Woody Allen and his wife Soon-Yi Previn’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein helped their daughter get into college, according to emails Previn sent the convicted pedophile.
“I can’t thank you enough for getting Bechet into Bard,” Previn wrote from Allen’s email account to Epstein in an email dated Jan. 11, 2017. She and Allen share two adopted daughters, Bechet Dumaine Allen, 27, and Manzie Tio Allen, 26.
“I couldn’t be effusive enough because I was down in the kitchen having dinner with Manzie. I didn’t want her to hear,” Previn continued. “I think it’s best that Bechet struggles and doesn’t know ahead of time that she got in, so that when she gets into Bard, she will have sweated it out a bit and will really want to go.”
She added, “Thank you for coming through for us. I can’t tell you how much this means to me. Woody said when Bechet sets fire to the school, they’ll have you to thank.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Allen, Previn, and Bechet Allen for comment.
According to Bechet’s LinkedIn page, she graduated in 2021 from Bard, a liberal arts college in upstate New York, which has an admissions rate of about 50 percent.
The DOJ’s Epstein files dump uncovered years of correspondence between Allen, Previn, and Epstein. The pedophile lived one block away from the sex-scandal-tarred filmmaker. Their correspondence went on for years after he pleaded guilty to child prostitution in 2008 and served 13 months in prison for the charge. Two years after his release, Previn and Allen enlisted their pal’s help for their teen daughter.
A spokesperson for Bard College’s president, Dr. Leon Botstein, told The New York Times in a statement that Epstein, who was found dead in his jail cell from an apparent suicide in 2019, was “a serial liar who apparently took credit for the sun rising each day.”
The statement continues, “The applicant referenced in the emails was accepted on the merits of her own qualifications for admission,” the statement said. “Bard had already provided a welcome community for two previous family members, and no introduction was needed from the likes of Epstein.”
Dr. Botstein “often reassures anxious parents and families navigating the admissions process, and responds to scores of requests each year for tours or admissions conversations from alumni, supporters, and people in the broader community, as he has done through fifty years,” they added, “The only difference here is Epstein’s apparent effort to convince a family that his voice was of consequence.”
But Allen and Previn felt strongly that Epstein was the reason their daughter was admitted. According to the Times’ review of the relevant email exchanges, Epstein emailed Botstein himself to arrange a tour for Bechet. Shortly after that, Previn wrote Botstein, “Thank you so much for your offer to help our daughter, Bechet Allen, get into Bard College. I will take you up on the offer.;)”
When her daughter emailed Botstein to declare her official interest in Bard, Previn forwarded that email to Epstein, who received confirmation from Botstein would pass that along to the admissions committee. The next day, Previn sent the email stating, “I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”
Botstein previously defended shmoozing with Epstein for donor money, telling the Times in 2023, “People don’t understand what this job is... You cannot pick and choose, because among the very rich is a higher percentage of unpleasant and not very attractive people. Capitalism is a rough system.”
The Allens worked that system again with Epstein’s help in 2016, according to New York Magazine, when the convicted felon gave $15,000 to the Hewitt School so that “definitely graduate Manzie,” as a text from Allen’s phone to Epstein’s put it.
According to that publication’s review of DOJ records, Epstein next received a message of gratitude for helping the couple’s younger daughter: “I just got home and found the contribution. You’re the best. It made my day. I can’t thank you enough. The schools never have enough money. This will help them with their expansion.”
Tuition at the posh NYC prep school is currently $67,700. The school later returned the payment to avoid association with Epstein, the AP reported.
Over the course of the couple’s long relationship with Epstein, they frequently visited Epstein’s home and exchanged favors. Epstein would even try to help Allen cast young women in his films. One note from Epstein to a photographer reads, “woody allen is looking for a beautiful =0-24 girl to play a college girl in a comedy. thoughts?”
One of Previn’s conversations with Epstein included her “disgust” at 15-year-old “women” who “prey” on “weak men.”
