Jeffrey Epstein's Dirty Secret: Creating Designer Babies

In the summer of 2002, during one of his opulent dinners at a Manhattan townhouse surrounded by Nobel laureates and influential figures, Jeffrey Epstein leaned across the table toward a prominent scientist and quietly shared a chilling ambition. He confided that he wanted to "improve" humanity by spreading his own genetic code as widely as possible, envisioning a secluded compound where dozens of women would carry and give birth to his children as part of an experiment in human enhancement. This wasn't a hushed secret whispered in private; Epstein openly discussed such ideas among the elite circles he cultivated with wealth and access, blending grandiose megalomania with pseudoscientific enthusiasm.

This disturbing vision was detailed in a major 2019 investigation by The New York Times, which reported that Epstein confided to scientists, businessmen, and acquaintances his plan to use his nearly 10,000-acre Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, a vast estate outside Santa Fe featuring a 33,000-square-foot mansion, as a hub for impregnating up to 20 women at a time with his sperm. The goal, as he described it, was to "seed the human race" with what he viewed as superior genes and produce a new generation under his influence. He presented this not merely as personal vanity but as a step toward transhumanism, the futuristic pursuit of overcoming human limitations through genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies. Many observers condemned it as a modern reincarnation of eugenics, the long-discredited pseudoscience of enhancing humanity via selective breeding, notorious for its abuses in Nazi programmes and earlier forced sterilisation efforts in the United States and beyond.

Epstein's interest, according to the Guardian, extended far beyond idle talk. He hosted gatherings at his properties, including his private Little St. James island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where renowned figures such as physicists Murray Gell-Mann and Frank Wilczek, along with Stephen Hawking, were among the attendees. Some participants later dismissed his notions as half-baked or outright pseudoscientific, yet his financial largesse kept the conversations flowing. He donated millions to institutions like Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics and backed transhumanist initiatives, including contributions to what is now Humanity and support for key figures in the field.

His eccentric pursuits didn't stop at reproduction. He showed enthusiasm for cryonics, the practice of freezing bodies in hopes of future revival, reportedly expressing a desire to preserve his head and penis, as reported by The New York Times in 2019. His Virgin Islands-based Southern Trust Company even listed DNA analysis and genetic sequencing among its purported activities, though experts often ridiculed such ventures as nonsensical.

Despite the vivid details, no solid evidence has ever confirmed that the so-called "baby ranch" scheme at Zorro Ranch was actually carried out. Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges that involved the systematic abuse and exploitation of dozens of underage girls.

Recent developments have nonetheless revived intense focus on his genetic fixations. In late January 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice released a massive trove, over 3 million additional pages of documents, supplemented by more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. These materials have reignited scrutiny of Epstein's pseudoscientific obsessions. Emails in the files show he funded experimental genetic testing, including sequencing his own saliva samples as part of "personalized longevity studies" and regenerative medicine efforts involving stem cells and gene editing for anti-aging purposes. References surface to concepts like "designer babies," germline editing for heritable changes, cloning experiments (some speculated to involve overseas labs), and broader transhumanist aims.