Tipsheet

Roy Cooper’s Donor List Has an Epstein Problem

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  April 01, 2026 3:25 PM

Former North Carolina Governor and Democrat Senate candidate Roy Cooper has made a point of attacking the wealthy as part of his campaign. He accused President Trump of cutting healthcare for the poor to give tax breaks to billionaires and millionaires, and he launched his campaign by saying it was time to "elect a senator for everyday people, not just billionaires."

But Cooper's disdain for the wealthy hasn't stopped his campaign from taking tens of thousands of dollars from the rich, including tech billionaire Reid Hoffman, who has troubling ties to Jeffrey Epstein and Epstein Island.

According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and North Carolina State Board of Elections, Cooper has taken $27,800 from Hoffmann, who once joked about buying ice cream "for the girls" in a gift to Epstein, after staying on his island.

Hoffman also spent a night at Epstein's Manhattan home, according to the New York Post. “Reid will spend the night at 71st,” Hoffman’s team wrote in a 2014 email, referencing Epstein's home on the Upper East Side. And Business Insider reported in February of this year that Hoffman admitted to multiple meetings with Epstein for "fundraising purposes," including a night on the island.

In addition to this fundraising, Axios reported in 2019 that Hoffman helped Epstein with his image after his conviction. Hoffman claimed he only invited Epstein because MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito vouched for the convicted criminal and said Epstein cleared MIT's security vetting.

Epstein himself once bragged about a party he had with Hoffman, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and others back in 2015, according to the New York Post. Vanity Fair reported that Hoffman hosted that dinner.

But Cooper's campaign, both for the Senate and as governor, has also taken cash from others named in the Epstein files. He also has connections to other Epstein associates, as well as registered sex offenders.

This includes $21,000 to Cooper for Governor from Laurene Powell-Jobs, the billionaire widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections. Powell-Jobs was once photographed with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, possibly on Epstein Island.

Cooper for Governor also received $5,400 from former DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. According to the Justice Department, Epstein's publicist, Peggy Siegal offered to get Epstein tickets to Katzenberg's 2011 Oscars party, writing in the email that she would "make sure [Epstein] [does] not miss a trick ... so to speak." Katzenberg invited Epstein to a 2012 screening of DreamWorks' "Rise of the Guardians," and Epstein RSVP'd yes to that event.

Siegal also was in Los Angeles for a "job from Jeffrey Katzenberg" in 2014 and could not speak to Epstein in person, after the latter requested to talk to her. The Justice Department also said in a 2013 email that she was struggling to write about Katzenberg's 2013 Oscar party because "the reason to go [was] to support Katzenberg."

Director Steven Spielberg also donated $5,400 to Cooper for Governor. In a draft of Peggy Siegal's 2011 Cannes Diary, written for the Huffington Post, Siegal noted a "gang of young" people came off of Spielberg's "new yacht" at 2 AM. In 2014, an Epstein associate considered hiring a relative of Spielberg. Another Epstein associate, Brad Karp, once told Epstein that Spielberg was "interesting."

John Doerr, a venture capitalist and the chairman of Kleiner Perkins, donated $24,000 to Cooper's Senate campaign. Doerr was listed in email chains with Jeffrey Epstein from John Brockman, who often hosted "sumptuous dinners [and] exclusive conferences ... for the rich, the smart, and the powerful. The Justice Department posted several of these emails as part of the Epstein file release, including emails from July 23, 2010, May 20, 2010, August 20, 2010, two emails from July 19, 2010, another from December 14, 2011, December 31, 2012, and July 26 and August 8, 2013. 

In February, The Guardian wrote about how Epstein continued rubbing elbows with the rich and famous even following his conviction, specifically naming Brockman:

Most of the events were staged by the Edge network, a creation of literary agent John Brockman, which offered a platform for public commentary by artists, technologists and intellectuals, along with “sumptuous dinners [and] exclusive conferences … for the rich, the smart, and the powerful”.

Brockman is a self-described “impresario and promoter of scientific ideas”, who has represented authors including Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Jared Diamond, as previously reported in the Guardian. He played an early role in shaping the ethos and self-conception of the Silicon Valley elite. Brockman did not respond to requests for comment from the Guardian.

Cooper also took $7,700 from Jon Stryker, who was named in an email from an Epstein associate as someone whose "playbook" Epstein could use to bury post-conviction negative press.

Cooper's campaign has also taken more than $100,000 from both George and Alex Soros. George Soros has donated $83,600 to Cooper's campaigns, according to the FEC and the North Carolina State Board of Elections, and also has ties to Epstein, including being implicated for being on a yacht with Epstein, where he witnessed a victim being sodomized and raped in a heavily drug-induced state. Soros is also listed with Epstein in a group that created a $10 million endowment led by Henry Jarecki, a "refugee turned millionaire."

Alex Soros has donated $24,500 to Cooper's various campaigns, per the FEC and North Carolina State Board of Elections. According to an email published by the Justice Department, Epstein reached out to an associate to ask about the relationship status of pianist Simon Graichy. That associate told Epstein it was "one of the best weekends we have had" and mentioned they attended an "Alex Soros party."

In addition to almost $200,000 in campaign donations from elites named in the Epstein files, Cooper also has ties to two sex offenders. In 2018, Cooper threw a birthday party for North Carolina State Rep. Cecil Brockman, who was later arrested and indicted on multiple counts, including three counts of statutory sex offense and indecent liberties with a child, and two counts of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.

In 2018, Cooper also attended a gala hosted by Chad Turner, another registered sex offender and leader of the Carolinas LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce. Turner was convicted of a "lewd act" with a minor.

There's no public record of Roy Cooper himself criticizing President Trump and the Epstein files, as his fellow Democrats have. This includes Rep. Jamie Raskin, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Rep. Eric Swalwell, the latter two going so far as to call Republicans a "pedophile protection ring."

But now we know why Cooper has remained silent while his colleagues have not: Cooper has taken almost $200,000 in campaign donations from Epstein associates over the years, including Reid Hoffman and George Soros. While he's doing that, he's also hosting or attending events with convicted sex offenders.

Roy Cooper wants voters to believe he’s fighting for the “little guy” against the wealthy and well-connected. But Cooper's record tells a starkly different story: one in which his campaigns are bankrolled by elites with deeply troubling ties, and in which his proximity to figures connected to Jeffrey Epstein's orbit raises serious questions about judgment, at best, and hypocrisy, at worst.

You can’t run against the powerful while allowing them to bankroll your campaigns. And you certainly can’t stay silent about the Epstein scandal while benefiting from the same network that enabled it. North Carolina voters and the Senate both deserve better than a politician like Cooper, who says one thing on the campaign trail and does another behind closed doors.