I'm sure he did, but they weren't apartment buildings or post office. Could have been. Yeah. I'm, uh, do you remember?
Is it that you don't recall at all or that as far as you recall that statement is just not accurate?
Well, there's two parts of it. In reading this one, um, not accurate, and I fired Bob Morowski for bad behavior.
But as to the substantive part, is it that you recall whether or not Epstein would present you with these types of investments?
And the quote is from somebody that I fired.
Okay. In addition to the family office role that you described, I'd like to ask about whether Epstein provided other services to you. We know that he provided some later clients with tax planning services. Did he ever do anything like that for you?
Must have. I have no specific recollection. I mean, somebody, my attorney, tax attorneys, I'm kind of a model about who did what.
And so, is it fair to say again that you just don't recall either way?
Yeah, I don't recall at all.
Okay. Separately from that, Mr. Epstein was a trustee for various trusts and charities of yours. I'd like to touch on both of those roles, starting with trusts. And so I will introduce minority exhibit B. That article is from ABC News and it's titled "Billionaire Businessman Leslie Wexner Refuses to Reveal Full Scope of Jeffrey Alleged Multi Theft," dated January 23rd, 20.
Oh, I'm looking at the date in the upper right. You're right. Under the byline is January 23rd. There you go.
It's got two dates. I don't know which is correct.
On page three of this article, and I'll let you take a moment, in the middle of that page, the article says that they identified nearly a dozen trusts connected to you.
Sure. It starts in the paragraph, Vuler and Boyd, the middle of the page.
I think they're associated with ABC's investigative reporting team.
And it tells us that they found nearly a dozen trusts with names like health and science interests, arts interests, and community interests connected to Wexner that listed Epstein as trustee and received large gifts of stock in Wexner's company. So I'll stop there. Do you have a recollection of the trusts that are described here?
None. And so do you have any recollection of Mr. Epstein's role with those trusts?
We will come back to that, but I'd like to touch for a moment on Epstein's role with the Wexner Foundation. And for that, I will introduce minority exhibit C. This document is titled "An Independent Review of Jeffrey Epstein's Involvement and Interactions with the Wexner Foundation" and the document is dated February 24th, 2020. I'm not going to ask you to read through this. It's a long document. I will point you to a specific part of it. But first, we understand this to be an independent review that was undertaken by a law firm at the request of the Wexner Foundation in the wake of Mr. Epstein's arrest in 2019. Is that also your understanding?
I never knew of it. And I'm looking at this. I'm laughing because the address is 65 East Street and that was the address of my dad's first store when I was 13.
Okay. Well, so is the report unfamiliar to you?
And I think page four of the report says that you were interviewed by the law firm for this report. Do you have any recollection of that?
None. Do you have any reason to doubt the report that you were in fact interviewed for the report?
No. I don't remember it, so I can't doubt it.
Page nine of the report simply tells us that Epstein was elected as a trustee of the Wexner Foundation in 1992 and that he remained a trustee until September 2007.
Epstein would not have been the only trustee of the Wexner Foundation. Correct.
Objection as to hearsay as to the document. The question is fine. Can you repeat it?
Sure. Did the Wexner Foundation have more than one trustee?
I'm sure it did. And I think there was a legal requirement to have three. I don't know that, I just think that.
All right. On the next page, page 10, under header number two, there's a header that reads, "Epstein played no role in the operation of the foundation's fellowships or other programs." And the first sentence afterward says, "Based upon our review of foundation records and interviews with foundation leaders, we concluded that although a trustee, Epstein played no role in the management or administration of the foundation's operations for programs." Now on that topic, I'd like to introduce one more single page exhibit for you.
I'm just going to object to the statement as both a statement and your sake. But go ahead.
I think as the majority general counsel noted, the objections have no legal grounding in this forum.
I'm making it for the record. It is a deposition. So, I'm making an objection. That's all.
So, this is a single page.
And I'll give you a moment to look it over.
That's D. I'll describe it briefly. Give him a chance to read it. Thank you.
I think I just read it. I'd never seen this before, but go ahead.
Great. It's an email chain from 2006 between, starting with Peg Uglund who we understand was the financial controller for your family office, a person named Darren who we understand to be Mr. Epstein's lawyer Darren Indk, and Jeffrey Epstein. And the chain appears to relate to a foundation grant and the question is whether the funds should come from the Wexner Foundation or some other related entity. Epstein appears to make the decision that if the recipient is a US charity, then the funds should come from the Wexner Foundation. There are, I'll just represent to you, there are other emails with similar themes. This email chain seems to clearly show Mr. Epstein acting as a final decision maker with respect to the disbursement of Wexner Foundation funds. And that obviously does not square with findings in the independent report. So having been interviewed for the report, my question is whether you had any understanding of Mr. Epstein playing this kind of role for the foundation.
I'm not sure I understand the question.
Are you asking me did Jeffrey decide that money should be given to Daven or do I write a personal check and a foundation check?
It seems in this example, Mr. Epstein was deciding whether or not funds for this entity should or should not come from the Wexner Foundation.
Or from someplace else, not whether the donation should be made itself. I think that's the distinction he's trying to draw.
I have no recollection of where it came from. I regularly helped Aba Eban after he retired from government and I probably would have started with writing a personal check and then I would speculate how it was paid. I don't remember writing the check. But Eban was a very good friend and he had no money. He worked for the government of Israel and social security was his income was nothing. He was like living in public housing and my sense was that it wasn't fair. So I took care of him privately and his wife Susie until they both died.
Did you have any knowledge that Mr. Epstein was acting as a final decision maker for whether or not to spend foundation funds?
Not at all. He would never have done that.
He does appear to have done it here.
As a decision maker? No, absolutely not. I wouldn't have, didn't know it. Wouldn't have thought it.
So this role would have occurred without your knowledge.
It happened without my knowledge, but I did give money to my friend Aba Eban and his wife Susie.
I think we've had an additional member of Congress join us. If that individual could identify themselves, please.
Congressman Steve Lynch of the 8th Congressional District of Massachusetts.
I'd like to spend a little bit of time on the development of New Albany and I know my colleagues also touched on that topic. Could you just briefly describe for us your role in the development of New Albany? I know it was substantial. So, a brief overview.
It started out with me thinking I wanted to have a house in the country and it began with thinking I would buy an old barn and restore it and that'd be kind of a cool thing. As I worked through the project, my personal project, I asked my friend Jack Kesler, who was a professional in the real estate business and a developer, what land cost and what he thought of the idea. Then I got to thinking, do I really want to build a barn? And then I thought I would build a house. I kept telling Jack about what I was thinking. I bought like a 30 acre farm which is about a mile from here, which I thought was a good location. Over time I kept thinking about it and decided that wasn't a good location, this was a good location. In the conversations with Jack, he kept saying that these are good ideas, you're not overpaying for land, because this was something entirely new to me. One day I said, "Jack, if it's such a good idea, why don't you want to live here?" And he said, "I would, but my wife wouldn't move." Then one day he called up and said, "She thinks it's a good idea and we're going to sell our house and we'll build one near yours," which is the house that's a half mile away. I said, "If we're going to live here, do you think any of our friends might want to live out near us or acquaintances of his?" And he said, "Yeah, I think a lot of people would like that, the idea of having more land around and it's not that far from the airport, stuff like that." That's how the idea began. Then the next idea was how do you do it? Jack, as the only professional I knew in the real estate business other than shopping center developers, relied on his judgment about prices we were paying and acquisitions because I had a full-time job and I didn't know anything about this. Then I got to thinking one day, how do you plan it? I thought there's a lot of smart people at Harvard. So I made a cold call to the school of architecture, talked to the dean. I said, "I have this idea. You don't know me. Could you recommend some architects?" And he said, "I don't recommend architects to strangers and projects I don't know about." We talked a while more and he said, "If you'll buy a day of my time, if you're really serious, I'll come out and look at it because I don't know whether you're really serious about doing this." Then he gave me a list of architects and I didn't know any of them.
You want me to keep going?
No, I think I've got it. It kind of just grew by topsy.
I appreciate it. You also touched on this earlier, but what was the role of the New Albany Company in the development of the town of New Albany?
Well, it was just the name of the community. So, we called it the company because we were developing New Albany. If we had developed it in Pipsy, it'd be called the Pikipsy Company.
What was, as far as you recall, Mr. Epstein's role in the development of New Albany?
What was his role with the New Albany Company?
As a fiduciary, reading my financial advisor to understand what was going on financially. You know, I thought I knew what was going on in our businesses, but we always had a CFO. So, I'd rely on the CFO to do what the CFO does because I did the marketing and the planning. But every business had a CFO, every business had overview. And I had a lot of complexity that I didn't realize at the time in my life. So it was either, you know, somebody had to do this.
And there's paper. I don't want to throw paper at you if I don't have to. But I'll represent to you that yourself and Mr. Epstein were at least at one point co-presidents of the New Albany Company. And I'm happy to show that if that would be helpful. But I guess my question would be what would his role have been as co-president of the New Albany Company?
I think I don't remember it, but if he did it, it was just I don't know that I was the president, chairman of the board and then the CEO of the company, but I really just thought my job was to be the president. So the titles wouldn't have meant anything to me.
It is right. I think what you tell me that the purpose of the New Albany Company was to assist in the development of New Albany. Is that right?
It was more than that. New Albany was just a farm village and I bought land here and developed it. Built the schools, built the fire station, built the police station, did all the community public facilities, platted streets. I can remember doing all the drawings. So I was the master developer of New Albany as a community.
Did the New Albany Company have any purpose other than to assist in the development of New Albany?
Okay. Mr. Epstein was at one point president of the New Albany Company.
Objection. I think you said he was co-president.
That's correct. Co-president. But as just so I understand it, your testimony is that Mr. Epstein played no role in the development of New Albany.
Like to talk about the limited company. Was Mr. Epstein ever employed by the limited company or any of its affiliated entities?
Did Mr. Epstein ever have an informal role with the limited company or any of its affiliated entities?
Did he ever provide any services or advice to the company regardless of compensation?
The Vanity Fair article we looked at earlier. I'll just relay the anecdote. You're welcome to look at it if you want to, but it retells a story that in 1996, the limited was preparing to spin off Abercrombie and Fitch on the New York Stock Exchange and Epstein reportedly flew to Columbus and told your executives that he would decide the share price. Do you have any recollection of that occurring?
And the article says that Tom Hopkins, who I think was the vice chair of the limited at the time, told you at that point that Epstein was a con man. Do you have any recollection of that occurring?
Okay. I'll note there's been a lot of reporting that Mr. Epstein held himself out as affiliated with Victoria's Secret. We will come back to that topic a little bit later. Were there any instances at all that you can recall in which Epstein got involved in the limited business affairs?
In terms of Mr. Epstein's compensation, how was he compensated for his work for you?
I don't specifically recall, but I would guess fairly. I should be more clear.
Was he compensated with salary or would it have been investment based or securities or fee based? Do you recall what was the way in which you would compensate him?
We discussed earlier I think that the breadth of his theft from you has been estimated by your councils to be in the hundreds of millions. Do you recall approximately what Mr. Epstein's total compensation would have been in his time with you?
I'm sure I would have known them, but I don't recall.
I'd like to talk about Mr. Epstein's misappropriation or theft of your assets. And so I will introduce as exhibit E. So this is an excerpt from a memo that the Department of Justice wrote in December of 2019 and DOJ was assessing the extent to which people around Epstein might have been liable for their conduct.
The memo is long. I will represent I have given you only the excerpt that relates to you. There's nothing else in this document that relates to you directly. The section that I've given you on the second and third pages of the document that's 65 and 66 at the bottom. This is a summary of a proffer that your lawyer or lawyers gave to DOJ in July of 2019 with respect to Epstein's theft from you. In the second half of the second paragraph, I'll read it out loud. Your attorneys explained that over his years handling Wexner's finances, Epstein stole or otherwise misappropriated several hundred million dollars from Wexner. That misconduct together with the fees that Epstein paid himself for his services to Wexner appears to account for virtually all of Epstein's wealth. So, several hundred million is a large but not precise figure. To the best of your knowledge, how much exactly did Epstein steal?
I don't know. I don't think I'll ever know.
One of I'd like to try to understand a little bit better how Epstein was able to steal or misappropriate that many funds. One way reportedly is that the trusts that we described earlier, which I know you said you have no recollection of, I just want to be thorough. The trusts that he was trustee of would receive gifts of limited stock and he would then sell that stock on the New York Stock Exchange and then use a portion of those proceeds for his own personal purposes. Do you have any knowledge or recollection of what I just described?
I'm effing surprised. I'm shocked. I didn't know this.
Is it that you have not previously heard what I just described?
I never heard of it. Never saw this document.
And it was publicly reported, I think, by ABC several years ago, but never on your radar.
Okay. The report indicates that it was more than or around $1.3 billion of stock that Epstein moved around that way. Not that he kept all of that money for himself, but the total amount of stock sales was over a billion dollars. You have no knowledge or awareness of that.
I don't know the amounts. The only trust that I'm aware of is my wife set up trusts for our kids. Wherever she set them up in the amounts, I have no idea what's in them then or now.
And then separately, it's been reported that around $20 million of stock and cash were contributed by two of your charitable foundations to one of Epstein's charities. Do you have any knowledge or awareness of that?
Effing shocked. I'm appalled. I never heard that.
Thank you, Mr. We have some additional questions and we have some questions from some of the members here. I'll start. I want to just go back to something. Earlier in the deposition, you said that you were never aware of Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell sexually abusing minors or adult women. Is that correct?
I know Jeffrey was accused by an adult woman of abusing her. And that's the only thing that I knew until the hit the fan.
So prior to it becoming public knowledge, you were never aware.
Wait till he finishes asking the question.
The court reporters will get mad at you if you don't.
Okay. So, I think you said you were not. Were you ever aware of Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell sexually abusing men or boys?
Okay. How about trafficking men or boys?
Prior to it becoming public knowledge, were you ever aware of Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell arranging for a prominent person to have sex with another person?
Can I ask you, Mr. Wexner, were you ever with Jeffrey Epstein in the presence of women or men in bathing suits or underwear?
No. Never in the presence of women or men in bathing suits or anywhere with Mr. Epstein?
No.
You think he was at the fashion show? If he was at the fashion show, he'd seen women in underwear. But you're saying that if he was at a fashion show with you through the fashion business, it may have been the case. But could it have been the case that you were with Mr. Epstein prior to the fashion show in another space?
So, did any women or men ever model clothes for you in the presence of Mr. Epstein?
So, not at a fashion show and not in a private home or residence.
As you know, being in the audience of the fashion show would have been the only possible time.
Are you aware of any individual that has given either a public statement or any information of anyone that has actually said that they believe you were with Mr. Epstein in the presence of women or men modeling clothes or underwear?
I think the answer is no, but I'm not sure I understand the question.
I'll move on. Did you yourself ever have a sexual encounter with any individual that was introduced to you by Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell?
Did you personally have a sexual relationship with Jeffrey Epstein?
Are you aware that others have claimed that you had a sexual relationship with Jeffrey Epstein?
Did you ever suspect relationships with other men?
But since it being public knowledge, you are now aware that Jeffrey had inappropriate sexual relationships with other women. Is that correct?
Yes. What I know from the press, the stories. Yes.
Thank you. I'd like to ask you about Epstein's properties and your visits to them. Of course, Epstein's New York and New Albany houses were originally yours. We discussed earlier and you also had a house in Palm Beach. Is that correct?
Objection. I think he testified that the house in New Albany was Mr. Kesler's.
I'm just trying to clarify.
No, thank you. And the house in Palm Beach, was there a house that you had in Palm Beach?
I did have a house in Palm Beach.
Okay. Did you ever visit Epstein's Palm Beach house?
He bought a house in Palm Beach and he wanted me to see it. I think he wanted me and Abigail to see it and we flew down on like a Sunday morning with friends of ours from Columbus. Looked at the house, congratulations, got back on the plane and came home. It was a pretty modest house.
Did you ever witness Donald Trump at the house?
Do you recall any other prominent figures at the Palm Beach house?
No, just Jeffrey and my friends.
Who were the other friends?
Jane, Steve Tuckerman, Dr. Stephen Tuckerman and his wife Judith. I'm sure they'll be delighted about that.
Can you tell us about those visits?
Yes. Jeffrey invited us to see it and we were on a boat and we went to the island with our kids. So Abigail, myself, and I can't remember how many kids we had. Two or three or four, but at least two. Walked around for a while. Left. Probably an hour visit.
Okay. An hour. So on that trip, do you recall seeing any prominent figures on the island?
No. It was a pretty crummy island.
Okay. Did you ever visit his ranch in New Mexico or his house in Paris?
Just want to break those up for clarity.
Did you ever visit his ranch in New Mexico?
It was the same kind of thing. He wanted Abigail and I to see his ranch. We flew down there and drove around for an hour or two, got back on the plane and came home. And I don't think he had a house.
So you would fly just to go visit for one hour?
Yeah, I would fly to Europe for one hour on business trips. As crazy as it is, getting in the plane going places for me was like going to the mailbox. And he didn't have a house on the ranch and I never knew he had a house in Paris.
And on the ranch in New Mexico that you spent an hour at, were there any prominent figures or anyone that you recall else being there?
No, as I recall it was just Abigail, myself and I think he'd rented a trailer. So it wasn't a house and that's all I know.
Okay. And so to clarify, you didn't know he had a house in Paris or you did not ever go to the house in Paris?
I didn't know he had a house in Paris and therefore didn't go to the house in Paris.
Okay. During any of your visits to any of these properties, did you ever see any girls or women that looked unusually young?
Did you ever hear rumors of any girls or women who looked unusually young visiting Epstein?
During any visits to Epstein's property, did you ever see photographs or other images of women or minors?
Did you ever become aware of Epstein transporting women or minors using assets that you owned, whether that's a plane that you owned or a yacht that you owned?
And did you ever hear of any rumors related to Epstein's personal life or his sexual activities?
Rumors that you may have heard in the grapevine.
That's kind of ambiguous. I'll answer you. I think you're asking an ambiguous question. I would go to the center of public leadership and David would say, "Jeffrey was up here. Your friend Jeffrey was up here and he was visiting Henry Rosovsky who was the dean of Harvard College or he was visiting Larry Summers and he always has an admin with him or a girl." He says he never travels by himself. And I think that's what I'm referring to. I don't think I'd get through a day without hearing a rumor about somebody. So, I imagine something you were close to, you probably heard.
No, but it was more like he was traveling with his admin or his secretaries or his lady lawyer or his lady accountant. That's what I would hear. But I never heard rumors about Jeffrey traveling around with a girlfriend or something.
Yes. Thank you. I actually want to start in a little bit of a different place really quickly. Dr. Mark Landon, are you familiar with him?
Okay. He was paid by Epstein on your behalf to consult on biomed investments. Is that correct?
I just heard about that. I didn't know that till maybe last few days.
Okay. So, with you knowing Dr. Mark Landon, are you aware as to whether or not Dr. Landon ever was paid to render medical services to any of the alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein?
What is your relationship with Dr. Landon?
Abigail had a complicated pregnancy and their general obstetrician I believe referred her to Martin Landon and he is an obstetrician and that's how I met him and he delivered our children.
And so my relationship with him is my wife's doctor.
Did you ever introduce him to Jeffrey Epstein?
All right. Did you ever spend time with Epstein and Donald Trump together?
Yes. I want to answer this question accurately. I would go to some of the Victoria's Secret fashion shows. It was very important to the brand. At some of the fashion shows, Jack was there and Trump was there and I remember because Trump would always introduce himself to me and I always thought it was kind of odd that he was at the fashion show because he had nothing to do with fashion. So the coincidence of them being together at an event, it could have been that, but I have no specific recollection. They never had a social drink or a cup of coffee together that would put them together.
So just to clarify, because I want to make sure we're clear on the record, you're saying that you can recall instances potentially where Epstein and Trump were together and you were in their presence or just a random scenario where Epstein may be there and Trump may be there separately and then you would be?
It would be at random. That would be accurate if it happened, but I have no specific recollection.
Okay. Were you introduced to Donald Trump by Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell?
Has Donald Trump ever discussed Jeffrey Epstein with you?
Did Jeffrey Epstein ever discuss Donald Trump with you?
I would describe it. He would name drop. So he would say things like I know President Clinton or I know the Pope or I know God or I know you. It was that kind of name dropping but never, I can't remember a specific place, but Jeffrey dropped a lot of names.
Okay. So to clarify, you believe he specifically dropped Donald Trump's name?
No, I'm saying it could have, but I don't remember.
Okay. Did Epstein ever share information with you about Donald Trump's sexual activities?
Do you have a relationship with Donald Trump?
But you've met him before.
He would introduce himself to me at the fashion show a couple of times, but I wouldn't say hello, how are you? Like you say met, like we knew each other. We don't know each other. I'd be shocked if he remembered me.
Okay. And I know that you specifically mentioned the island that you had been to, Epstein's island. Do you recall seeing any of those persons that Jeffrey Epstein would name drop while you were on his island?
No, nobody was there but Abigail, myself, Jeffrey, maybe a maintenance person cutting grass or something. I specifically recall. I know for sure I was there, Abigail was there, Jeffrey was there, and there wasn't anything abnormal about the appearance of the home on the island.
And the reason that I asked, just to give you clarification of what I mean by abnormal, we've heard reports of people being thrown off when they walked into his home in New York because there was a massage table that was just sitting randomly in the middle of a room. Did you see anything like that when you visited any property that belonged to Jeffrey Epstein?
First to clarify, when we visited the island, there was like a pueblo building, maybe a one room and a bathroom or something, it was pretty crummy. And the island was crummy. There were no trees, there was no sand, there was no beach. It was just a kind of a peculiar thing. It was an island, but it was like a pile of rocks. I was kind of shocked that anybody would buy it for any purpose. As far as seeing things, I never was in the house. I never at his house in New York. The house in Florida, we were there after he bought it as I mentioned with a couple. So never saw a massage table or anything.
Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Wexner, for your ability to answer a lot of questions. I think when you meet the survivors, it becomes incredibly personal, especially to women on this committee. So I appreciate it. But I'd like to introduce exhibit F. The article is titled "Jeffrey Epstein made regular payments to Ohio State head of gynecology, records show" which is from a local affiliate. It's dated February 10, 2026.
I know they're passing it out.
In the article, it explains that recent Department of Justice files indicate that in early 2000, Epstein was making quarterly payments to Dr. Michael Landon who is an OBGYN and the chair of the OBGYN department at Ohio State University. And you said that your wife received services from Dr. Landon, so you know him.
Okay. Dr. Landon said the payments were consulting services he provided for New York Strategy Group which was some kind of firm associated with Epstein. Do you know why he was getting paid accordingly by Epstein?
Do you know if there were gynecology services being offered to Epstein for victims or women?
Because you're very associated with Ohio State University, right?
You were the board chair. Okay. Were you aware that Jeffrey Epstein was paying him quarterly payments?
Okay. So, the article suggests that Epstein would bill you and your wife for at least one of these payments in 2005. Quote, "As we have in prior years," that's evidenced within the Department of Justice. Mr. Wexner, were you aware of these $25,000 quarterly payments coming from your accounts in 2005 and earlier?
You know, Mr. Wexner, I'm watching this all unfold and I just want you to know it's incredibly hard for people to understand. You don't know this. Maybe you don't know specific details. Maybe you don't know the dollar amounts, but Epstein was able to be empowered and enabled to hurt more people with your money. You understand that?
I know. But you don't know the purpose of the payment and the money's coming from your accounts, it's your money, and you don't know why he's paying a doctor at Ohio State University.
Did you introduce him to Dr. Landon?
How did he meet Dr. Landon?
I wouldn't know that he met him.
Because your wife received services from Dr. Michael Landon.
Yes. And so did my daughter.
Okay. Was it a routine practice for the New York Strategy Group's expenses to be paid by your accounts?
It's weird because it's your money going in to pay for this consulting services of another company.
So, we've never talked to you about these payments?
Something else that comes up because one of the claims that you're saying and you're not close friends and everything, you know, some of us have access to the redacted emails, some of us already, I think majority of us have gone down there. There is constant claims from survivors. Again, they're redacted from some of the communication directly with Maxwell or directly with other women that were helping that scene. And your name comes up synonymously sometimes with Epstein. Did you know that?
Well, they also said that you were lovers. And I know it's nothing to be ashamed of. I just want you to know.
No, no, it's nothing to be ashamed of.
But it would explain, I think, the closeness that everyone consistently says. No one ever says you're not close. Is that like everyone says that you had a close relationship, that you and Epstein were close friends? Did you know that?
I think Mr. Wexner, could you provide us with the name of every registered legal entity? And this is important because if you don't know now, then give us the information. Help us find the people that hurt the girls with your money. I'm asking and urging you to please. You started your business with your aunt Ida's money. You don't want your legacy to be not just Epstein. But doctor, what is the guy who also the, well, it doesn't matter. You were chair of Ohio State University. You were the board chair at the time that he hurt other women athletes on campus. This is to say to you, it's not only one person that hurt women, but now two that are affiliated with you directly. And I just want to urge you that if you don't know the answers to this, follow up with our committee. Give us the information so we can find out who hurt the women and who benefited from it. So could you provide us with the name of every registered legal entity of which you were the beneficial owner between the start of your relationship with Mr. Epstein and his death?
I would provide you with everything and anything I could.
Name where they were registered and registration and who are active at those entities.
Okay. Requesting in writing and directed to me.
And we will take it and respond.
And it's important because Mr. Wexner, so you know, the women, the survivors told us to follow the money consistently.
The other question and this will be my last. You claimed that you have been a victim and defrauded by Epstein. Correct.
Then why didn't you file charges, go after him? He used money to hurt girls and probably young men. Why didn't you do anything to recoup your name, which has been synonymous with Epstein? Do you know your name comes up in the emails among victims who never met you, but your name was used consistently?
I'm not sure I understand what the question is.
The question is, why didn't you file any charges against Epstein if you conjured $200 million that we know of? Why didn't you go after him?
Well, at the time I didn't know.
And when you found out, why didn't you go after him?
My dad is probably laughing.
One of the things my dad told me is that you don't get in a pissing contest with an elephant. And running a public company for a long time, I'm not good at public relations or financial public relations. So I would answer questions to analysts. I'd call people up and I'd tell them the truth. And I learned in the course of my business career, whether it was my chief of staff, the company lawyer, personal lawyers, what should I do? And the advice is let us handle it. Don't you want to get ahead of this. So I'm happy that today is happening because I want to help and I would do everything I can to nail that son of a bitch. And I can't tell you how much I value my own ethics, my own moral compass, that it has a true north. And what I think happened now knowing about all the cons is that Jeffrey would tell somebody that they were me or this was somebody else. Like I don't recognize you, but you're a congresswoman, I think, because...
Yeah, I never met you, but you're all over the emails.
Yeah, but I presume you're a congresswoman. I presume you're not a man in women's clothing, but I don't know what I didn't know. And I understand this is, you know, now we can do something about it.
Oh, yeah.
So, Wexner claims you claimed that you cut ties with Epstein in 2007, right? Okay. But she emailed Epstein, quote, "Abigail told me the response. All I can say is I feel sorry. You violated your own number one rule. Always be careful." End quote. That was an email in 2008, Mr. Wexner.
I know. I'm letting you know that the public knows.
Probably. I was giving him the finger.
Okay, that's it. Thank you.
So, just real quick briefly, did the FBI or Department of Justice ever directly speak to you about Epstein or Maxwell?
Has the FBI or DOJ ever directly contacted you or spoken to you about my knowledge?
And then finally, would you consider Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein friends or friendly? Would you classify them that way in the information that you have?
I think it's really two questions. Would I think they were friends? No. Jeffrey Epstein held him out as a friend.
Great. Thank you. We can go off the record.
We'll get back on the record.
That is a microphone. Mr. Wexner, it is 1:17 in the afternoon. Our minority colleagues touched on a lot of different subject areas and I just want to go back through and parse out some things. First though, I want to enter as exhibit five the letter from Leslie.
This document is titled "Letter from Les Wexner General News Directed to the Wexner Foundation Community." I will stipulate to you there's no date on here. The date it was posted on the website was August 8th, 2019. Do you have any reason to dispute that? In this letter that you wrote in August of 2019, you mentioned that Mr. Epstein had various well-known respected individuals as financial clients and in his inner circle. My question to you is could you elaborate a little bit to who some of those financial clients were that you were aware of?
Well, it says he represented that he had that. He wouldn't know if he did or not.
Were you aware of any of Mr. Epstein's other clients?
Let me think. Well, specifically I talked to Ellie D. Rothschild and so I mentioned that earlier. So he represented their whole family. There have been a whole bunch of people, many most of whom I never would have met but I knew LA. I never met people, but there were people that called me that either insinuated or said they knew Jeffrey through a financial relationship. And so I mean they could have been actors but at the time, a guy calls me up. I'll give you an example just because I want you to understand this because it's so confusing to me. He would say like I'm providing financial advice to the founders of Google. I'm providing financial advice to Jeff Bezos. I'm providing financial advice for the chief technologist at Google. And I wow, I'm in good company because these are really smart guys with a lot of money. And you have to put yourself in the mindset. If my attorney said he was qualified to argue in front of the Supreme Court, I'd believe him. I didn't say to call the Supreme Court and say tell me is he really an attorney or did he do this. And I get a phone call from someone like a guy named Marwal, he was the who said he was the chief technology of Google. You know, Jeffrey has been helping me, he's my financial advisor. I told Jeffrey I was building a boat, he told me to call you. I never built a boat because I hadn't, but if I wanted to build a boat I would go to Feadship because reputationally they're the best boat builder. Then, you know, it was and that's the part that is so embarrassing is what economy was. And if you, I don't know, you believe your priest or your minister or your rabbi is what they are, you believe them. And people would, it was mostly phone calls of people would say or if you'd bump into somebody, yeah, Jeffrey's my advisor or Jeffrey's talked to me about stuff or Jeffrey helped me with financial things. I can't remember specifically, but as I look back at it, it was part of the con. So, I never met Marwal.
I have one second because I think it will move this thing along a little faster.
Just answer the question.
Mr. Wexner, you mentioned some of these phone calls from other individuals posting about their ties with Mr. Epstein. Do you have a recollection of when most of these would have occurred, these phone calls?
Pretty regularly, but I specifically can't remember any of them.
Understood. In majority exhibit three, your statement from this morning, your written statement from this morning, you mentioned on the second page, I believe it is, second paragraph, approximately middle of the paragraph, that you consulted Ace Greenberg and Jimmy Kaine of Bear Stearns, Epstein's former employer. Did I read that correctly?
What did you reach out to Mr. Greenberg and Mr. Kaine about at Bear Stearns with regard to Mr. Epstein?
And as far as checking those references, did anything come up surprising to you about Mr. Epstein's background?
And you also mentioned, let me take a step back. Bear Stearns has mentioned and previously reported that Mr. Epstein didn't have a degree or some of the proper qualifications for his job there. Did you have any reason to doubt the qualifications of Mr. Epstein when it related to being your financial adviser?
I don't recall ever questioning that. I didn't remember asking the question.
And so going off of that, other than making some phone calls to some individuals, did you ever formally check into Mr. Epstein's past?
Not beyond talking to the people I mentioned.
Understood. You also state, going, sorry to jump back and forth, the letter from last exhibit 5, that same paragraph, the third one in the middle there, the last sentence after the comma says, "I believed I could trust him." What about him being Mr. Epstein did you think you could trust him?
Well, I put him in a position of trust. He was a fiduciary that was to act in my interest and I trusted that he could do that.
And your trust in him came before he actually handled any of your finances. Is that correct?
Correct. Initially he was like a friend of a friend who I perceived of as being skilled to review Harold's work.
Understood. Moving along a little bit. You may have touched on this with our minority colleagues. What was the rough portfolio that Mr. Epstein was handling for you?
