Def Con, a prominent hacking conference, has officially banned three individuals associated with Jeffrey Epstein. The decision followed revelations from the Department of Justice's recent file release regarding Epstein's activities, which implicated Pablos Holman, Vincenzo Iozzo, and Joichi Ito. This move comes shortly after TechCrunch reported that Iozzo was also removed from the advisory boards of cybersecurity conferences Black Hat and Code Blue.
Iozzo, the founder and CEO of identity startup SlashID, has a long history in the cybersecurity field, including a prior role at CrowdStrike. His interactions with Epstein reportedly took place between 2014 and 2018, coinciding with allegations against Epstein for the abuse of numerous minors. A spokesperson for Iozzo criticized Def Con's ban as a "rush to judgment," noting that Iozzo has rarely attended the conference in the last two decades.
No immediate comments were received from representatives of Def Con or the banned individuals regarding the situation. Epstein, who died in jail in 2019, had previously pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from minors and was a registered sex offender.