Rubin was corresponding as late as 2017 in an incredibly familiar way, which makes semse, since Epstein funded DCI+MIT Media Lab. The emails I read are super dry, like a status report to someone Rubin feels professionally beholden to. Epstein had 9 years distance from his 2008 conviction at that point, but people don't really appreciate what a nothing burger it was treated like. His sentence was super lenient, and even when he was imprisoned, his cell was left unlocked. Nobody seemed to gave a shit, and it's easy to see how, if Epstein is your benefactor, and everyone seems to be pretty cool acting like the that child prostitution thing was all blown out of proportion, then why not continue the beneficial relationship? This appears like a collective lapse of judgement (a really weird, major one) than a specific one of Rubin's part.