Def Con, one of the world's largest and longest-running hacking conferences, announced Wednesday that three people associated with Jeffrey Epstein are no longer allowed to attend.
The conference justified adding Pavlos Holman, Vincenzo Iozzo, and Joichi Ito to the public list of banned persons, citing their appearance in the Justice Department's recently released files related to the investigation of the investor and convicted sex offender. Def Con also cited a Politico article based on emails the three exchanged with Epstein.
Iozzo's spokesperson Joan Volero told TechCrunch in a statement that Def Con's actions were “completely performative, given that Mr. Iozzo has rarely attended conferences over the past 20 years.”
“This was a hasty decision that was not based on any investigation or wrongdoing by Mr. Iozzo,” the spokesperson said.
Def Con representatives, Holman and Ito, did not immediately respond to TechCrunch's requests for comment.
The move to ban the trio comes days after TechCrunch reported that cybersecurity conferences Black Hat and Code Blue had removed Iozzo from their official review board pages, and new revelations have emerged linking Epstein to prominent hackers and others.
Contact Us Want more information about Mr. Epstein's connections in the cybersecurity industry? You can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely from a non-work device on Signal (+1 917 257 1382) or on Telegram, Keybase and Wire @lorenzofb, or by email.
Iozzo is a cybersecurity industry veteran and is currently the founder and CEO of identity startup SlashID. He previously served on CrowdStrike's board of directors after CrowdStrike acquired Iperlane, CrowdStrike's cybersecurity startup, in 2017. As TechCrunch previously reported, Iozzo had interactions with Epstein from 2014 to 2018, including after the Miami Herald reported new allegations that Epstein had abused dozens of women and children.
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Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting girls for sex and was registered as a sex offender in New York and Florida. In 2019, the Justice Department charged Epstein with trafficking, exploitation and abuse of dozens of underage girls. Mr. Epstein died in prison.
Iozzo previously told TechCrunch that his interactions with Epstein were “limited to business opportunities that never materialized and discussions about markets and emerging technologies,” and that he “never observed or participated in any illegal activity or conduct.”
Before starting his own business, Iozzo was a researcher at the MIT Media Lab, which Ito then directed. The two appear together in several of Epstein's emails.
Joichi Ito served as director of the MIT Media Lab until 2019, when he resigned after it was reported that he was aware that Epstein was a convicted sex offender and that he and the university had extensive personal and financial ties to him.
Holman, meanwhile, is a general partner at venture capital firm Deep Future, and describes himself on his website as a “hacker, inventor, and technology futurist.”
Holman had been in contact with Epstein since 2010 and was scheduled to stay in one of his apartments in New York City in 2013, trying to help Epstein cover up negative online news articles about him.
Epstein had planned to attend Def Con with Holman in 2013, according to emails, but it is unclear whether he attended. Def Con founder Jeff Moss said that to his knowledge, “Mr. Epstein has never attended.”