A Republican lawmaker leveled a surprising allegation final week: Not solely had authorities paperwork named a billionaire retail magnate a co-conspirator in Jeffrey Epstein’s intercourse trafficking case, the Department of Justice had tried to protect the person from accountability.
Rep. Thomas Massie chastised the DOJ in a House listening to for redacting numerous names and particulars in data launched with the Epstein files. “This is bigger than Watergate,” Massie stated. “This cover-up spans decades.”
Massie’s feedback shined a brand new highlight on Les Wexner, the previous proprietor of Victoria’s Secret, who’s one of essentially the most mysterious figures in Epstein’s orbit – a key participant in serving to the financier’s rise to excessive wealth, whose motivations and ties to Epstein have lengthy been a supply of hypothesis.
A NCS evaluate of the DOJ’s large Epstein file launch discovered that, whereas Wexner’s title was initially redacted in the “co-conspirator” doc, his title seems in lots of of different data that show federal authorities have carefully scrutinized Wexner and repeatedly sought data from him.
That scrutiny has included questions from investigators before Epstein pleaded responsible to soliciting prostitution, together with from a minor, in 2008 and once more when authorities pursued a brand new sex-trafficking case in opposition to Epstein a decade later. Emails show authorities wished to know whether or not Wexner had data of Epstein paying women for intercourse acts, and officers subpoenaed Wexner in 2019 and spoke to his attorneys. Another 2019 FBI document lists Wexner as a “secondary” co-conspirator however notes, “There is limited evidence regarding his involvement.”
Other data in the Epstein files embody allegations made to the FBI that Wexner interacted with younger girls and presumably underage women in Epstein’s presence. One sufferer claimed she was trafficked to Wexner – a declare Wexner has denied. Wexner has by no means been charged with a criminal offense.
Now, members of Congress have one other shot at questioning Wexner, who’s 88 years previous. The retail tycoon is slated to take a seat for a deposition with the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday in Ohio.
Wexner has for years denied any wrongdoing associated to Epstein. He stated after Epstein’s demise he was “embarrassed” that he ever put his belief in the disgraced financier. A spokesperson informed NCS that Wexner cooperated with legislation enforcement and was informed in 2019 he “was neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect.”
Trump administration officers have vehemently rejected accusations they’ve sought to cowl up any crimes associated to Epstein. In September, FBI Director Kash Patel stated there was “no credible information” Epstein had trafficked victims to different males. Testifying to Congress final week, Attorney General Pam Bondi stated investigators would “love” to listen to extra data from every other victims who come ahead.
Still, paperwork launched in the trove of files this yr revive long-simmering questions on Wexner’s decades-old dealings with the now-infamous intercourse offender and supply new perception into what investigators uncovered.
In one undated message, Epstein appeared to trace at secrets and techniques shared between the 2 males.
“You and I had ‘gang stuff’ for over 15 years,” Epstein wrote in a typo-filled letter addressed to “Les.” “I have never once, not once, done anything , but protect your interests. I owe a great debt to you, as frankly you owe to me.” The message added, “I had no intention of divulging any confidence of ours.” The specifics of what the letter referred to – and whether or not Epstein even despatched the message – are unclear.
A Wexner spokesperson stated he by no means acquired the observe. “The draft appears to fit a pattern of outlandish and delusional statements by Epstein, in the newly released documents, made in desperate attempts to perpetuate his lies, proclaim his innocence, and meet with individuals who had ended their relationships with him,” the spokesperson stated.
Allegations and questions
Epstein entered Wexner’s orbit in the Nineteen Eighties when a mutual good friend beneficial Epstein as a monetary adviser. Wexner, who was constructing the retail empire that made him a billionaire, drafted him to assist with investments, in response to a federal memo that describes statements from Wexner’s attorneys.
“Based on positive reports from several friends, and on my initial dealings with him, I believed I could trust him,” Wexner later wrote in a letter.
In 1991, Epstein obtained energy of legal professional from Wexner, which enabled him to purchase and promote property on Wexner’s behalf. “Epstein controlled all of Wexner’s personal finances with virtually no oversight,” in response to the memo, which describes how Epstein bought himself a New York house and a non-public airplane that had belonged to Wexner at a “deeply discounted price.”
Epstein additionally launched Wexner to some of his high-profile connections, together with then-Prince Andrew, a sultan in Dubai and professors at Harvard University, in response to the memo.
In the mid-2000’s, police in Florida opened an investigation into Epstein after receiving a report from the guardian of a 14-year-old woman that Epstein had sexually abused the minor. Around that point, Epstein knowledgeable Wexner he was having “legal problems involving an overly aggressive police chief and some sort of massage,” in response to the memo.
A handwritten observe launched by the DOJ reveals an investigator spoke to an legal professional for Wexner in 2007, who stated his consumer was “advanced in age and has no interaction with his ‘money manager.’” At the time, Wexner was in his late 60s, served as CEO of the corporate Limited Brands and remained in that place for greater than a decade after.
Amid the fallout of that Epstein investigation, Wexner’s spouse took over the household’s funds and found Epstein had misappropriated funds to the tune of “several hundred million dollars,” in response to the federal memo. In 2008, the yr Epstein pleaded guilty to state prostitution costs – half of a federal non-prosecution settlement that allowed him to serve solely 13 months in jail – Epstein agreed to return $100 million as half of a settlement to Wexner, who in response to the memo, then ended his relationship with the financier.
But Epstein repeatedly talked about Wexner or sought to contact him in the years that adopted. In one 2010 message launched by the DOJ, Epstein appeared to gripe that somebody in Wexner’s workplace “would not confirm” his e mail deal with. Other messages show Epstein associates sending him details about Wexner-related enterprise pursuits or organizations.
While Wexner might have sought to chop all ties, authorities have been nonetheless making an attempt to untangle the character of his lengthy relationship with Epstein.
An FBI interview report associated to Epstein in 2011 reveals brokers have been informed somebody “provided an erotic massage to Leslie Wexner in New York.” The particular person’s title is redacted in the publicly launched file, however statements in the interview overlap with these made elsewhere by Virginia Giuffre, one of essentially the most outstanding Epstein victims.
During a deposition for a civil case in 2016, Giuffre was requested whether or not Wexner was “one of the powerful business executives” to whom she had been trafficked. “Yes,” she responded.
Wexner has repeatedly denied that allegation. A spokesperson pointed to a courtroom doc in which one of Wexner’s attorneys acknowledged, “Mr. Wexner was unaware of, and was never a participant in, any of the abhorrent behavior engaged in by Epstein against Epstein’s victims, that Mr. Wexner had never met Ms. Giuffre, and that any claims to the contrary were not true.”
Brad Edwards, an legal professional for a number of Epstein accusers, has said he had not seen data displaying Wexner was in Epstein’s firm on the time of his crimes.
When Epstein was indicted for a second time in 2019, federal prosecutors tried to get their arms round Epstein’s funds – together with his dealings with Wexner. Authorities recognized him as a key individual they wished to interview and subpoenaed him together with a slew of different Epstein associates, in response to paperwork.
An e mail reveals a federal prosecutor acknowledged investigators have been “interested in knowing about his relationship with Epstein and his knowledge and observations of Epstein with young girls.”
That similar yr, a sufferer stated that Epstein had sexually assaulted her in Wexner’s house in Ohio, in response to a courtroom affidavit. Wexner’s attorneys informed prosecutors Epstein owned a property a couple of half mile away and that Wexner’s safety crew was not conscious of any inappropriate incident occurring on the Wexner property.
The FBI fielded different tips on Wexner and Epstein, the files show. In 2019 a person named Richard Adrian known as the FBI and stated he served as Wexner’s bodyguard in 1991 and 1992. He described Wexner as “best friends with Epstein,” and stated he’d seen “young girls” at Epstein’s Palm Beach house however “assumed they were family.”
“Adrian was told by another bodyguard to keep to yourself and not ask questions,” the memo stated.
“Mr. Wexner was never at Epstein’s Palm Beach home in the presence of young girls,” a spokesperson for Wexner stated.
As the investigation proceeded, Wexner employed Mary Jo White, a former federal prosecutor, who met prosecutors alongside together with his different attorneys three weeks after Epstein’s arrest. Wexner’s legal professionals denied that he had any data of unlawful sexual exercise. They additionally defined the monetary historical past between Wexner and Epstein, in response to the inner DOJ memo.
“The attorneys emphasized Wexner’s relationship with Epstein was more professional than social,” the memo states.
Two weeks after that assembly, Epstein was discovered lifeless in his jail cell. It was dominated a suicide. Prosecutors then shifted the investigation to concentrate on the enablers of his intercourse trafficking.
In mid-August 2019, the FBI listed a string of eight “co-conspirators” related to Epstein in a doc. Wexner’s title and picture have been included, although the doc included no particulars about why the people have been labeled that means.
In December of that yr, memos from federal prosecutors concerning the Epstein case described Wexner and his relationship with Epstein. While some names and sections are redacted in variations launched by the DOJ, the publicly accessible memos don’t allege that Wexner dedicated any crimes.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, grew to become the prosecution’s principal goal. She was arrested the next yr and later convicted of intercourse trafficking minors.
The FBI continued to discipline suggestions involving Wexner, the DOJ files show. In 2020, a lady whose title and work historical past are redacted in a file informed the bureau she typically noticed Epstein and Wexner collectively. “Wexner would have models who could not have been over 18 years old do private viewings for him and Epstein,” she stated. The lady added the fashions wore swimsuits or lingerie.
Another lady whose identification is redacted in a file informed the FBI about sexual exercise with Epstein and stated, “There was a time where they flew into Aspen and Les Wexner and other girls went shopping.” The lady didn’t accuse Wexner of wrongdoing.
“We don’t know who made this statement or why, but it is false,” stated a spokesperson for Wexner.
This yr, after securing subpoenas for Wexner and two others to take a seat for depositions, the highest Democrat on the House Oversight Committee known as the motion an “enormous step forward” in the investigation.
“Oversight Democrats know how important it is to follow the money to identify anyone that enabled Epstein’s horrific abuses and illegal activities,” Rep. Robert Garcia stated in January.
An legal professional for Wexner stated he would absolutely cooperate with any authorities inquiry.