TerraMar Project
The TerraMar Project was a British-American nonprofit organization based in New York City, New York. It was founded by Ghislaine Maxwell, purportedly to raise awareness of environmental and other issues facing the oceans.
History
TerraMar was incorporated in both the US state of Delaware and London, England in 2012 by Ghislaine Maxwell.[1][2] The organization's website featured an interactive “virtual dive” using Google Ocean, which premiered alongside TerraMar at the Blue Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Conference in Monterey, California.[3]
Founding “citizens” of the project included Nathan Wolfe, Sylvia Earle, Don Walsh, Dan Laffoley, Jonathan Soros, David Wassong, David de Rothschild, Nate Berkus and Robert Kotick.[3:1][4]
Activism
TerraMar's activities focused on raising awareness for ocean conservation efforts. Maxwell spoke at several high-level events about the issue, including 2013 and 2014 events hosted at the United Nations in New York (where she advocated for the Sustainable Development Goals)[5] and a 2014 Council on Foreign Relations event.[6]
One such UN event titled “Healthy Oceans and Seas: a way forward” was co-hosted by the Sustainable Oceans Alliance, the Governments of Italy and Palau and the Global Partnerships Forum.[7] She also spoke in 2014 about TerraMar at the Westchester Digital Summit.[8]
TerraMar's activism related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was praised by the Clinton Foundation's Clinton Global Initiative.[9]
Investigation and closure
In July 2019, the New York Post reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was looking into TerraMar following the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein.[2:1] Within weeks, “the charity blocked its public website and made it password-accessible,” deleted its Twitter account, and issued a message on its homepage stating that it had ceased operations.
Organization
Ghislaine Maxwell served as president of TerraMar, with her Upper East Side home acting as its official office.[2:2] Ghislaine's sister Christine Maxwell was listed as Treasurer in TerraMar's 2017 filings.[4:1]
Members of TerraMar’s board included United Nations official Amir Dossal, Dead Poets Society producer Steven Haft, Christine Dennison and Ariadne Calvo-Platero, Maxwell’s best friend from the University of Oxford.[10] Calvo-Platero and Katie Vaughan-Edwards, “Maxwell’s socialite friends from London, were also listed in the original incorporation documents.”
Larry Coben was also reportedly a founding director.[11][2:3]
The team at TerraMar as of April 2019 included Brian Yurasits as Director of Development, Inge Solheim as Polar Ambassador and Kristin Lee Dufour as head of Strategic Communications.[12]
| Name | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ghislaine Maxwell | Founder[1:1] | - |
| Christine Maxwell | Treasurer[4:2] | - |
| Ariadne Calvo-Platero | Board member[10:1] | - |
| Larry Coben | Founding director[2:4] | - |
| Christine Dennison | Board member[10:2] | - |
| Amir Dossal | Board member[10:3] | Global Partnerships Forum |
| Kristin Lee Dufour | Strategic Communications[12:1] | - |
| Steven Haft | Board member[10:4] | Dead Poets Society |
| Inge Solheim | Polar Ambassador | - |
| Katie Vaughan-Edwards | - | - |
| Brian Yurasits | Director of Development[12:2] | - |
| Tom Aikens | Founding Citizen[13] | - |
| Marcelo de Andrade | Founding Citizen | Pro-Natura |
| Jeff Ardron | Founding Citizen | Marine Conservation Institute |
| Martine Assouline | Founding Citizen | Assouline Publishing |
| Richard Attias | Founding Citizen | Richard Attias & Associates, New York Forum |
| Jenifer Austin Foulkes | Founding Citizen | Google Ocean |
| Susan Avery | Founding Citizen | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |
| Roger Barnett | Founding Citizen | Shaklee |
| Yves Béhar | Founding Citizen | Fuseproject, Jawbone |
| Nate Berkus | Founding Citizen | - |
| Arlo Brady | Founding Citizen | Freud Communications |
| Charles Clover | Founding Citizen | Blue Marine Foundation |
| Steven Coan | Founding Citizen | Sea Research Foundation |
| Lawrence Coben | Founding Citizen | Sustainable Preservation Initiative, NRG Energy |
| Colin Cowie | Founding Citizen | Colin Cowie Enterprises |
| Robert L. Dilenschneider | Founding Citizen | Dilenschneider Group |
| Barry Diller | Founding Citizen | IAC |
| George Duffield | Founding Citizen | Blue Marine Foundation |
| Tracey Durning | Founding Citizen | 49 Prince Street |
| Karen Duffy | Founding Citizen | NYC Media, Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Pain Patients |
| Sylvia Earle | Founding Citizen | National Geographic Society |
| Isabella Vaughan Edwards | Founding Citizen | - |
| Thomas Vaughan Edwards | Founding Citizen | - |
| Johan Eliacsh | Founding Citizen | Cool Earth |
| Debra Erickson | Founding Citizen | Kerzner Marine Foundation |
| Shepard Fairey | Founding Citizen | Studio Number One |
| Craig Fleishman | Founding Citizen | Act II |
| Simon Franks | Founding Citizen | Franks Family Foundation |
| David Gallo | Founding Citizen | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |
| Murray Gell-Mann | Founding Citizen | Santa Fe Institute, California Institute of Technology |
| Michel Gelobter | Founding Citizen | School of International and Public Affairs |
| Kristina Gjerde | Founding Citizen | International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) |
| Stefani Greenfield | Founding Citizen | Jones Group |
| Lisa Heiden | Founding Citizen | Wheel Group |
| Jorge Jiménez | Founding Citizen | MarViva Foundation |
| Andre Kerzner | Founding Citizen | Lalela Project |
| Jemma Kidd | Founding Citizen | Jemma Kidd Vision Fund |
| Leon Koffler | Founding Citizen | Super-Pharm |
| Robert Kotick | Founding Citizen | Activision Blizzard |
| Dan Laffoley | Founding Citizen | World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) |
| Rob LeCascio | Founding Citizen | LivePerson |
| Sven-Olof Lindblad | Founding Citizen | Lindblad Expeditions |
| Edie Lutnick | Founding Citizen | Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund |
| Greg MacGillivray | Founding Citizen | MacGillivray Freeman Films, One World One Ocean |
| Shelly Malkin | Founding Citizen | Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) |
| Peter Mandelson | Founding Citizen | Global Counsel, Policy Network |
| Nick Mason | Founding Citizen | Pink Floyd |
| Yuri Maxwell Malina | Founding Citizen | Design for America |
| Oskar Metsavaht | Founding Citizen | Osklen |
| J.B. Miller | Founding Citizen | Empire Entertainment |
| Catriona Munro | Founding Citizen | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |
| Ahmet M. Oren | Founding Citizen | İhlas Holding |
| Daniel Pauly | Founding Citizen | UBC Fisheries Centre |
| Tim Phillips | Founding Citizen | Club of Madrid |
| Jean Pigozzi | Founding Citizen | Simca |
| Veronique Pittman | Founding Citizen | Green Schools Alliance, Rainforest Foundation |
| Dee Poku | Founding Citizen | WIE Network |
| George Polk | Founding Citizen | Catalyst Project |
| Nick Pritzker | Founding Citizen | Clean Energy Trust |
| Callum Roberts | Founding Citizen | University of York |
| Alex Rogers | Founding Citizen | University of Oxford Department of Zoology |
| Hamutal Ron | Founding Citizen | Hamutal Ron Ltd. |
| Philip Rosedale | Founding Citizen | Second Life, Linden Lab, Coffee and Power |
| Peter Thomas Roth | Founding Citizen | Peter Thomas Roth Labs |
| David de Rothschild | Founding Citizen | Voice for Nature Foundation |
| Jacqueline Sackler | Founding Citizen | Mortimer and Jacqueline Sackler Foundation |
| Mortimer Sackler | Founding Citizen | Mortimer and Jacqueline Sackler Foundation |
| Enric Sala | Founding Citizen | National Geographic Society |
| Ben Shore | Founding Citizen | - |
| Lily Shore | Founding Citizen | - |
| Mara Shore | Founding Citizen | American Red Cross |
| Brian Skerry | Founding Citizen | - |
| Maria Snyder | Founding Citizen | Peacearth |
| Jonathan Soros | Founding Citizen | Roosevelt Institute |
| Thomas Stat | Founding Citizen | Edison Universe |
| Rainer Sternfeld | Founding Citizen | Marinexplore |
| Paul Taaffe | Founding Citizen | Groupon |
| David Tang | Founding Citizen | - |
| Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza | Founding Citizen | Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21) |
| David Vaskevitch | Founding Citizen | Mylo Development |
| Jeffrey Walker | Founding Citizen | MDG Health Alliance |
| Don Walsh | Founding Citizen | United States Navy |
| David Wassong | Founding Citizen | Soros Fund Management |
| Jana Winderen | Founding Citizen | - |
| Nathan Wolfe | Founding Citizen | Metabiota |
TerraMar's annual filings were prepared by Laura Barooshian of Dicicco, Gulman & Company.[4:3]
Partners
Partners of the TerraMar Project included:[13:1]
- Blue Marine Foundation
- Deep Sea Conservation Coalition
- Global Point
- High Seas Alliance
- International Programme on the State of the Ocean
- International SeaKeepers Society
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- Kerzner Marine Foundation
- Marine Conservation Institute
- MarViva Foundation
- Mission Blue
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
Funding
According to a 2019 article by the New York Post, TerraMar was “exclusively funded by hundreds of thousands in loans by heiress Ghislaine Maxwell.”[2:5]
External links
Cain, Á. (2019, July 18). Ghislaine Maxwell abruptly torpedoed her oceanic non-profit in the wake of the scandal surrounding her associate Jeffrey Epstein. Business Insider. http://archive.today/2020.07.08-112359/https://www.businessinsider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-terramar-project-charity-jeffrey-epstin-2019-7 ↩︎ ↩︎
Vincent, I. (2019, July 28). Feds probe heiress’ ocean “charity” for links to Jeffrey Epstein. New York Post. http://archive.today/2020.04.22-063256/https://nypost.com/2019/07/27/feds-probe-socialites-mysterious-ocean-charity-over-links-to-jeffrey-epstein/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Platt, J. (2019, August 15). TerraMar Project Launches to Celebrate and Protect the World’s Oceans. Treehugger. http://archive.today/2021.06.11-045331/https://www.treehugger.com/terramar-project-launches-to-celebrate-and-protect-the-worlds-oceans-4862102 ↩︎ ↩︎
The Maxwell Connection. (2020, July 24). Some Bitch Told Me. http://archive.today/2021.07.31-163621/https://somebitchtoldme.com/the-maxwell-connection/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
The TerraMar Project. (2014, March 18). TerraMar Founder Speaks at the United Nations. YouTube. https://web.archive.org/web/20221231154521/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzL5ev0vjbw ↩︎
Patrick, S. M. (2014, August). Global Governance Update - August 2014. Council on Foreign Relations. https://web.archive.org/web/20190830191059/https://www.cfr.org/about/newsletters/archive/newsletter/n2100 ↩︎
Scenario for the round table - Healthy Oceans and Seas: a way forward. (2014, February 4). United Nations. https://web.archive.org/web/20220813174029/https://www.un.org/webcast/pdfs/ocean140204pm.pdf ↩︎
Westchester Digital Summit. (2014, June 20). WDS2 - Ghislaine Maxwell and The TerraMar Project. YouTube. https://web.archive.org/web/20221231154609/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pUzcRORDIg ↩︎
Sustainable Oceans Alliance: Impacting the SGDs. Clinton Foundation. Retrieved July 21, 2019, from https://web.archive.org/web/20190721044009/https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative/commitments/sustainable-oceans-alliance-impacting-sgds ↩︎
Terramar Project Inc, Form 990-EZ - Nonprofit Explorer. (2018, May 23). ProPublica. http://archive.today/2022.03.05-002516/https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/455091884/201811439349200426/IRS990EZ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
@Agenthades1. (2019, September 9). “Lets see who all the members of Ghislaine’s Terramar project board were shall we? Larry Coben, who’s in the black book and in recent interviews has the gall to say that he doesn’t recall being on the board.” [Tweet]. Twitter. https://web.archive.org/web/20221231144445/https://twitter.com/agenthades1/status/1171308596526604288?lang=en ↩︎
About. TerraMar Project. Retrieved April 25, 2019, from https://web.archive.org/web/20190425191028/http://theterramarproject.org/about/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Home. The TerraMar Project. Retrieved July 15, 2012, from https://web.archive.org/web/20120715091022/https://theterramarproject.org/ ↩︎ ↩︎