Dem
47
GOP
53
Retail billionaire and friend-of-Epstein Leslie Wexner testified before the House Oversight Committee yesterday. At one time, Wexner controlled The Limited, Victoria's Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, PINK, and Bath & Body Works. He had an intimate and complicated relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. His name appears hundreds of times in the Epstein files, once as a co-conspirator. He has admitted traveling to Epstein's private island. Virginia Giuffre said that she was trafficked to Wexner. Unfortunately, she is no longer around to testify under oath about this. Wexner, not surprisingly, denies it. However, this undated photo suggests that he was very friendly with some woman or girl and Epstein at one point.
Wexner issued a statement before his testimony admitting that he was "naive, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein." Boy, is that ever true. He trusted Epstein so much that he allowed Epstein to manage his vast fortune. Epstein grabbed the chance and helped himself to hundreds of millions of dollars of it. When Wexner found out that he had been fleeced, why didn't he go to the FBI? Epstein was known to be an avid photographer and videographer. Could it be that Epstein had a wee bit of kompromat on Wexner that might just leak out if Wexner sued him? We have no idea.
The deposition took place in New Albany, OH, where Wexner lives. The panel's chairman, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), was absent due to major oral surgery that had been previously scheduled. One can only hope the procedure involved sewing his mouth shut. None of the Republicans on the Oversight Committee attended. Maybe they were having unscheduled oral surgery. Afterwards, Democrats on the panel began telling what they heard from Wexner. It wasn't much. The ranking member, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), said that Wexner denied everything and showed no remorse. No doubt his lawyers suggested that approach. Wexner also denied that he and Epstein were close friends, despite the fact that Ghislaine Maxwell once described Wexner as Epstein's closest friend. Maxwell's version makes sense, as Wexner is a multibillionaire, the kind of person Epstein loved being around. Garcia didn't believe anything Wexner said. Garcia: "There is no single person that was more involved with providing Jeffrey Epstein with the financial support to commit his crimes than Les Wexner."
What is noteworthy is that Wexner said he had not been interviewed by the DoJ or FBI, despite his name being present in the Epstein files hundreds of times. Seems odd to us. He also said that he was only present on Epstein's island once and Epstein never presented him with women. He didn't mention anything about girls, though.
Fox "News" (!) is reporting that Robert Morosky, a former executive at Wexner's company, said he had information about Wexner's private jet being used to transport young girls from Mexico to the U.S. This information appears in an FBI memo that was part of the most recent Epstein dump. But the FBI never followed up and so never asked Morosky what he knew, even though the memo said Morosky was prepared to talk if the FBI simply called him, which it didn't. Incompetence or cover-up? Inquiring minds want to know.
Wexner is 88 now. There is probably a lot of evidence against him in the unredacted files and Maxwell is surely a witness against him, albeit unreliable but maybe enough to convince a jury. Giuffre's parents and friends might remember what Virginia told them years ago. He probably does not want to spend his remaining years in prison with $10 billion in the bank. That doesn't buy him a business-class cell and he can't take it with him. If the government really wants to get the truth out, it could offer him a plea deal: Spill all the beans and you get a mind-boggling fine but no prison time. He might take it and the money could go to the victims. Does it really matter to him if each of four kids inherits a mere $500 million instead of $1 billion? They are not going to be eating dog food either way. He probably knows some of the other people who were on the island when he was there. We doubt the government will make him an offer, though, because Trump is in the business of protecting the perps, not the victims. (V)