Dean Kamen, the prolific New Hampshire inventor, had just left Jeffrey Epstein’s private Caribbean island, when Epstein floated an idea to a longtime associate of his.
“I believe I have found you a really great full time job,” Epstein wrote to Nadia Marcinko. “It would be a flight instructor, working full time for my friend Dean Kamen, (segway).”
In the April 2013 email, written a day after Kamen wrapped up his visit to the island, Epstein described the Manchester-based inventor, best known for developing the Segway scooter, as the “Thomas Edison of the 21st century.”
He also told Marcinko that Kamen “never married so no girlfrinedsd [sic] to deal with.”
That email exchange — included in the millions of pages of records recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice — sheds new light on how Marcinko, a central figure in Epstein’s orbit, and Kamen, one of New Hampshire's most prominent and well-connected businessmen, formed an association that lasted for years.
After Epstein’s job proposal, Marcinko, a licensed pilot, later moved to New Hampshire, where she provided flight training for Kamen’s employees at his company, DEKA. She also operated her own aviation-related business out of the company’s headquarters in Manchester, and got involved with FIRST, Kamen’s robotics education nonprofit — all while keeping in regular contact with Epstein.
Marcinko, who emigrated from Slovakia and worked as a model before obtaining a pilot's license, has been described by her lawyers as a victim of Epstein. But some survivors accuse her of helping to orchestrate Epstein’s sexual abuse of women and girls for years. In 2007, federal prosecutors labeled Marcinko a “potential co-conspirator” of Epstein’s, and agreed not to prosecute her for her alleged role in Epstein’s abuse as part of a plea deal.
Marcinko appears to have not spoken publicly in several years about her association with Epstein. However, in a rare public statement to NHPR, Marcinko defended Kamen, and said he sought to assist her.
“Dean Kamen has done nothing but help me in my attempts to be free of suffering, and should have the full support of the public, his board and the entire FIRST community. I am saddened to see any less for someone who has dedicated his life to service and solving the world’s biggest problems,” Marcinko said through her attorney, Erica Dubno.
Kamen has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing related to his dealings with Epstein, and in recent weeks has sought to distance himself from Epstein, saying he had only “limited interactions.”
“Any suggestion that Dean Kamen was involved in or had knowledge of Epstein’s heinous crimes is false and misleading to your listeners,” a Kamen spokesperson told NHPR.
“Kamen’s direct interactions with Jeffrey Epstein were professional and focused on supporting Kamen’s clean water project in Africa," the spokesperson said. "Kamen deeply regrets having any interactions with him.”
The newly released records show Kamen and Epstein were in contact for at least 14 years, including well after Epstein was convicted in 2008 and served jail time for soliciting sex with a minor. A flight log shows Kamen riding aboard Epstein's private jet in 2003, while Epstein texted Kamen as late as 2017.
In 2014, a previously unreported email exchange shows another woman who has described herself as a victim of Epstein’s abuse accepting an invitation to visit Kamen’s own private island off the coast of Connecticut.
In a statement, a Kamen spokesperson told NHPR that “Kamen had only a professional association with the two cited individuals and attempted to help them gain employment. He interviewed one of the individuals. The other, an experienced pilot, was hired as a flight instructor.”
“Only much later did he learn that these two individuals were survivors of Epstein’s crimes,” the spokesperson said.
Other records suggest Kamen’s nonprofit benefited from his relationship with Epstein. Epstein helped arrange a $10,000 donation to FIRST and encouraged others to form ties with the nonprofit, including a prominent diplomat and a former White House lawyer, though it’s not clear Kamen was aware of Epstein's efforts.
And Epstein wasn’t shy about reaching out to Kamen: There are records showing Epstein offered to anonymously donate money for wheelchairs designed by Kamen for victims of the Boston marathon bombings, and once sought a prosthetic arm from Kamen for a victim of the Unabomber.
It isn’t clear if Kamen and Marcinko have remained in communication since her time spent working with him.
In one recently released email sent to Epstein in 2015, an associate, whose name is redacted, writes of Kamen’s concern about his own reputation.
“Dean just spent an hour talking to me on the phone about how he was advised to react when [the] press confronts him. He was told by a crisis manager that it's a matter of time,” the email to Epstein reads.
How a model-turned-pilot ended up working for Kamen
Nadia Marcinko, who has also gone by the surname Marcinkova, occupies a central but complex place within the world of Epstein. She has been accused by some of Epstein’s survivors as an accomplice: Her name is mentioned in court records as someone who allegedly witnessed or engaged in sexual acts with other Epstein victims, including minors.
When Epstein was incarcerated in 2008, Marcinko visited him dozens of times, the Miami Herald reported.
But her lawyers have said she was also a victim of Epstein’s abuse. In her statement to NHPR on Monday, Marcinko said “To make judgments based on the incomplete information available to the public is harmful to those who have already suffered enough.”
“Not everyone whose name appears in the files is guilty,” she added. “When we lose sight of this and no one is willing to stand up for them because we fear reputational repercussions, justice is not served.”
Marcinko has said in interviews that she worked as a fashion model as a teenager. She told an airline industry magazine in 2013 that she took up aviation as a way to confront her own fear of flying. She said she paid for flight lessons in Florida with money she made from modeling.
By the mid-2010s, Marcinko had crafted a public persona as an aviation influencer, distinct from her ties to Epstein. She used the moniker “Gulfstream Girl” until a trademark dispute with the jet maker Gulfstream led her to adopt the name “Global Girl.”
“She was young and fresh and doing all sorts of exciting things, and she got a following pretty quickly,” said Christine Negroni, an aviation industry journalist who has written about Marcinko and her ties to Epstein.
On social media, Marcinko posted videos of herself performing aerial acrobatics, and was a regular at industry events.
“Because she was so popular and so personable and photogenic, she got a lot of followers and she was invited to do a lot of things, which of course exponentially expanded her fan base,” Negroni said.
In 2011, Marcinko launched Aviloop, a company offering a grab bag of aviation-related services, from marketing to hiring pilots to organizing industry conferences. Newly released emails and bank records show Epstein was involved in the company’s earliest stages and provided financing.
Aviloop produced promotional videos that are still available on YouTube. In one clip, a woman in a short dress and a captain's hat addresses the camera, offering Aviloop’s customers the chance to “see more girls like me.”
“The larger point was to encourage people to call, to encourage potential fliers or potential clients to call and talk to these models,” said Negroni.
Aviloop also advertised its ability to help private companies launch their own flight schools as a perk for employees. Kamen, himself an avid pilot, would soon launch his own flying opportunity for his employees.
For a 2020 article, Negroni interviewed employees at DEKA, Kamen’s private company based in the Manchester millyard, who said Marcinko led a flying club for staff, beginning in 2014. (DEKA’s website continues to advertise the opportunity for employees to learn how to fly.)
The same year, records show Marcinko registered Aviloop as a limited liability company with the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s office, and listed DEKA’s address, on Commercial Street in Manchester, as the main offices for Aviloop.
Additionally, Marcinko listed her home address on the same documents as a condominium just a few blocks away. That condominium is owned by Maureen Toohey, DEKA’s former general counsel, an advisor for FIRST, and a longtime business partner of Kamen’s. Toohey now works alongside Kamen leading ARMI, a federally funded biotech manufacturing initiative headquartered in the millyard.
Negroni said she interviewed Toohey, who told her in 2020 that she wasn’t aware that Marcinko was using her home address, and denied Marcinko was living in her home.
A spokesperson for Kamen told NHPR that during this period, Marcinko “was provided temporary accommodation at one of Kamen’s properties, a courtesy he had extended to hundreds of others over the years.” It isn’t clear why she chose not to use that address on her registration materials.
Ties to Kamen’s robotics nonprofit
The newly released files from the Department of Justice also detail Epstein’s interest in FIRST, Kamen’s youth robotics organization.
Kamen founded FIRST in 1989, hoping to inspire young people to take an interest in robotics and technology. Kamen had already found financial success with his contributions to wearable medical infusion pumps and home dialysis machines, and wanted to see students embrace innovation. The nonprofit grew to host robotics competitions around the globe, with prominent figures in the world of business and politics serving as ambassadors.
According to the newly released email, Epstein, who used his wealth to gain influence at prominent institutions and universities over his lifetime, helped coordinate a $10,000 contribution to the New York City affiliate of FIRST in 2009.
Then in August 2013 — a few months after Kamen’s visit to Epstein’s private island — a newsletter for NYC FIRST published a profile of Marcinko. The article, under the subhead ‘Girls in Tech,’ described the “opportunities women can find in male-dominated fields.”
“I like nice clothes and pink nail polish,” Marcinko said. “Luckily, that’s not a disqualifying condition if you also want to fly jets . . . or build robots.”
There is no record of Marcinko receiving any funding from FIRST. A photograph included in the recently released emails show she did attend a robotics competition alongside Kamen. (The nonprofit’s executive director at the time, as well as board members, did not respond to a request for comment.)
And the newly released emails show there is at least one other person who Epstein appears to have connected with Kamen and FIRST: a woman who has described herself as a victim of Epstein’s sexual abuse.
“This weekend I am slotted to be on Deans island, to continue where we left off,” the woman wrote to Epstein in July 2014. “I have my first meeting with the NY FIRST office tomorrow.”
The woman, whose name NHPR is withholding, appears to be referring to North Dumpling Island, off the coast of Connecticut, which Kamen purchased in the 1980s.
In a subsequent email, she writes to Epstein: “Tmrw I see Dean :) -the meeting with NY FIRST also went very well.”
“Great,” Epstein replied.
A break in the relationship
In early 2015, the Guardian published a story about Epstein, Marcinko and the former Prince Andrew, who has been stripped of his royal title due to his ties to Epstein. The article led with a photo of Marcinko, and described how she and another longtime associate were linked to an apartment building in New York City owned by Epstein’s brother.
The story appears to have raised concerns among employees at FIRST: Three days after it was published, newly released emails between Epstein and a person whose name has been redacted appear to discuss the fallout.
“FIRST asked for no ties,” one email reads.
On Jan. 11, 2015 — four days after the Guardian story — Epstein apologized to the recipient. “The press only wants to complete its version of a salacious story, not hear the truth, so any denials will be met with a stronger wind of allegations,” he wrote.
But Kamen’s ties to both Marcinko and Epstein remained out of the news, and the two men stayed in touch, at times discussing FIRST.
Emails show in Sept. 2015, Epstein introduced Kamen to Terje Rod-Larsen, a Norwegian diplomat who was involved in the 1993 peace deal in the Middle East. Kamen sent Rod-Larsen an email, hoping he would play a role in FIRST, and offered to share more information. (Since the release of the records, Rod-Larsen has come under scrutiny in Norway for his ties to Epstein.)
That same month, Epstein encouraged Kamen to connect with former Sen. Mitt Romney about giving a speech on behalf of FIRST.
Other emails show Epstein also encouraged Kathryn Ruemmler, who had recently stepped down as counsel to President Barack Obama, to get involved with FIRST. In recent days, Ruemmler was forced out of a top position at Goldman Sachs due to her relationship with Epstein. And in April 2013 — just a few days before Kamen’s visit to his Caribbean island — Epstein wrote to Tom Pritzker, the billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel chain, seeking to connect him with Kamen.
"Dean just spent an hour talking to me on the phone about how he was advised to react when press confronts him. He was told by a crisis manager that it's only a matter of time."In an email to Epstein, an associate describes Kamen's concern for his own reputation.
Since the release of the emails, Kamen has come under scrutiny: FIRST has launched an outside review into his connections with Epstein, as has ARMI, the federally-funded biofabrication project in Manchester that Kamen and Toohey help lead. Kamen also stepped down from the board of directors for Beta, an aviation industry start-up in Vermont.
Marcinko has largely fallen out of public view in recent years. Her statement issued to NHPR is believed to be her first public comment since the release of the Justice Department’s files.
“We all seek the truth for the benefit of the innocent, but our collective righteous anger must be tempered to avoid perpetuating harm,” she told NHPR. “If our attempts to protect the innocent keep creating more victims, who actually benefits?”
The records don’t indicate when Marcinko may have wrapped up her time in New Hampshire.
As late as Aug. 2015, more than two years after Kamen’s visit to Epstein’s private island, she appears to have still been leading DEKA’s flying club.
“Are you still working for dean?,” Epstein wrote in an email thread that references an aviation conference and aerial acrobatics.
The response, hours later, comes from a person whose name has been redacted: “Yes, part time.”
Additional reporting for this story by NHPR's Josh Rogers.
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