Ex-Activision Boss Bobby Kotick Allegedly Emailed With Jeffrey Epstein A Bunch

In 2015, Gawker published an article titled “Here Is Pedophile Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s Little Black Book.” It included a link to a redacted copy of Epstein’s alleged address book listing contact info for a range of famous, wealthy, and powerful people. One of them was then-Activision-Blizzard-CEO Bobby Kotick who ran the publisher behind industry-defining hits like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. The latest trove of Epstein files released by the Justice Department last week shows more than a dozen emails allegedly exchanged between the two men. 

Several emails dating from November 2012 show Epstein trying to set up an alleged dinner with Kotick while the latter was visiting New York. Epstein had asked the gaming executive if he’d be willing to come a day early when the actor and director Woody Allen would be available, but one of the emails shows Kotick writing back to say that wasn’t possible. 

Epstein’s itinerary for that month listed a dinner with Bobby Kotick on November 18, 2012. “bobby Kotick came over last night„ hes great,” Epstein wrote to Next Model Management co-founder Faith Kates on November 19, 2012. Kates unexpectedly retired last month after her name surfaced in a previously reported batch of Epstein emails. 

A representative for Epstein proceeded to send information about his private island in the Caribbean, Little St. James, to Kotick on November 21, 2012. In a follow-up exchange on December 9, 2012, Epstein asked Kotick how the Caribbean was. Kotick allegedly wrote back, “Great, wished would could have stopped by the island.”

Emails between the two were allegedly exchanged multiple times in 2013 as well. A February 24, 2013 email stated that Epstein was in LA planning a visit to SpaceX that week and was trying to link up with Kotick while in town. “Thanks , but rather see you,” Epstein wrote in one email. “Taking girls after to bel air.” Kotick at one point allegedly wrote back, “Come with your friends to my house at…Bev Hills, 10 min=tes from Bel Air.”

Several emails also show Epstein trying to arrange a tour of Activision. The company did not respond to a request for comment. 

Epstein again tried to arrange a meeting with Kotick at the end of April 2013. “great… see you then i will bring 3or 4 . also I understand that Brian Grazer, like me ,searches for smart interesting people„ do you know him?” Epstein emailed Kotick on April 29, 2013. “Yes I do,” Kotick allegedly wrote back. A follow-up email from Kotick was allegedly sent later that day. “Can we meet at 6? I am running late,” it read. 

The two allegedly exchanged more emails the following day. “great house, great art, i am in ny 1-6 if you have time when you come,” Epstein wrote to Kotick on April 30, 2012. “Thanks. Great guests,” Kotick allegedly wrote back. The email accounts corresponded multiple times in the days after that. “my russian guest misssed your arrival yesterday,” Epstein wrote to Kotick in a May 7, 2012 email. “And I missed her. III see you both next trip,” Kotick allegedly wrote back on May 8, 2012. 

Each of these emails is dated after Epstein’s 2008 felony conviction in Florida where he pled guilty to state charges of soliciting and procuring a person under 18 for prostitution. He went on to serve a 13-month jail sentence and was added to the national sex offender registry, for which an account belonging to him was later banned from Xbox Live in December 2013. 

Kotick allegedly exchanged emails with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell as well. “You don’t ring, you don’t write. Yours heart broken Ghislain,” Maxwell wrote to Kotick in April 24, 2004. An email reply allegedly from Kotick read, “Mend it together and bring that sexy body that goes with it out to my town. III ring.” 

Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for what the Justice Department described as “her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse multiple minor girls with Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade.”

Kotick left Activision Blizzard in December 2023 after the company was acquired by Microsoft in a record $70 billion acquisition. The merger came at the conclusion of a lengthy regulatory process and while Activision Blizzard was facing multiple sexual misconduct lawsuits which were eventually settled with no admission of any wrongdoing. 

“[N]o court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations that there has been systemic or widespread sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard; that Activision Blizzard senior executives ignored, condoned, or tolerated a culture of systemic harassment, retaliation, or discrimination; or that Activision Blizzard’s Board of Directors including its Chief Executive Officer, Robert Kotick, acted improperly with regard to the handling of any instances of workplace misconduct,” read a statement included in one of the court-approved settlements.