Goodwin Procter partner Roberto Braceras will lead the investigation into the donations disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein funneled to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, the firm said Tuesday.

Braceras is the former head of the firm's litigation department in Boston, and according to his online firm profile, he represents companies and universities in "a wide variety of government investigations and civil litigation." He has also represented MIT in class action claims that sought "greater 'accessibility' to various websites," according to his online profile.

The firm is remaining tight-lipped about the investigation, which MIT president L. Rafael Reif first announced in a Monday letter.

Besides confirming that Braceras was leading the legal team, the only other detail a Goodwin spokeswoman revealed was that Goodwin partner Jennifer Chunias in Boston was also on the investigation team. Chunias, a member of the firm's securities litigation, white-collar defense and business litigation group, focuses on government and internal investigations and higher education litigation.

"We have asked the firm to explore all donations received by MIT, both those that came directly from Jeffrey Epstein and his associated foundations, and any donations that may have been received at the direction of Jeffrey Epstein," Reif wrote in the Monday letter. "In addition, the investigation will cover who at MIT may have been aware of the donations. We have instructed Goodwin Procter to follow the evidence where it leads, and we are counting on this independent investigation to ascertain the facts."

Reif said the investigation will "take time, on the order of a month." The firm will report its findings to Reif and the school's governing board, formally known as the Executive Committee of the MIT Corp.

MIT's decision to retain Goodwin Procter comes on the heels of reporting by The New Yorker, which obtained emails and other records showing that MIT's Media Lab had accepted more money from Epstein, a convicted sex offender who was facing more charges of sex trafficking until he killed himself last month, than it had previously acknowledged and tried to keep those donations a secret.

The New Yorker's reporting led to the resignation of Joi Ito, the Media Lab's director.

Goodwin Procter is the latest law firm to be retained by individuals and institutions that were in Epstein's orbit. In August, Epstein's longtime corporate attorney, Darren Indyke, hired criminal defense attorney Marc Agnifilo while others turned to Sercacz & Riopelle and Bachner & Associates. Boies Schiller Flexner is representing at least eight of Epstein's victims on a pro bono basis.

Even though Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell Aug. 10, U.S. Attorney General William Barr has vowed to continue prosecuting any co-conspirators.

A proliferation of investigations at universities into alleged misconduct has kept law firms busy and paid.

For examples, Perkins Coie raked in $6.2 million total in investigating the decades of sexual abuse allegedly committed by Richard Strauss, a deceased Ohio State University athletic doctor.

In another Ohio State University matter, Debevoise & Plimpton was paid $1 million as a result of partner Mary Jo White's investigation into the university's head football coach Urban Meyer in 2018.

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