Julie Carr Smyth
The billionaire behind the retail empire that when blanketed procuring malls with names comparable to Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch is telling members of Congress that he was “duped by a world-class conman” — shut monetary adviser Jeffrey Epstein. Les Wexner is also denying realizing concerning the convicted intercourse offender’s crimes or taking part in Epstein’s abuse of ladies and younger girls.
“I used to be naïve, silly, and gullible to place any belief in Jeffrey Epstein. He was a con man. And whereas I used to be conned, I’ve finished nothing improper and don’t have anything to cover,” the 88-year-old retired founding father of L Manufacturers mentioned in an announcement submitted to the Home Oversight Committee earlier than his interview. Democrats had subpoenaed him after the newest launch of Justice Division paperwork about Epstein raised new questions on Wexner’s relationship with the well-connected financier.
Wexner, in his assertion, described himself as a philanthropist, group builder and grandfather who at all times strove “to dwell my life in an moral method consistent with my ethical compass.” He mentioned he was keen “to set the report straight” about his ties with Epstein and dispel “outrageous unfaithful statements and hurtful hearsay, innuendo, and hypothesis” which have shadowed him.
In an uncommon transfer, the lawmakers travelled to Wexner’s dwelling in New Albany, Ohio, for the interview. Bloomberg reported that within the interview, Wexner mentioned he visited Epstein’s non-public Caribbean island as soon as along with his spouse and youngsters “for a couple of hours” whereas the household was within the space on their boat.
As one in every of Epstein’s most outstanding former buddies, Wexner has spent years answering for his or her decades-long affiliation. In court docket paperwork, outstanding Epstein sufferer Virginia Giuffre claimed that Wexner was one of many males Epstein trafficked her to.
Wexner has denied any data of or involvement in Epstein’s crimes and says he by no means met Giuffre. He instructed L Manufacturers buyers in 2019 that he was embarrassed that he ever bought near somebody “so sick, so crafty, so wicked.”
Wexner has by no means been charged with any crimes in reference to Epstein.
Wexner’s identify seems greater than a thousand instances within the Epstein recordsdata, which his spokesperson mentioned will not be sudden given their long-running ties. The paperwork shed new mild on his relationship to Epstein, which ended bitterly after Wexner and his spouse Abigail discovered that he had been stealing from them.
‘A most loyal pal’
Epstein first met Wexner via a enterprise affiliate round 1986.
It was an opportune time for Wexner’s funds. The Ohio enterprise proprietor had grown a single Restricted retailer in Columbus into a set of Eighties mall staples: The Restricted, Restricted Categorical, Lane Bryant and Victoria’s Secret. Abercrombie & Fitch, Lerner, White Barn Candle Co. and others would observe.
Inside a few years, Wexner had turned over administration of his huge fortune to Epstein. He gave his now-trusted affiliate his energy of legal professional in 1991, permitting Epstein to make investments and do enterprise offers and to buy property and assist develop what would develop into the huge Wexner property in then-rural New Albany, paperwork present.
Epstein had “glorious judgment and unusually excessive requirements,” Wexner instructed Self-importance Honest in a 2003 interview, and he was “at all times a most loyal pal.”
Epstein remembers ‘gang stuff’
In one of many newly launched paperwork, Epstein despatched tough notes to himself about Wexner saying: “by no means ever, did something with out informing les” and “I might by no means give him up.” One other doc, an obvious draft letter to Wexner, mentioned the 2 “had ‘gang stuff’ for over 15 years” and had been mutually indebted to one another — as Wexner helped make Epstein wealthy and Epstein helped make Wexner richer.
A spokesperson for Wexner mentioned he by no means acquired the letter.
“It seems Epstein was livid that Mr. Wexner refused to satisfy with him years after Mr. Wexner terminated Epstein and reduce off all ties with him following Mr. Wexner’s discovery of Epstein’s theft and prison conduct,” the spokesperson, Tom Davies, mentioned. “The draft seems to suit a sample of unfaithful, outlandish, and delusional statements made by Epstein in determined makes an attempt to perpetuate his lies and justify his misconduct.”
A relationship unravels
Wexner didn’t publicly reveal till after Epstein’s arrest on federal intercourse trafficking fees in July 2019 that he had severed their relationship. In a Wexner Basis letter that August, he mentioned that occurred in 2007. However the Justice Division’s newly launched data present the 2 had been in contact after that.
Wexner emailed Epstein on June 26, 2008, after a plea deal was introduced that will require him to serve 18 months in a Florida jail on a state cost of soliciting prostitution from a minor so as to keep away from federal prosecution. He wound up serving 13 months.
“Abigail instructed me the outcome… all I can say is I really feel sorry. You violated your individual number one rule…at all times watch out,” Wexner wrote. Epstein replied: “no excuse.”
Davies mentioned the 2007 date Wexner cited in 2019 utilized to firing Epstein as monetary adviser, revoking his energy of legal professional and eradicating his identify from Wexner’s financial institution accounts.
Wexner additionally mentioned within the 2019 letter that Epstein had misappropriated “huge sums” of his and his household’s fortune whereas overseeing his funds. An investigative memo from the newest doc launch says that Wexner’s attorneys instructed investigators in 2008 that Epstein had repaid him $US100 million ($141.9 million), considered only a portion of what he stole.
Persevering with fallout for Wexner
The paperwork emboldened sexual assault survivors in ways in which have elevated stress on Wexner.
Epstein survivor Maria Farmer has mentioned she was vindicated by a redacted FBI report contained within the paperwork, which confirms that she filed one of many earliest complaints in opposition to Epstein.
Although the grievance reported his possession of nude pictures of underage women, the data have drawn new consideration to the harrowing account of an alleged sexual encounter compelled on her by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in the summertime of 1996 at Epstein’s dwelling in New Albany. The house was near the Wexners’ dwelling. The Wexners have mentioned they’d by no means heard something about Farmer’s account of the crime till it appeared in information accounts years later.
In the meantime, survivors of one other sexual predator — the late Dr. Richard Strauss, a workforce physician on the Ohio State College who was discovered to have sexually abused no less than 177 male college students over years — are citing Wexner’s affiliation with Epstein to attempt to get his identify faraway from a campus soccer advanced constructed along with his contributions. Their request is pending earlier than a college committee. Davies declined remark.
The alumni group scored a authorized victory final week, although, when a decide mentioned it could possibly compel Wexner to testify of their lawsuit in opposition to the college. Wexner sat on Ohio State’s board of trustees in the course of the interval when Strauss, who died earlier than his deeds got here to mild, dedicated his crimes.
