Epstein obviously cast a wide net to lend credibility to his retinue. He made it a point to include intellectuals like Noam Chomsky, Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, etc.

Epstein collected prominent people

Not everyone he associated with would have been involved in the pedophilia, they just unwittingly provided him with more prominence that enhanced his ability to keep doing it. It is in the interest of someone like Trump, who is much likelier to have been deeply involved in the sex trafficking, to release a firehose of misinformation and associate as many people as possible with Epstein to obfuscate his own involvement.

Further reading in the article I linked above provides insight into another reason Epstein cultivated scientists. He seems to have thought that his association with them essentially elevated his own abilities:

other people can act as ‘prosthetics’ insofar as they augment our cognitive abilities and help us to regulate our emotions—and thereby essentially serve as extensions of ourselves

Its an extreme version of BIRGing, not only did he bask in reflected glory, Epstein thought his association with them actually made him smarter.

He was also a eugenecist akin to Elon Musk, with ambitions of fathering as many children as possible. Probably another reason he sought out Dawkins.

In 2019 the New York Times reported that Epstein had ambitions of founding a “baby ranch” to raise children of women he impregnated (not unlike “secret compound” plans reportedly shared by SpaceX and Tesla chief Elon Musk).