Once upon a time, Lawrence Krauss was treated like royalty in Australia.
Throughout the 2010s, the rockstar Canadian-American astrophysics professor, New York Times bestselling author and “professional atheist” was a frequent fixture at high-profile scientific conferences and a regular guest on ABC’s Q+A, where he was pitted against the likes of Christian Democratic Party MP Fred Nile and One Nation’s newest recruit, Cory Bernardi.
But Australia also proved to be the site of Krauss’ downfall. At an Australian Skeptics gala dinner at Melbourne Zoo in 2016, microbiologist Melanie Thomson alleged she saw Krauss grope another woman’s breast. She subsequently raised complaints with Krauss’ employer, Arizona State University, and the Australian National University in Canberra, where he had an honorary professorship. Both were quietly dismissed.
But in early 2018, at the height of the #MeToo era, Thomson’s claims formed the basis of a BuzzFeed news report, revealing multiple accounts of inappropriate behaviour by Krauss going back over a decade, which included fondling and sexist remarks.
Arizona State investigated the incident again, this time finding that he had groped a woman at the Melbourne Zoo function. He later retired from the university, but released a statement insisting that he had “never harassed or assaulted anyone”.
As the walls were closing in, Krauss called on a powerful friend to help manage Thomson’s claims: Jeffrey Epstein.
The late paedophile financier cultivated extraordinary connections with global elites, from princes and prime ministers to academics and intellectuals. Krauss was no exception. His organisations received thousands of dollars in donations from Epstein.
“Beyond anything else, you are my friend. I hope we can both always remember that, no matter what,” he told Epstein in a 2011 email.
One of Krauss’ organisations, the Origins Project, received $250,000 in donations from Epstein between 2010 and 2017. This was after Epstein had cut a sweetheart deal in 2008 to serve just 13 months’ jail time in Florida (with work release during the day) after pleading guilty to procuring a child for prostitution.
Despite the plea, Krauss continued to defend him.
“As a scientist I always judge things on empirical evidence and he always has women ages 19 to 23 around him, but I’ve never seen anything else, so as a scientist, my presumption is that whatever the problems were I would believe him over other people,” Krauss told the Daily Beast in 2011.
“I don’t feel tarnished in any way by my relationship with Jeffrey, I feel raised by it,” Krauss said.
When the United States Department of Justice released another immense tranche of documents relating to Epstein’s activities, thousands of emails showing the strength of that relationship spilled into view.
Written in Epstein’s trademark stream-of-consciousness style, matched with Krauss’ own loose commitment to regular grammar, the exchanges show the pair initially discussing the physicist’s regular trips to Australia.
In correspondence from 2014, Krauss asks whether Epstein will bring his private jet to Australia to help transport his cat back to the US, floating the possibility of the pair visiting “the amazing art museum in Hobart” together – a reference to the Tasmanian capital’s Museum of Old and New Art.
In another email from the previous year, they discuss Krauss’ coming 2014 wedding to his Australian wife, Nancy Dahl.
“There actually will be some interesting people at wedding.. mostly from australia, and mostly fcmaic [sic].. though too old for you,” Krauss says.
There is no suggestion Dahl was aware of or had any involvement in Krauss’ relationship with Epstein.
From mid-2017 onwards, after Thomson first made her complaint, and BuzzFeed’s journalists began their investigation, Epstein and Krauss’ discussion turned towards reputation management, with the financier acting as a sometime legal adviser, press secretary, sounding board and therapist.
“I’ll be there for you every day, no worries,” Epstein assured Krauss in late 2017.
In March 2018, weeks after the BuzzFeed story broke, Krauss emailed Justin Dillon, a Washington, DC-based lawyer specialising in campus discipline cases, telling him that before they could sign a retainer, he would first need to speak to Epstein, who was later forwarded the messages.
“I have been advised through much of the BuzzFeed experience, both before and after, by a friend, who is also somewhat infamous. His name is Jeffrey Epstein, and you may know who he is already,” Krauss said.
“Bottom line Is that Jeffrey is not only friends with most of the famous people from finance, to business, to Hollywood, who have either been brought down during#metoo and he also speaks regularly with people ranging from the awful white house people, who he is friends with, to ken start [sic].”
That appears to be a reference to former US solicitor general Ken Starr, who helped impeach Bill Clinton and served on Epstein’s legal team. Dillon declined to comment.
In September 2018, shortly before he retired from Arizona State, Krauss discussed the possibility of bringing defamation action in Australia against Thomson and BuzzFeed with a woman described in the files by Krauss as an Australian journalist, “a strong supporter” and “friend of ours”.
“You can’t touch them in the US, but in Australia you can smash them,” the person wrote, pointing to the more-plaintiff-friendly defamation laws in NSW.
The woman, whose true identity is not revealed, provided Krauss with detailed background about the Australian legal system, suggesting that he approach top defamation silk and former ABC Media Watch host Stuart Littlemore for advice, in correspondence also forwarded to Epstein.
There is no suggestion that the woman was aware that Epstein was also advising Krauss or that her emails were being forwarded to him.
Epstein did not approve.
“no [sic] sure why you take advice from random people with no expertise,” Epstein said of the woman’s suggestions.
“I am not taking advise. I am passing it on. She is a journalist and has been thru the defamation mill. Littlemore is the go to guy there. A real prick it looks like,” Krauss said.
“He’s a gunslinger. You want to hire gunslingers. If they win, you want them on your side. I think it is worth approaching him and getting his opinion,” he said of Littlemore.
Littlemore told this masthead he’d never been approached by Krauss or Epstein and this masthead does not suggest otherwise.
But Epstein disapproved of his friend suing in Australia
“so to be clear I will not fund,” he said of Krauss’ desire to approach Littlemore.
“i cant [sic] participate in you damagin [sic] yourself”.
When Krauss drafted a lengthy letter to send to potential solicitors in Australia, Epstein appeared to grow fed up.
“LAWRENCE get some sleep . this is awful , silly , misleading. false. trite,” he said.
“I will not review any more of these silly letters, . appeal appeal appeal,” he said.
Ultimately, Epstein’s wishes prevailed. Krauss never launched defamation action in this country. Less than a year later, Epstein was found hanging in a New York prison cell while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Krauss did not respond to attempts to contact him via his website and email. A person who answered a number listed as Krauss’ personal telephone in the Epstein files hung up when this masthead explained the purpose of the call.
In a statement provided to The New York Times last year, Krauss said that he sought advice from everyone he knew after Epstein was accused of sexual misconduct.
“As should be noted, none of the communications with Epstein relate in any way to the horrendous crimes he was accused of in 2019. I was as shocked as the rest of the world when he was arrested,” he said.
Thomson, who made the initial complaint about Krauss, has since left the scientific profession and relocated to Northern England. She told this masthead she was unaware Krauss had contemplated suing her, or had discussions about this with Epstein, until the Department of Justice released documents last week.
Thomson said that when she first went public with her complaint about Krauss, she knew she was risking professional backlash, and possible litigation, but decided to “take one for the team” on behalf of other women in science.
“We knew he [Krauss] was litigious, and now we know he’d done all that legal sabre-rattling with Epstein helping him out,” she said.
“But I decided that ‘I’m gonna stare you down, and you can blink. Come at me bro.’”
The saga has left Thomson with a rare distinction. She is one of the few people to be mentioned in the Epstein documents – her name appears 38 times – and emerge with their reputation enhanced.
“I’m now the cool mum because I’m in the Epstein files for the right reasons,” she said.
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Kishor Napier-Raman is a senior business writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Previously he worked as a CBD columnist and reporter in the federal parliamentary press gallery.Connect via X or email.