Les Wexner: How the billionaire enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s rise

In a closed-door session at his Ohio home on Wednesday, billionaire Leslie Wexner faced mounting questions from United States lawmakers about Jeffrey Epstein’s rise to wealth and influence – and the role he may have played in that ascent. Five members of the House Oversight Committee had travelled to depose the 88-year-old after Democrats subpoenaed him in the wake of the latest US Department of Justice release tied to Epstein.

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Wexner’s name appears, both redacted and unredacted, on communications and financial documents within these files. “I was naive, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein,” Wexner said in a statement. “He was a con man. And while I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide.” For decades, Epstein cultivated relationships with business leaders, politicians and academics.

Central among them was Wexner, the founder of L Brands, the retail empire behind Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works and The Limited, whose fortune helped build the foundations for Epstein’s access to global elites, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The newly released files shed fresh light on how deeply Epstein embedded himself within Wexner’s financial and philanthropic world, a relationship that proved pivotal in transforming him from an obscure money manager into a figure of extraordinary wealth and influence.

Epstein and Wexner’s townhouse Epstein was introduced to Wexner in the mid-1980s. At the time, Epstein was a college dropout who had briefly taught at Manhattan’s elite Dalton School after reportedly exaggerating his academic credentials. He had passed through Bear Stearns under executive Alan “Ace” Greenberg before leaving to set up his own advisory firm.

By 1986, he had met Wexner. Five years later, the retail billionaire had granted him full power of attorney, an extraordinary delegation allowing Epstein to sign cheques, hire staff, borrow money, and buy or sell property on Wexner’s behalf. Al Jazeera has reviewed newly released Justice Department records, including a 1998 purchase and sale agreement and related promissory note and guaranty, which detail the mechanics of asset transfers between the two men.

The documents show how control of Wexner’s Manhattan townhouse at 9 East 71st Street was formalised through a structured transaction involving a $10m promissory note and a personal guaranty signed by Epstein. The property became Epstein’s New York base and a symbol of his growing stature.

By the early 1990s, Epstein was embedded in Wexner’s philanthropic and corporate world, serving as a trustee of the Wexner Foundation and as the president of Wexner-affiliated property companies. In 1996, he relocated his firm to the US Virgin Islands, positioning himself as an offshore financier.

The authority Wexner granted him over assets, philanthropy and property did more than elevate his status socially. It conferred institutional legitimacy. With control over substantial wealth and formal roles inside a major foundation, Epstein could present himself as a financier with access to capital and global networks.

The Wexner Foundation and the Israel connection One of the clearest through-lines from that period runs to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who was introduced to Epstein by former Israeli President Shimon Peres at a large event in Washington in 2003. Between 2004 and 2006, the Wexner Foundation paid Barak approximately $2.3m for two commissioned research studies, one on leadership and another on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.