Les Wexner

Questioned for about five hours by committee staff and five Democratic members, Wexner described Epstein as his family-office manager, a fiduciary who handled the family’s finances, and repeatedly called him a con man: “I was conned by the world Olympic all-time con artist.” Asked whether anything should have tipped him off, he said: “Absolutely not … Not even a clue of a clue.” He denied survivors’ allegations that he took part in abuse and said Epstein never used his planes or yachts to move women or girls. [1][2][3]

He insisted they were “friendly, but not friends.” Shown the birthday-book page signed “your friend Leslie,” he said “Sadly, I did,” calling the drawing a joke for a bachelor. He said he, his wife and children visited the island once, for about an hour, at Epstein’s invitation and saw no prominent guests: “It was a pretty crummy island.” Of his 2008 email he said he had been “giving him the middle finger.” [1][4]

Wexner said in 2019 that he had discovered more than a decade earlier that Epstein “misappropriated vast sums of money” from him and his family, and that Epstein returned about $46 million. He never went to police. House Democrats have argued the losses may have run far higher, up to $1 billion by one estimate; no audit has been published to settle it. [1][2][4]

The townhouse on East 71st Street passed from Wexner-linked to Epstein-linked ownership, and Epstein’s power of attorney let him sign, buy and borrow in Wexner’s name. That is the strongest documented answer to the old question of where Epstein’s money came from. See the man and the money. [3]

The case against him: survivors and critics on the left and right say no one gives a stranger his signature, his homes and his name by accident. Maria Farmer swore in 2019 that she was assaulted by Epstein and Maxwell at a Wexner property in Ohio in 1996 and that Wexner security kept her from leaving until her father came; a 2019 FBI document labelled Wexner a possible co-conspirator; and he stayed silent after learning, by his own account, that Epstein was a thief. [1][2]

The case for him: he has testified under oath that he saw nothing, no prosecutor has charged him in three investigations, his lawyers say prosecutors called him a source rather than a target, and con men do pick wealthy, trusting marks. The record supports a narrow conclusion and a broad one: the crimes are not tied to him by any court, and the access, money and cover he gave Epstein are documented and enormous. [3][4]