Epstein emails: Larry Summer’s pursuit of the Asian woman he called ‘Peril’

Emails released last month by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee show former Treasury Secretary and Harvard University president Lawrence H. Summers reducing a young Asian academic to a single, racially charged nickname: “peril.” In the correspondence, Summers forwarded the woman’s professional emails to convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, seeking advice on turning a professional relationship into a romantic one, revealing both the racialized lens through which he viewed her and his ongoing ties with Epstein.

The emails, exchanged between November 2018 and July 2019, show Summers asking Epstein how to advance a relationship with the woman beyond professional boundaries. Summers forwarded her academic emails and sought guidance on moving the relationship toward a romantic connection. In several exchanges, he questioned whether pursuing a sexual relationship would improve his chances. Epstein encouraged him, referred to himself as Summers’s “wing man,” and advised patience, writing, “The long game is the best game.” The correspondence concluded on July 5, 2019, one day before Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges.

The messages also show Epstein advising Summers on emotional strategy, including suggesting he keep the woman in what he called a “holding pattern” and asking whether she had a boyfriend. The exchanges document repeated private planning of a personal relationship involving a professional connection and Summers’s continued communications with Epstein during that period.

Throughout the emails, Summers and Epstein referred to the woman by the nickname “peril,” a term that echoes “yellow peril,” a racist trope historically used in the West to dehumanize East Asians. The language has drawn criticism for reducing the woman to a racialized caricature in discussions about her professional work and personal boundaries. The messages also show Epstein advising Summers on emotional strategy, including suggesting he keep the woman in what he called a “holding pattern” and asking whether she had a boyfriend.

The woman is not identified in the released correspondence, and neither the House Oversight Committee nor Harvard University has publicly named her. Some media outlets have referenced Chinese economist and author Keyu Jin, citing similarities between the forwarded academic emails and her published research during the same period, though no official confirmation has been made. A spokesperson for Summers told The Harvard Crimson that the woman was never his student and declined further comment. Jin has also declined to comment.

Summers resigned from the board of OpenAI following the email disclosures last month and said he would step back from public commitments. Harvard University has also opened a review into Summers’s communications with Epstein, though it has not said when the review will conclude or whether it could result in disciplinary action.

Summers served as Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and as president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006. His relationship with Epstein continued after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution. Records show Summers traveled on Epstein’s private jet multiple times between 2011 and 2013 and sought financial support from Epstein for a nonprofit organization run by his wife.

More Epstein-related records are expected to be released in the following weeks as the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act, introduced by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and signed into law last month, requires federal agencies to disclose remaining Epstein materials on a fixed schedule.