FIRST, Dean Kamen’s youth robotics org, puts him on leave amid new Epstein revelations
New Hampshire Public Radio | By Josh Rogers
Published February 1, 2026 at 1:24 PM EST
FIRST, the Manchester-based youth science organization founded by New Hampshire inventor Dean Kamen, says it has placed him on leave from “all activities” related to its work, while it reviews recent revelations of Kamen’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
In a statement posted on FIRST’s website over the weekend, Board Chair Laurie Leshin said: “FIRST® is aware of the recent disclosures released by the U.S. Department of Justice involving FIRST Founder Dean Kamen’s interactions with Jeffrey Epstein. The FIRST Board of Directors has engaged an outside law firm to conduct an independent review, and Dean has indicated he will cooperate fully with the review.”
Part of that cooperation, the statement read, entails Kamen stepping away from all activities related to FIRST, which he founded in 1989. The robotics program was originally focused on New Hampshire, but now has a global reach, with teams in more than 30 countries.
https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2026-02-01/epstein-dean-kamen-first-nh-new-hampshire-epstein-files
And
The Epstein files are creating headaches for the Sununus and Shaheens in New Hampshire
The founder of Segway has longstanding ties with the Sununu and Shaheen families — and, we now know, Jeffrey Epstein.
Dean Kamen arrives at the ninth Breakthrough Prize Awards on Saturday, April 15, 2023, at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) | AP
By Lisa Kashinsky02/10/2026 11:00 AM EST
A New Hampshire magnate with ties to power players in both parties has appeared in successive batches of the Epstein files, roiling politics in his home state and threatening its two most influential political dynasties.
Documents recently released by the Department of Justice suggest that entrepreneur Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway and other devices, kept in contact with Jeffrey Epstein long after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008, with emails indicating he visited the disgraced financier’s Caribbean island in 2013. Kamen has not been accused of wrongdoing and did not respond to requests for comment through his companies Monday.
The recently released files indicate a closer relationship between the two than was previously known. The disclosures have prompted Kamen’s organizations to launch investigations into their ties. And the situation has ratcheted up scrutiny of the New Hampshire politicians who have worked with him, received campaign contributions from him or helped his organizations secure tens of millions in federal funds.
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