The Beta Technologies board member whose relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is receiving new scrutiny this month is a longtime adviser to the Vermont startup who sold the company his private jet and funneled public money to its electric aviation projects.
Dean Kamen, a New Hampshire entrepreneur best known for inventing the Segway, took an indefinite leave of absence last week from Beta's governance board — as well as his other corporate positions — after newly released files from the sex trafficking case revealed that Kamen had more dealings with Epstein than previously acknowledged.
The federal records, released as part of a massive data dump ordered by Congress, indicate that Kamen visited Epstein at his private Caribbean island where much of Epstein's sexual abuse and trafficking took place. The pair also exchanged numerous emails and appear to have traded some professional favors between 2011 and 2014, after Epstein had served prison time for procuring a minor for prostitution.
Kamen has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing or sexual misconduct, and his contacts with Epstein precede Beta's founding in 2018.
But questions about Kamen's ties to Epstein are nagging Beta at a pivotal period for the company. The startup went public on the New York Stock Exchange last fall and is fiercely competing to become the first American firm to bring small electric aircraft to market.
The revelations, meanwhile, have jeopardized a significant relationship for Beta — while also putting a spotlight on it.
The company said in a statement last week that it has hired a law firm to conduct an "independent review" of the information about Kamen in the Epstein files. Kamen is cooperating with the review, according to the company.
"BETA treats these matters with utmost seriousness," the company wrote.
Kamen and Beta
Kamen is one of the longest-serving members of Beta's board of directors, which he joined in 2021. He owns 876,000 shares of Beta stock worth about $16 million at Wednesday's price, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
In recent years, the startup has also done business with Kamen and his organizations, according to public disclosures filed in conjunction with Beta's initial stock offering.
That includes buying the same private jet that Kamen had used to visit Epstein in the U.S. Virgin Islands back in 2013. In January 2023, the company paid $7.25 million for the used aircraft, a price roughly in line with similar models on the market.
Two company spokespeople declined to answer questions about the 11-seat plane, other than to say it is used for corporate travel.
Three weeks after Beta purchased the jet, one of Kamen's New Hampshire organizations paid the company $9.95 million to construct charging stations for electric aircraft at airports across the southeast United States, as well as an electric helicopter charging pad at the organization's Manchester headquarters.
The grants were made through Kamen's Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute, a nonprofit that seeks to develop artificial human tissues and organs. The institute has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for its work, according to reporting by New Hampshire Public Radio. The station reported that ARMI and Beta obtained $2.4 million in federal Build Back Better money in 2023 to install the charging pad on ARMI property, "so it can one day potentially whisk organs to patients at regional hospitals."
ARMI paid Beta another $9.87 million in 2024 to install more chargers at airports and to "conduct a trade study," company disclosures state.
Between the two grants, Kamen's institute has routed at least $19 million to Beta to install 22 charging stations around the country. The charging network is crucial for commercial use of Beta aircraft.
Beta declined to answer questions about the ARMI deals. ARMI did not respond to questions submitted Wednesday.
Kamen and Epstein
Last week's document dump is not the first to connect Kamen with Epstein. In December, a separate release included a photo of Kamen, Epstein and Virgin Group founder and billionaire Richard Branson on a tropical beach. Another photo depicted Kamen and Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell riding a Segway.
Kamen told New Hampshire TV station WMUR in December that he'd had "only limited interactions with Jeffrey Epstein" and had "no knowledge of any of the horrific actions of Jeffrey Epstein (or Ghislaine Maxwell) other than what I have learned from news reports."
The latest, larger batch of documents revealed that Kamen arranged an overnight stay at Epstein's private island, Little St. James, in April 2013.
In an email thanking Epstein for hosting an "incredible visit to a magical place," Kamen references a woman named "Nadia" and a flying school.
"I look forward to following up with her," Kamen wrote.
That appears to be in reference to Nadia Marcinko, an Epstein associate who has been reported both as a victim of his predatory behavior and someone who helped facilitate it. She later became a pilot and aviation influencer.
Several months after Kamen's visit to Epstein Island, a New York City affiliate of the nonprofit he founded, FIRST, which hosts robotics competitions for young people in Vermont and around the country, posted a profile of Marcinko to its website under the header "Girls in Tech." The article was later removed.
In 2014, Marcinko incorporated a small aviation company called Aviloop at the New Hampshire office building that houses DEKA Research & Development. Around that time, Kamen, an avid pilot himself, offered a flight school for employees of his company.
In January of that year, someone identified as "Nadia M" emailed Epstein a link to one of Kamen's products, a high-efficiency in-home generator, suggesting that it could be useful for Epstein to use on his island.
Beta said it has not done business with Marcinko or Aviloop. Vermont Public could not reach Marcinko, who hasn't been heard from since 2024, for comment.
Copyright 2026 Vermont Public News
