‘Super race’: Epstein had a disturbing ‘baby ranch’ plan to seed humanity with his DNA. He died soon after sharing the extreme plan for his body

Jeffrey E. Epstein told scientists and others over the years that he hoped to seed the human race with his DNA by impregnating women at his New Mexico ranch, according to a 2019 New York Times report citing four people familiar with his thinking. Some who heard him privately called the idea a plan for a “super race.” There is no evidence that the plan was ever carried out.

He described the site as Zorro Ranch, a large estate outside Santa Fe that he bought in 1993. Two award-winning scientists and an adviser said he told them, starting in the early 2000s, that women would be inseminated with his sperm there and give birth to his children.

Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, to which he had pleaded not guilty. He also spoke about what he wanted done with his body. One person who discussed transhumanism with him said Epstein wanted his head and penis frozen.

Associates said Epstein discussed using the ranch to impregnate many women at once

Jaron Lanier said that at a dinner at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion, a scientist who identified herself as working at NASA told him Epstein’s goal was to have 20 women at a time impregnated at the ranch. Lanier said he had the impression Epstein used those dinners, where some guests were attractive women with academic credentials, to screen candidates to bear his children.

Johanna Sjoberg, a college student who visited the ranch in 2005, said in a deposition that Epstein asked her to be the mother of his child and that she did not agree. People who heard the baby ranch idea said there was no indication it would have been against the law.

Epstein’s interest was tied to transhumanism, described as the science of improving people through genetic engineering and other technology. Critics have likened parts of that thinking to eugenics. Alan M. Dershowitz recalled that at a lunch Epstein hosted in Cambridge, Epstein steered talk toward how humans could be improved genetically. Dershowitz said he was appalled, given the Nazis’ use of eugenics.

Steven Pinker said he was invited to gatherings where Epstein held court. Pinker described him as an “intellectual impostor” and said, “He would abruptly change the subject, A.D.D.-style, dismiss an observation with an adolescent wisecrack.”

At one Harvard session, Epstein criticized efforts to reduce starvation and provide health care to the poor because doing so increased the risk of overpopulation, Pinker said. Pinker said he rebutted that argument. A Harvard colleague later told Pinker he had been “voted off the island” and was no longer welcome.

Epstein helped start Harvard’s Program for Evolutionary Dynamics with a $6.5 million donation and hosted scientists at his Manhattan home and at conferences in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Guests included Stephen Hawking, Murray Gell-Mann, Stephen Jay Gould, Oliver Sacks, George M. Church, and Frank Wilczek. Some scientists later said the prospect of financing led them to give credence to Epstein’s scientific musings.

Pinker said he never took support from Epstein. “Needless to say, I find Epstein’s behavior reprehensible,” Pinker said. Epstein’s network of influence extended beyond academia to other industries, such as when he leveraged fashion and modeling connections to find young targets.

A charity Epstein established gave $20,000 in 2011 to the World Transhumanist Association, now Humanity Plus. His foundation also gave $100,000 to pay the salary of Ben Goertzel, vice chairman of Humanity Plus, according to Goertzel’s résumé. “I have no desire to talk about Epstein right now,” Goertzel said in an email. “The stuff I’m reading about him in the papers is pretty disturbing and goes way beyond what I thought his misdoings and kinks were. Yecch.”

Southern Trust Company, Epstein’s Virgin Islands business, disclosed in a local filing that it was engaged in DNA analysis. No children appear in Epstein’s will. Recently released Justice Department files reference claims by a woman who said she gave birth as a teenager and that the baby was taken from her moments later. That allegation has not been independently verified.

NBC News reported that at least 10 women and girls have alleged they were groomed or abused at the ranch starting in the mid-1990s, based on court testimony, lawsuits, and other records. Half were teenagers when they said Epstein harmed them.

New Mexico did not open its first investigation into Epstein until 2019, after statutes of limitations had expired for some crimes. State authorities searched the ranch for the first time in 2026, six years after Epstein died. The delayed investigation highlights the broader scrutiny of Epstein’s network, such as when a former JPMorgan exec admitted visiting his island.

An unverified tip in the released files claimed two “foreign girls” died during sex and were secretly buried on the property. It is not clear whether the FBI looked into that tip. The ranch was later sold and renamed. The new owner said he would grant access to law enforcement.