British theoretical physicist and distinguished professor emeritus at the Santa Fe Institute (SFI), where he served as president from 2005 to 2009. West is known for research on universal scaling laws in biology, cities, and corporations. He had direct correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein and arranged to meet him at Epstein's New Mexico ranch in August 2012.
In a 2011 email West wrote he would love to get together with Epstein and asked that Epstein stay in town for another week. DOJ files released in January 2026 reveal Epstein donated at least 80,000 to SFI, substantially more than the 75,000 SFI publicly acknowledged. Epstein's closest SFI relationship was with co-founder Murray Gell-Mann, though West's emails confirm sustained personal contact.