Billionaire Les Wexner is isolated in the investigation into the Epstein files. Here’s what the documents show about their relationship

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Les Wexner’s longtime friendship with Jeffrey Epstein will be the subject of a closed-door congressional deposition in Ohio on Wednesday, where the billionaire retail mogul is expected to face questions about new revelations contained in the latest release of Justice Department documents related to the late sexual predator.

Wexner, 88, the retired founder of L Brands, said he plans to cooperate with a subpoena from Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

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As one of Epstein’s most prominent former friends, Wexner has already spent years answering their decades-long association. In court documents, Epstein’s high-profile victim, Virginia Giuffre, claimed that Wexner was one of the men Epstein trafficked her with.

Wexner has consistently denied any knowledge of or involvement in the millionaire financier’s crimes, and has said he has never met Giuffre. He told L Brands investors in 2019 that he was embarrassed to have approached someone who was “so sick, so cunning, so corrupt.”

He was never accused of wrongdoing, and the overall picture presented by the Justice Department documents is that Epstein was not running a sex trafficking ring.

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Wexner’s name appears more than 1,000 times in Epstein’s files, which his spokesman said is not surprising given their long relationship. The documents shed new light on his relationship with Epstein — which ended bitterly after Wexner and his wife, Abigail, learned he was stealing from them — while raising many new questions.

“Most loyal friend”

Epstein first met Wexner through a business associate in approximately 1986.

It was a good time for Wexner’s money. The successful Ohio businessman developed one limited store in Columbus into a powerhouse lineup of staples of 1980s mall culture: The Limited, Limited Express, Lane Bryant and Victoria’s Secret. It will be followed by Abercrombie & Fitch, Lerner, White Barn Candle Company, and others.

He watches: Rep. Khanna says Epstein files were wiped to protect ‘elite and powerful men’.

Within two years, Wexner turned over management of his vast fortune to Epstein. He gave his trusted associate power of attorney in 1991, allowing Epstein to make investments, make business deals, buy real estate and help develop what became Wexner’s vast estate in then-rural New Albany, Ohio, documents show. The deposit will take place on Wednesday either there or nearby, according to the lawmakers involved.

Wexner told Vanity Fair in a 2003 interview that Epstein had “excellent judgment and extraordinarily high standards,” and was “always the most loyal friend.”

Epstein recalls ‘gangster stuff’

In one newly released document, Epstein sent rough notes to himself about Wexner, saying, “I never did anything without informing Les” and “I would never give him up.” Another document, apparently a draft of a letter to Wexner, said the two “had a ‘gang business’ for over 15 years” and were indebted to each other — with Wexner helping to make Epstein rich and Epstein helping to make Wexner richer.

A spokesman for Wexner said he never received the letter.

“Epstein appears to have been angry that Mr. Wexner refused to meet with him years after Mr. Wexner terminated Epstein and severed all ties with him after Mr. Wexner discovered Epstein’s theft and criminal behavior,” spokesman Tom Davis said. “The draft appears to fit a pattern of untrue, bizarre and misleading statements made by Epstein in desperate attempts to perpetuate his lies and justify his misconduct.”

The relationship unravels

It was only after Epstein’s arrest on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019 that Wexner publicly revealed that he had broken off their relationship. In a letter sent by the Wexner Foundation in August of that year, he said it happened in 2007. However, newly released records from the Department of Justice show that the two were in contact after that.

Wexner emailed Epstein on June 26, 2008, after announcing a plea deal that would require him to serve 18 months in a Florida prison on the state charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor to avoid federal prosecution. He ended up serving 13 months.

Read more: A list of powerful men named in the Epstein files, from Elon Musk to former Prince Andrew

“Abigail told me the outcome… All I can say is I’m sorry. I violated your #1 rule… Always be careful,” Wexner wrote. “No excuse,” Epstein replied.

Davis said the 2007 date Wexner cited in 2019 applies to Epstein’s removal from his position as financial advisor, the revocation of his power of attorney and the removal of his name from Wexner’s bank accounts.

Wexner also said in a 2019 letter that Epstein embezzled “vast sums” of his and his family’s wealth while overseeing his financial affairs. An investigative memo from the most recent version of the document says Wexner’s lawyers told investigators in 2008 that Epstein repaid him $100 million, believed to be just a portion of what he stole.

The fallout continues for Wexner

The newly released documents emboldened sexual assault survivors in ways that increased the pressure on Wexner.

Epstein survivor Maria Farmer said she has been vindicated by a redacted FBI report contained in the documents, which confirms she filed one of the earliest complaints against Epstein.

Although the complaint said he possessed nude photos of underage girls, the records brought new attention to the harrowing account of an alleged sexual encounter he forced on her and Ghislaine Maxwell in the summer of 1996 at Epstein’s New Albany home. The house was located about a half mile from the Wexners’ home. The Wexners said they never heard anything about Farmer’s account of the crime until it appeared in news reports years later.

Meanwhile, survivors of another sexual predator — the late Dr. Richard Strauss, the team physician at Ohio State University who was found to have sexually assaulted at least 177 students over the years — are citing Wexner’s relationship with Epstein to try to remove his name from the campus football complex that was built with his contributions. Their request is pending before a university committee. Davis declined to comment.

The alumni group scored a legal victory last week, when a district court judge said they could force Wexner to testify in the lawsuit against the university. He sat on the Ohio State Board of Trustees during the period in which Strauss, who died before his actions came to light, committed his crimes.

Separately, an Ohio State spokesperson said the head of the department of obstetrics and gynecology, Dr. Mark Landon, is cooperating with the school’s investigation into being mentioned in the Epstein files. Newly released documents indicated that Epstein had Landon on retainer in 2006 for $25,000 a quarter.

“I did not provide any clinical care to Jeffrey Epstein or any of his victims,” Landon said in a statement. “I was a paid consultant to the New York Strategy Group regarding potential biotechnology investments from 2001 to 2005.” A statement from Davis said the advice Epstein was seeking was on behalf of Wexner.