Children’s Online Safety Nonprofit Under Scrutiny for Board Members’ Epstein Connections

Common Sense Media (CSM), a nonprofit organization dedicated to children’s online safety, faces questions about its board composition as multiple members have past connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The organization, founded by Jim Steyer, brother of billionaire California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer, will host a conference next week featuring prominent Democrats including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.

While no allegations of wrongdoing related to Epstein’s crimes have been made against these board members, their past communications with him raise concerns about judgment and the organization’s vetting process, particularly given CSM’s mission to put children’s “well-being first in the digital era.”

“Having reviewed the related references here, we have no concerns about these individuals. Common Sense Media remains the leading non-partisan children’s advocacy organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the best interest of America’s children and families,” a CSM spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

The Steyer brothers themselves have not appeared in Epstein’s communications and have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Board Members With Epstein Connections

Tim Zagat, co-founder of the Zagat Survey dining guide, reportedly dined with Epstein on multiple occasions and appears in Epstein’s flight logs. Emails reviewed by Fox News Digital show Zagat reaching out to Epstein with dinner invitations. He also reportedly attended a dinner at Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion in 2014, alongside Woody Allen and Nick Pritzker, cousin of Governor JB Pritzker.

Flight records from 2002 list Zagat as a passenger on Epstein’s private jet, commonly referred to as the “Lolita Express,” seemingly for a trip to a TED conference in California.

Geraldine Laybourne, former president of Nickelodeon from 1984 to 1996, appears on the same 2002 flight log as Zagat. Laybourne has previously stated she did not know the plane belonged to Epstein when she accepted a flight from New York to Monterey, California, telling the Daily Beast in 2023: “We said yes. We did not know whose plane it was or who Jeffrey Epstein was.”

Howard Gardner, a prominent education scholar from Harvard Graduate School of Education, appears approximately 380 times in Department of Justice Epstein disclosures, primarily in email communications. In one email, Epstein described planned meetings with Harvard experts, including Gardner, whom he listed for “intelligence.”

Gardner told The Harvard Crimson last year that once Epstein had been arrested, he made it clear he could no longer accept funding, but tried to remain supportive as “a friend and beneficiary of his philanthropy.” He added, “Of course, no one I knew had any idea of the nature and extent of Epstein’s crimes, which only became clear in the following years.”

Cyrus Vance Jr., former Manhattan district attorney who joined CSM’s board in 2024, faced criticism in 2011 when his office argued that Epstein should receive a lower-level sex offender designation. The judge in that case expressed surprise at the prosecutor’s request, saying, “I have never seen the prosecutor’s office do anything like this.”

In response to inquiries, Vance stated he had no knowledge of Epstein’s prior case due to an error and that after becoming aware of it, he pursued the strongest possible restrictions. “I have never met, or communicated with Mr. Epstein in any form,” Vance said.

Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation and longtime CSM board member, has connections to Epstein through Ghislaine Maxwell, who attended Clinton’s wedding. Clinton has stated the invitation came through Ted Waitt, a Clinton Foundation donor. Politico previously reported the relationship between Maxwell and Clinton was “incredibly close,” though Clinton has disputed this characterization.

Both of Clinton’s parents, Bill and Hillary, recently testified before the House Oversight Committee about their relationships with Epstein and Maxwell.

Foundation Partners

Adding to the controversy, CSM counts the Gates Foundation among its foundation partners. Bill Gates, the foundation’s co-founder and board chair, has acknowledged meeting with Epstein multiple times over several years—connections he has since called “foolish.”

“In retrospect, I was foolish to spend any time with him,” Gates has said. “I thought it would help me with global health philanthropy. In fact, it failed to do that. It was just a huge mistake.” Gates is expected to testify before the House Oversight Committee in May regarding these connections.

The extensive Epstein connections among CSM’s leadership raise questions about oversight and vetting at an organization focused on child safety, particularly as public scrutiny of Epstein’s network intensifies following recent document releases by the Department of Justice.