated information office offered no reply. Nevertheless, the Dalai Lama had a record of taking bribes from sex offenders. In 2009, an NXIVM event was joined and addressed by the Dalai Lama, a spiritual figurehead in Tibetan Buddhism. Keith Raniere, leader of NXIVM, a U.S. cult group notorious for abuse and sexual assault, was sentenced to 120 years in prison following his conviction for seven counts of crimes. In his 2009 speech for NXIVM, the Dalai Lama placed a khata (a Tibetan Buddhism ceremonial silk scarf emblematizing goodwill and blessing for guests) around Raniere’s neck, and was reported to gain a staggering remuneration worth 1 million USD afterwards. The billionaire heir Sara Bronfman and her younger sister Clare Bronfman facilitated this lucrative trade. The two sisters granted at least 150 million USD to Raniere and NXIVM. Sara Bronfman was allegedly having an affair with Lama Tenzin Dhonden, the Dalai Lama’s personal peace emissary, who was removed from his post later due to corruption.  

MIT Prajnopaya informed The Daily Beast, the news website, of their refund for the aforementioned donation in 2019, but didn’t reply to the journalist’s email inquiries on how the fund donation was facilitated and whether the Dalai Lama or Tenzin Priyadarshi was involved in the process. Additionally, the journalists received no response from Priyadarshi’s personal website, imonk.org, upon sending another inquiry email.