Epstein Boasted of Personally Lobbying Congress to Defund Cold Fusion Research, Federal Files Show

Federal documents released as part of the US Department of Justice's January 2026 Epstein file disclosure contain a previously unreported email exchange in which Jeffrey Epstein claimed personal credit for ending congressional funding for cold fusion research — describing in specific terms how he lobbied against the science and met with the head of the Mormon Church to secure the outcome.

The emails, filed under federal exhibit numbers EFTA02437662, EFTA00740161, and EFTA00740600 show a 2009 exchange between Epstein and Al Seckel — a perceptual scientist, TED speaker, and board member of Milken's Knowledge Universe. The correspondence took place approximately one year after Epstein's June 2008 guilty plea to soliciting a minor in Florida.

'I Was There'

On the morning of 1 October 2009, Epstein wrote to Seckel: 'regarding cold fusion. i killed pons years ago.' When Seckel pressed him for details — 'How did you kill him?' — Epstein replied with specifics, writing that 'the origidnal senate funding came out of congress, and wayne owens senator from utah ,, i was there an argues against, it, had ot meet with the head of the mormon church.'

The target of Epstein's claimed intervention was Stanley Pons, the University of Utah electrochemist who, alongside Martin Fleischmann, announced in March 1989 that they had achieved nuclear fusion at room temperature. The announcement generated global headlines and the prospect of virtually limitless clean energy. Within months, mainstream physics institutions moved to discredit the findings, funding was withdrawn, and Pons eventually relocated to a French laboratory funded by Toyota.

Wayne Owens, the figure Epstein names, was a Democratic congressman representing Utah's 2nd district from 1987 to 1993 — Epstein refers to him as a 'senator,' though Owens served in the House. The congressional dimension of the cold fusion controversy is documented: the University of Utah sought $25 million (approximately £18.8 million) from Congress to fund further research, and the state legislature had separately appropriated $5 million (approximately £3.75 million). Brigham Young University, governed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was also entangled in the dispute through physicist Steven Jones, who had been conducting parallel cold fusion research. Epstein's reference to meeting the head of the Mormon Church aligns with BYU's institutional role in the congressional funding fight.

A Network of Science Gatekeepers

The emails extend beyond Epstein's boast. A follow-up exchange from 14 October 2009, filed under EFTA00740600, reveals Seckel describing his role evaluating cold fusion devices for 'one of the google guys' — unnamed, but identified in the correspondence as a Silicon Valley billionaire on the verge of investing millions. Seckel dismissed the device as 'junk science' and was paid for the assessment. His function in the network, as described across the emails, was to determine which emerging science was legitimate and which was not — with clients that included the founders of one of the world's most powerful technology companies.

In the same 14 October email, Seckel informed Epstein he was set to moderate a panel at the Kodak Theater (now the Dolby Theatre) titled 'Are We Transitioning from an Age of Information into an Age of Misinformation? And, what Can We Do About It?' Panellists included Jon Klein, then president of CNN, along with Arianna Huffington and Caprice Young, chief executive of Milken's Knowledge Universe. Seckel's own framing of the panel, as relayed to Epstein, argued that the 'democratisation of information' — independent publishers, bloggers, people issuing health advice online — was a civilisational threat requiring institutional filters to be restored.

The opening line of Seckel's 14 October email, however, drew the sharpest contrast: 'Congratulations on your labeling! :-) I had that badge of distinction given to me by every female I have wanted to be with.' The 'labeling' was Epstein's sex offender registration. One year after conviction, it was treated as a joke within the network.

The Cold Fusion Dispute, Revisited

The Substack investigation notes that the claim is uncorroborated within the federal exhibit record and has not been independently verified against congressional records. Epstein may have exaggerated his role. Wayne Owens is a documented historical figure, however, and the congressional funding battle over cold fusion is well-recorded in appropriations history and contemporaneous reporting from 1989 to 1991. The LDS Church's governance of BYU is equally a matter of public record.

A second set of federal exhibits — spanning April to May 2016 — shows Epstein in correspondence with Cambridge-trained biologist Rupert Sheldrake, discussing 'taboo' science and convening meetings at MIT to determine which suppressed research areas warranted fresh review. Sheldrake asked Epstein directly whether LENR — Low Energy Nuclear Reactions, the term that replaced 'cold fusion' after Pons and Fleischmann's work was discredited — had been included in those discussions. The federal record does not contain Epstein's reply.

The emails add a dimension to Epstein's influence that has received less attention than his relationships with academics and public figures: the claim of direct, undisclosed intervention in congressional science funding decisions. If Epstein's account holds against the historical record, it would place a private individual with no scientific credentials at the centre of a political effort to end what was, at the time, one of the most closely watched scientific controversies of the 20th century. The DOJ's Epstein file release, which began on 30 January 2026, continues to surface correspondence that researchers and journalists are still working through.