Hacking conference Def Con bans three people linked to Epstein

Source: TechCrunch

Def Con, one of the world’s largest and longest‑running hacking conferences, announced on Wednesday that three individuals linked to Jeffrey Epstein are no longer allowed to attend.

Banned Individuals

Def Con added Pablos Holman, Vincenzo Iozzo, and Joichi Ito to its public list of banned individuals. The conference cited their appearance in the Department of Justice’s latest release of files related to its investigation of the late investor and convicted sex offender, as well as a Politico article that referenced emails the three exchanged with Epstein.

Reactions

• Iozzo’s spokesperson, Joan Vollero, told TechCrunch that Def Con’s actions are “entirely performative, given that Mr. Iozzo has barely attended the conference in the past twenty years.”

  “It was a rush to judgment not based on any investigation or wrongdoing by Mr. Iozzo,” the spokesperson added.

• Representatives for Def Con, Holman, and Ito did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

Related Conference Actions

The bans come days after TechCrunch reported that cybersecurity conferences Black Hat and Code Blue removed Iozzo from their official review‑board pages (source) amid new revelations linking him and others to Epstein.

Background on the Individuals

Vincenzo Iozzo

• Founder and CEO of identity‑startup SlashID.
• Former director at CrowdStrike, after its acquisition of his startup IperLane in 2017.
• Interacted with Epstein between 2014 and 2018, including after the Miami Herald reported new allegations of abuse (article 1, article 2).
• Told TechCrunch his interactions were “limited to business opportunities that never materialized… and he never observed nor participated in any illegal activity or behavior.”
• Previously a research affiliate at the MIT Media Lab, which was overseen by Joichi Ito at the time; the two appear together in several Epstein emails.

Joichi Ito

• Former director of the MIT Media Lab until 2019, when he resigned after it was reported that he was aware of Epstein’s status as a convicted sex offender and that the lab had extensive personal and financial ties to Epstein (BBC report).

Pablos Holman

• General partner at venture‑capital firm Deep Future; describes himself as “a hacker, inventor & technology futurist.”
• In contact with Epstein since 2010, planned to stay at one of Epstein’s New York apartments in 2013, and attempted to help Epstein hide negative online news stories (email 1, email 2).
• An email shows Epstein made plans to attend Def Con with Holman in 2013, though it is unclear whether they actually attended. Def Con founder Jeff Moss has said that, as far as he knows, “Epstein never attended” (Reddit comment).

Jeffrey Epstein Overview

• Pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting sex from girls and was registered as a sex offender in New York and Florida (The Guardian).
• In 2019, the Department of Justice accused him of trafficking, exploiting, and abusing dozens of underage girls (DOJ press release).
• Died in jail in 2023 (NPR).