In the weeks since photos first surfaced showing New Hampshire businessman Dean Kamen socializing with Jeffrey Epstein, Kamen has stressed that his dealings with the convicted sex trafficker and his circle were “limited.”
But newly released documents show the men shared a relationship that spanned several years, and included trips to Florida and the Caribbean, correspondence with mutual acquaintances, and scuttled plans for Kamen to visit Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico.
Friday’s release of three million new documents in the Epstein files includes dozens of records related to Kamen: emails between Kamen, Epstein, and their assistants that refer to phone calls between the men; shared travel; and a willingness to do favors for each other. The records cover the period 2011 to 2014, years after Epstein was first convicted and served jail time for sex crimes against minors.
Included in the newly released documents is a string of emails between Kamen and Epstein that detail plans for Kamen to visit Little St. James, the Caribbean island Epstein owned that’s been described as a “hub” for his underage sex trafficking.
“Firstly, let me thank you for hosting an incredible visit to a magical place,” Kamen wrote to Epstein on April 20, 2013, days after the visit. “It really is almost unbelievable.”
An email in that same thread shows Kamen declining Epstein's offer to supply Kamen with an anonymous donation to provide a victim of the Boston Marathon bombing with a free wheelchair, known as an IBOT.
“I greatly appreciate your offer to help the Boston victims, but we can’t deliver IBOTs that way,” Kamen wrote.
But other times the two did manage to collaborate, the records show.
In August 2014, Epstein emailed Kamen asking him to help an associate who was looking for an internship at a water treatment plant.
“Done,“ Kamen replied an hour later. “Please have her contact me by email or phone”
A string of correspondence
NHPR attempted to contact Kamen Friday by email through both his private company and the non-profit bio-medical organization he oversees, but did not receive a response. Kamen has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to his time spent with Epstein.
The newly released Department of Justice files include numerous emails between the two men coordinating social and travel plans. One back and forth between Kamen and Epstein details the coordination of a trip to St. Thomas in April of 2013, apparently using Kamen’s plane.
In one exchange between Epstein and Kamen before the trip, Kamen confirms he will be visiting British billionaire Richard Branson, and discusses transportation between Branson’s island and Little St. James, Epstein’s island.
Kamen asks Epstein how close Branson’s island is to Little St. James, and Epstein replies, “20 minutes heli or 10 flying.”
Other correspondence includes several references to Kamen flying “the girls” to “PB from NY,” an apparent reference to Palm Beach, Florida, where Epstein owned a mansion. (NHPR emailed Kamen’s companies Friday asking for clarification on what “the girls” referred to, but did not get a response.)
Elsewhere in the records, an email from a redacted email address confirms Kamen’s travel plans.
“Ok, spoke to Karen in Dean’s office,” the email reads, referring to Kamen’s assistant. “. . . she says Dean will be spending the night with Jeffrey on the island, Sat April 13 and departing on Sun April 14 (don’t know time of departure).”
A separate series of emails from August of 2013 discuss whether or not Kamen would be an overnight guest at Epstein’s New Mexico ranch, another site of alleged sex trafficking.
“Dean was not able to change his plans and therefore will not be staying overnight at the ranch. Please let Mr. Epstein know this as soon as you possibly can,” Kamen’s assistant wrote.
The files also show Kamen, Epstein and their assistants scheduling phone calls and meetings between the two men in 2011, 2013, and 2015.
Photos released earlier
The records released Friday are not the first documents to detail the relationship between Kamen and Epstein. In December, the House Oversight Committee released a photograph of Kamen alongside Epstein and Branson. The undated photo was taken on Branson’s private island, Kamen said.
Later that month, the U.S. Department of Justice released an image of Kamen with Epstein’s longtime accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as part of a broader release of Epstein records.
That photo was taken in 2002 at a TED Talk conference, Kamen told WMUR, where he said he gave rides to many attendees.
"Unfortunately, Jeffrey Epstein was a central figure in the TED community for many years,” Kamen said in the statement. “I have no specific memory of this photo or any other interaction with Ghislaine Maxwell and had only limited interactions with Jeffrey Epstein. I hope that it goes without saying that those interactions in no way involved any wrong-doing and, in hindsight with what I now know, I regret even those limited interactions. Again, I have no knowledge of any of the horrific actions of Jeffrey Epstein (or Ghislaine Maxwell) other than what I have learned from news reports."
Kamen’s name previously appeared in a flight log from 2003, when he flew on Epstein’s private jet from New York to Monterey, California. Kamen himself is an avid pilot, sometimes using his own helicopter to
commute from his home in Bedford to the Manchester millyard, where he owns a number of buildings.
Kamen became something of a celebrity inventor in 2001, when he released the Segway personal transport device on national television. Over the years, he’s used his business success to develop close ties with elected officials across political parties.
In recent years, Kamen has become the central figure in ARMI, a massive government-funded project in Manchester that works to develop medical technologies that could help regrow human tissues and organs. The project has been championed by powerful figures in New Hampshire, including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
Kamen has enjoyed a long, successful career in science and engineering, most of it based at his company DEKA, headquartered in the millyard. He was responsible for several innovations in medical devices, including a precision wearable pump for medicine and an advanced home dialysis machine.
Kamen served on NHPR’s Board of Trustees from 1987 to 1992, but has no connection to the organization today.
