A pioneer of âgender-affirmingâ medical procedures excitedly agreed to visit Jeffrey Epsteinâs personal island and asked the late financier to fund his upcoming documentary, documents released Friday by the Department of Justice (DOJ) show.
Dr. Jess Ting, now an assistant professor of surgery at New Yorkâs Mount Sinai Health System, made the request in a 2016 email to Epstein that discussed his âinnovativeâ new transgender clinic within the hospital network. Ting appeared to have accepted an invitation to Epsteinâs private island three years earlier from an unidentified Epstein âassistant,â the emails show.
Ting did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundationâs request for comment. The doctor has worked for Mt. Sinai since 2001, according to his LinkedIn profile. The surgeon has not been implicated in any of Epsteinâs alleged crimes.
Ting excitedly informed Epstein in the 2016 email that he was made director of Mt. Sinaiâs transgender medicine and surgery program launched in 2016.
âThatâs right â Mount Sinai, being the progressive place that it is, saw opportunity and need to take a leadership position in the area of Transgender Health and created the first full-spectrum academic program in the US focused on transgender surgery and care,â reads the email. âThis was such an interesting and innovative idea, that I thought it would make a good documentary.â
Ting spearheaded Mt. Sinaiâs first transgender-related vaginoplasty, a surgery that involves castrating a man and forming a fake vagina, according to his profile on Mt. Sinaiâs website.
âIf I could just be really forward, I was wondering if you would be interested in supporting this documentary?â Ting asked Epstein. âIf so, the producer, director and I would love to come and give you the pitch in person. This is an exciting, groundbreaking project â both the center and the documentary â that will do good for the world. I hope you can be a part of it.â
A documentary about Tingâs work for transgender patients, âBorn to Be,â was released in 2019, though available documents do not reveal whether Epstein agreed to fund the film.
Tingâs 2016 email also thanked Epstein for previously giving Mt. Sinai a $50,000 grant. Epstein previously said he would give Ting that amount for breast cancer research upon his request, a 2013 email exchange shows.
Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008, years before the contact between him and Ting. Epstein was under federal investigation for an alleged sex trafficking enterprise that operated with assistance from his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, before he died in his jail cell in August 2019. Authorities ruled his death a suicide by hanging.
An Epstein associate whose name is redacted from the DOJâs records invited Ting to âhave some funâ on the disgraced financierâs private island in a 2013 email exchange.
âJeffrey would like you to enjoy a day on his island during your vacation!â the assistant wrote. âWe can have you and your family picked up from St. John on what ever day is convenient for you, brought to Jeffreyâs island to play with his âtoysâ and have some lunch.â
Ting called the offer âextremely generous,â continued to coordinate a date with Epsteinâs associates and proposing to bring a friend and her three kids aged eight and under, the emails show. An Epstein assistant told Ting in an email days later, âI hope you had a nice visit to Jeffreyâs island last Friday.â
The DOJ released troves of Epstein-related documents that included Tingâs correspondence under President Donald Trumpâs Epstein Files Transparency Act on Friday.
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