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The billionaire behind the retail empire that once blanketed shopping malls with names such as Victoria\u2019s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch told members of Congress on Wednesday that he was \u201cduped by a world-class con man\u201d \u2014 close financial adviser\u00a0Jeffrey Epstein. Les Wexner also denied knowing about the late sex offender\u2019s crimes or participating in Epstein\u2019s abuse of girls and young women.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was naive, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein. He was a con man. And while I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide,\u201d the 88-year-old retired founder of L Brands said in a statement submitted to the House Oversight Committee before an interview conducted at his vast central Ohio estate. Democrats had\u00a0subpoenaed him\u00a0after the\u00a0latest Justice Department release\u00a0of Epstein-related documents revealed new details about Wexner\u2019s relationship with the well-connected financier.<\/p>\n
Wexner described himself to the lawmakers as a philanthropist, community builder and grandfather who always strove \u201cto live my life in an ethical manner in line with my moral compass,\u201d according to the statement. He said he was eager \u201cto set the record straight\u201d about his ties with Epstein. Their relation ended bitterly in 2007, after the Wexners discovered he\u2019d been stealing from them.<\/p>\n
As one of Epstein\u2019s most prominent former friends, Wexner has spent years answering for their decades-long association and he sought to use the proceeding to dispel what he called \u201coutrageous untrue statements and hurtful rumor, innuendo, and speculation\u201d that have shadowed him.<\/p>\n
Rep. Robert Garcia, a California Democrat who sat in on Wednesday\u2019s interview, expressed skepticism in comments to reporters gathered near the proceeding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no single person that was more involved in providing Jeffrey Epstein with the financial support to commit his crimes than Les Wexner,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In response to allegations by the prominent late\u00a0Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who claimed in court documents that Wexner was among men Epstein trafficked her to, Wexner testified to utter devotion to his wife of 33 years, Abigail. He said he\u2019d never once been unfaithful \u201cin any way, shape, or form. Never. Any suggestion to the contrary is absolutely and entirely false.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wexner\u2019s name appears more than 1,000 times in the Epstein files, which does not imply guilt and Wexner has never been charged with any crimes. His spokesperson said the number of mentions is not unexpected given their long-running ties.<\/p>\n
Epstein first met Leslie Wexner through a business associate around 1986.<\/p>\n
It was an opportune time for Wexner\u2019s finances. The Ohio business owner had grown a single Limited store in Columbus into a suite of 1980s mall staples: The Limited, Limited Express, Lane Bryant and Victoria\u2019s Secret. Bath & Body Works, Abercrombie & Fitch, Lerner, White Barn Candle Co. and Henri Bendel would follow.<\/p>\n
Wexner told lawmakers that it was several years before he turned over management of his vast fortune to Epstein, after the \u201cmaster manipulator\u201d connived to gain his trust. He gave Epstein power of attorney in 1991, allowing Epstein to make investments and do business deals and to purchase property and help Wexner as he developed New Albany from a small rural city to a thriving upscale Columbus suburb.<\/p>\n
Epstein had \u201cexcellent judgment and unusually high standards,\u201d Wexner told Vanity Fair in a 2003 interview, and he was \u201calways a most loyal friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the billionaire said he didn\u2019t circulate in Epstein\u2019s social circle, but often heard accounts of his encounters with other wealthy people.<\/p>\n
Epstein \u201ccarefully used his acquaintance with important individuals to curate an aura of legitimacy,\u201d Wexner said. He said he visited\u00a0Epstein\u2019s infamous island\u00a0only once, stopping for a few hours one morning with his wife and young children while they were cruising on their boat.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is interesting that Mr Wexner has already begun to clarify in his mind that somehow he and Mr. Epstein weren\u2019t even friends,\u201d Garcia told reporters. \u201cWe should be very clear that the two were very close, per reporting. They spent a lot of time together.\u201d<\/p>\n
In one of the newly released documents, Epstein sent rough notes to himself about Wexner saying: \u201cnever ever, did anything without informing les\u201d and \u201cI would never give him up.\u201d Another document, an apparent draft letter to Wexner, said the two \u201chad \u2018gang stuff\u2019 for over 15 years\u201d and were mutually indebted to each other \u2014 as Wexner helped make Epstein rich and Epstein helped make Wexner richer.<\/p>\n
Wexner spokesperson Tom Davies said Wexner never received the letter, characterizing it as fitting \u201ca pattern of untrue, outlandish, and delusional statements made by Epstein in desperate attempts to perpetuate his lies and justify his misconduct.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wexner told the congressional representatives that Epstein \u201clived a double life,\u201d presenting himself to his wealthy clients as a financial guru with steady girlfriends while \u201cmost carefully and fully\u201d hiding his misdeeds with underage girls. \u201cHe knew that I never would have tolerated his horrible behavior. Not any of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Some accusers said Epstein touted his ties to Wexner and claimed that he could help get them jobs modeling for the Victoria\u2019s Secret catalog.<\/p>\n
One woman, an aspiring actor and model, told the FBI that Epstein said he was\u00a0best friends with the longtime Victoria\u2019s Secret owner\u00a0and that she\u2019d have to learn to be comfortable in her underwear and not be a prude, according to recently released grand jury testimony.\u00a0Another woman\u00a0said she reported Epstein to police in 1997 after he groped her during what she thought was a modeling interview for the Victoria\u2019s Secret catalog. After Epstein\u2019s 2019 arrest, Wexner\u2019s lawyers told investigators that the businessman had heard a rumor that Epstein might be holding himself out as connected to Victoria\u2019s Secret, prosecutors wrote in a recently disclosed memorandum summarizing the probe. When Wexner asked Epstein about it, Epstein denied doing so, the lawyers said, according to the memo.<\/p>\n
Wexner did not address the specific issue in his statement Wednesday, but repeatedly lamented being deceived by Epstein \u2014 \u201can abuser, a crook, and a liar.\u201d L Brands\u00a0sold off Victoria\u2019s Secret\u00a0in 2020, in one of Wexner\u2019s final acts as chair.<\/p>\n
Wexner did not publicly reveal until after Epstein\u2019s\u00a0arrest on federal sex trafficking charges\u00a0in July 2019 that he had severed their relationship. In\u00a0a Wexner Foundation letter\u00a0that August, he said that happened in 2007. But the Justice Department\u2019s newly released records show the two were in touch after that.<\/p>\n
Wexner e-mailed Epstein on June 26, 2008, after a plea deal was announced that would require him to serve 18 months in a Florida jail on a state charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor in order to avoid federal prosecution. He wound up serving 13 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbigail told me the result \u2026 all I can say is I feel sorry. You violated your own number 1 rule \u2026 always be careful,\u201d Wexner wrote. Epstein replied: \u201cno excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davies said the 2007 date Wexner cited in 2019 applied to firing Epstein as financial adviser, revoking his power of attorney and removing his name from Wexner\u2019s bank accounts.<\/p>\n
Wexner also said in the 2019 letter that Epstein had\u00a0misappropriated \u201cvast sums\u201d\u00a0of his and his family\u2019s fortune while overseeing his finances. An investigative memo from the latest document release says that Wexner\u2019s attorneys told investigators in 2008 that Epstein had repaid him $100 million. Wexner said in Wednesday\u2019s statement that Epstein returned \u201ca substantial amount\u201d of the undisclosed total.<\/p>\n
Garcia said that congressional investigators have identified more than $1 billion that was \u201ceither transferred, provided in stocks or given directly\u201d by Wexner to Epstein \u2014 though Wexner \u201cappears to be unaware\u201d of much of it.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Wexner testified that he had never seen Epstein with any young girls and acknowledged the \u201cunfathomable\u201d pain he inflicted, even as discoveries in the Epstein files have placed new pressure on him.<\/p>\n
One survivor, Maria Farmer, said a redacted FBI report contained in the document release\u00a0vindicated\u00a0her longstanding claim that she filed one of the earliest complaints against Epstein while she was under his employ in 1996 working on an art project at the Wexners\u2019 estate.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, survivors of a\u00a0sweeping sexual abuse scandal\u00a0at the Ohio State University are citing Wexner\u2019s association with Epstein to try to get his name removed from a campus football complex and university nurses also want his name scrubbed from the Wexner Medical Center.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP journalists Michael Sisak in New York and Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos in New Albany contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Retail #billionaire #Les #Wexner #Jeffrey #Epstein #duped #naive #foolish #gullible<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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