Tim Cook has been dragged into the Epstein email fiasco, after the discovery that former Microsoft Windows chief Steven Sinofsky used Epstein to get a meeting with the Apple CEO.
Friday's release of emails by the Justice Department has led to many news stories about billionaires, politicians, and royalty, and their dealings with the convicted sexual predator and financier Jeffrey Epstein. While Apple CEO Tim Cook has stayed out of trouble, he is briefly mentioned in some communications with the deceased scandal magnet.
However, while dirt-rakers may be keen to see some juicy Apple tidbits in the document trove, the reality is much more pedestrian. Really, it's about career prospects.
The latest discovery, posted by The Verge, is a collection of emails between former Windows chief Steven Sinofsky and Epstein, between December 2012 and May 2013. Specifically, they were dealing with Sinofsky's attempts to continue building a career in big tech, after his sudden departure from Microsoft in November 2012.
Epstein had previously provided advice to Sinofsky as he negotiated his exit from Microsoft and a sizable $14 million "retirement" package. After that departure, Sinofsky was keen to join another major operator, with Apple and Samsung being potential major steps for him on the career ladder.
Career questions
One email dated November 28, 2012, shows Epstein claiming that Cook was "excited to meet" with Sinofsky, mere weeks after the departure announcement.
While apparently excited, Cook allegedly turned down the meeting. Epstein recounts that Cook declined because he was told that Sinofsky was starting a company with "farstall?(sp)."
This is almost certainly in reference to Scott Forstall, the former iOS VP who was reportedly kicked out of the company due to his abrasiveness and declining to sign the infamous iOS Maps apology letter. Forstall left just a month before that email between Sinofsky and Epstein.
Steven Sinofsky at a Windows 8 event - Image Credit: Microsoft
Months later, in May 2013, another email exchange between Sinofsky and Epstein revealed that Cook had talked to Sinofsky.
In that meeting, Cook apparently told Sinofsky to get in contact when he wants to work full-time. Sinofsky responded, explaining about a non-compete agreement, almost certainly linked to his Microsoft retirement package.
Cook, as per usual, explained that he values being "low key," implying that he wanted everything by the book and with little potential for legal issues arising from such agreements.
Epstein prodded, asking if Cook said anything meaningful or insightful. Sinofsky replied that Cook asked if he was going to work and to stay in touch if he wanted to in the future.
"It seemed pretty real," Sinofsky said.
He also disclosed to Cook that his non-compete ran for the rest of the year and that he would like to keep in touch throughout.
Another fixer
This isn't the only reference to Cook in email form. He does appear in another Epstein thread.
One email from a person identified as Ian Osborne sent to Epstein on February 5, 2013, mentions an intention to call an unnamed individual that day. Osborne also writes that he "Was with Tim Cook this morning" and that he was almost done with a "Mubadala tour of tech-land."
There are no other emails in that particular thread.
Despite the redacted email address, Osborne could be the British investor who also acted as a "fixer to billionaires."
Minimal contamination
The emails that have so far emerged from the pile of documents are not really that damaging to Cook or Apple in particular. So far, they appear to be references in fairly pedestrian email chains, instead of debauchery and legally questionable activities.
Cook doesn't appear to be implicated in anything serious in the Epstein world at all and instead just chats with an executive.
Epstein's involvement in the upper echelons of society made talking about Cook an inevitability. However, this does not mean that Cook had anything to do with Epstein-related acts beyond career advice.
It also doesn't rule out or exonerate Cook from any more salacious events in the overall Epstein affair. That said, if there is evidence to the contrary, that will certainly surface and be reported on.
For the moment, at least, Cook appears to be a small and inconsequential tangent in someone else's story.
