Match website sent 18 women’s dating profiles to Jeffrey Epstein despite offender registration
WASHINGTON, DC: Newly released Department of Justice files show that online dating platform Match.com sent profiles of 18 young women to Jeffrey Epstein, despite his status as a registered sex offender. Epstein, the disgraced financier, was required to register in 2008 and served 13 months in a minimum-security jail. According to the files, emails from Match Group sent in 2012 promised him additional “new matches” from across the United States.
The emails highlight a troubling lapse in the dating platform’s safety measures, raising questions about how registered offenders were able to access such services at the time.
Match website emailed Epstein despite offender registration
On July 5, 2012, Match.com sent Epstein an email stating, “Congratulations on your first 18 matches. We will continue to send you new matches.” The message, sent to the account “jeeproject,” listed multiple matches with women across the US, all 26 or younger.
The day before, Epstein received another email welcoming him to the site, which is owned by Match Group, the parent company of other dating apps including OkCupid, Tinder, and Hinge. “Welcome to the Leading Online Dating Site. Congratulations! You’ve joined the most dynamic group of singles out there. We’re responsible for more dates, relationships, and marriages than any other site,” the email read, noting he was a man “seeking women.”
In April 2011, Match.com had announced plans to screen users registered as offenders. “We’ve been advised that a combination of improved technology and an improved database now enables a sufficient degree of accuracy to move forward with this initiative, despite its continued imperfection,” former CEO Mandy Ginsberg said. Today, Match Group states that registered s*x offenders and suspected traffickers are banned from its platforms.
Match Group responds to reports of emails to Epstein
A spokesperson for Match Group told The New York Post that the emails occurred at a time when safety checks were far more limited than they are now. “The activity referenced dates back more than a decade, during a time when safety tools and registry checks were far more limited than they are today,” the spokesperson said.
“Since then, both the tools available and Match Group’s own Trust & Safety practices have been significantly strengthened through improvements in technology and our continued investment in safety.”
Records show Epstein paid just over $45 per month for Match.com and had also signed up for OkCupid in January 2011, before Match Group acquired the company. It remains unclear whether he ever contacted or met any of the women he was matched with.
Epstein was later federally charged in New York in 2019 with trafficking underage girls over several years. He died in his jail cell that August while awaiting trial. Authorities believe he victimized hundreds of women and children.
