William Elkus is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and the founder of Clearstone Venture Partners, a Santa Monica–based venture capital firm. He served as one of the original trustees of Jeffrey Epstein’s J. Epstein Foundation at its formation in December 1991, alongside Epstein and Epstein’s brother Mark. New York registration documents confirm Elkus’s role at the foundation’s inception, though the duration of his trusteeship cannot be determined because the New York Attorney General’s office does not retain annual filings from the 1990s.

Elkus first intersected with Epstein in 1988, when he invited Epstein to Fairfield, Iowa to “see our investment operations, meet the Zimmerman family, and learn more about their major charitable projects.” At the time, Elkus managed money for the Zimmerman family, major benefactors of Maharishi International University. This invitation places Elkus at the center of one of the earliest documented introductions between Epstein and the Transcendental Meditation organizational network.

Elkus’s trusteeship illustrates Epstein’s early outreach into West Coast venture capital circles years before Epstein’s later, better-known interactions with high-profile technology figures. His involvement suggests Epstein’s strategic cultivation of Silicon Valley relationships began far earlier than commonly assumed.

Elkus is also the father of Henry Elkus, a contemporary collaborator of Daniel Schmachtenberger, who was raised at Maharishi International University and now works on influence and “sensemaking” initiatives. The father–son connection links Epstein’s 1990s venture-capital–aligned network with modern influence organizations, suggesting potential continuity across generations and institutional ecosystems.

Sources

New York State charity registration filings; Business Insider reporting via FOIL records; America 2.0 News investigative reporting on Epstein’s early Silicon Valley and MIU-linked networks.