Reputation-Laundering

MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito resigns after concealing $7.5 million in Epstein-linked donations

| Importance: 8/10

MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito resigned after reports revealed he had concealed millions in donations from Jeffrey Epstein and his associates. The lab received at least $7.5 million in funding linked to Epstein, with Ito actively working to hide Epstein’s involvement from MIT administrators …

Joi Ito Jeffrey Epstein MIT Media Lab MIT administration Bill Gates +1 more academic-corruption donation-concealment institutional-cover-up reputation-laundering research-funding
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Academi (formerly Blackwater) Merges with Triple Canopy to Form Constellis Holdings, Third Corporate Rebranding

| Importance: 7/10

Academi (the entity formerly known as Blackwater, then Xe Services) merged with rival private military contractor Triple Canopy to form Constellis Holdings, representing the third major corporate transformation of the Blackwater organization in seven years. The merger consolidated multiple private …

Academi Triple Canopy Constellis Holdings Blackwater private-military corporate-consolidation accountability-crisis reputation-laundering
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Erik Prince Sells Xe Services (formerly Blackwater), Rebranded as Academi with John Ashcroft on Board

| Importance: 8/10

Xe Services (formerly Blackwater) was acquired by a group of private investors and renamed Academi, with Erik Prince exiting the company he founded. The acquisition and rebranding represented the second major corporate transformation designed to distance the entity from Blackwater’s documented …

Erik Prince Xe Services Academi John Ashcroft Jack Quinn +2 more private-military corporate-impunity conflicts-of-interest reputation-laundering accountability-crisis
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Blackwater Rebrands as Xe Services to Distance from Nisour Square Massacre and Iraq War Crimes

| Importance: 8/10

Blackwater Worldwide officially changed its name to Xe Services LLC in a strategic rebranding effort to distance the company from its toxic reputation following the 2007 Nisour Square massacre, congressional investigations documenting 195 shooting incidents in Iraq, and widespread accusations of war …

Erik Prince Blackwater Xe Services private-military corporate-impunity accountability-crisis reputation-laundering war-crimes
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Halliburton Completes Spin-Off of KBR to Distance from Iraq War Scandals, Fraud Investigations, and $2.7 Billion in Questioned Costs

| Importance: 8/10

Halliburton announced the completion of its spin-off of KBR on April 5, 2007, separating the subsidiary that had generated most of its Iraq War controversies after 44 years of corporate integration. The separation followed KBR’s initial public offering on November 16, 2006, which raised $470 …

Halliburton KBR David Lesar Dick Cheney Senate Armed Services Committee corporate-impunity accountability-crisis private-military reputation-laundering conflicts-of-interest
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