Tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson has recounted a brief and unsettling interaction he had with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein around eight years ago, saying the experience left him deeply disturbed and convinced that Epstein was “a very dark person.” Johnson, the founder of the brain–computer interface company Kernel, said the interaction took place during the early stages of building his company.
Sharing his account on social media, Johnson said he was introduced to Epstein by a mutual contact at a time when Epstein was being portrayed as someone with an interest in neuroscience. According to Johnson, the introduction led not to an in-person meeting but to a short video call conducted over Zoom.
Johnson said the call lasted barely ten minutes, but its impact was immediate and profound. He recalled feeling an intense sense of discomfort during the conversation and said that once the call ended, he immediately contacted the person who had facilitated the introduction. Johnson told them that Epstein struck him as deeply unsettling and that the interaction had made him feel physically sick. He made it clear at that point, he said, that he never wanted to have any further contact with Epstein.
At the time of the call, Johnson emphasised, he had no knowledge of Epstein’s criminal past or the allegations that would later become widely known. Despite this, he said he experienced a strong intuitive reaction, describing a sense that something was fundamentally wrong. He said that simply being in Epstein’s presence, even virtually, felt dangerous, a reaction he described as instinctive rather than based on any factual awareness.
Johnson stressed that the Zoom call was the first and last time he ever interacted with Epstein. He said he only learned years later about Epstein’s history and the serious crimes he had been accused of and convicted for, at which point his earlier reaction took on an even more troubling significance in hindsight.
The entrepreneur offered this clarification after social media users questioned his credibility and accused him of misrepresenting his connection to Epstein. The scrutiny arose after Johnson’s name appeared in a recent release of files by the US Department of Justice, which suggested that he had at one point sought a meeting with the disgraced financier.
Addressing that point directly, Johnson explained that the reference related to an initial plan for a possible in-person meeting when he was travelling through New York. He said that the meeting never occurred and was replaced by the brief video call instead. He reiterated that this single call was the entirety of his interaction with Epstein and described the experience as “terrifying in hindsight.”
The newly released documents have also mentioned a number of other prominent figures, including Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Prince Andrew, and Howard Lutnick. None of those individuals have been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the documents.
Epstein, a wealthy financier with extensive links to political, business, and academic circles, was convicted in 2008 for soliciting sex from a minor and later faced federal charges related to sex trafficking. He died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial, leaving behind a trail of controversy, investigations, and ongoing public scrutiny of those linked to him.
