Victoria's Secret head Les Wexner describes how he met convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a 500-word letter to members of his charitable foundation
- Les Wexner, the CEO of Victoria's Secret parent company L Brands, has come under intense scrutiny for his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
- Epstein was arrested and charged with sex trafficking of minors in July.
- In a letter to his namesake Wexner Foundation on Wednesday, Wexner described how he first met Epstein and how he went on to become Wexner's money manager.
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It was the mid-1980s when Les Wexner, CEO of Victoria's Secret parent company L Brands, first came into contact with now-convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Wexner was by then a well-established retail leader who had spent the past two decades building up a chain of stores called The Limited and created a $3 billion business. Epstein, meanwhile, had left the New York-based financial firm Bear Stearns in 1981 to set up his own firm managing other people's money.
In a letter to his namesake Wexner Foundation on Wednesday, Wexner shed light on how he ultimately came to have a relationship with Epstein. He explained that he was first introduced to Epstein through friends, who "vouched" for him and "recommended him as a knowledgeable financial professional."
"Mr. Epstein represented that he had various well-known and respected individuals both as his financial clients and in his inner circle. Based on positive reports from several friends, and on my initial dealings with him, I believed I could trust him," Wexner wrote in the letter.
Wexner enlisted Epstein to become his money manager - a position Epstein held for the subsequent two decades - and went on to give him power of attorney over his financial and legal matters, something that Wexner described in the letter as "common" in the role of a money manager.
"He had wide latitude to act on my behalf with respect to my personal finances while I focused on building my company and undertaking philanthropic efforts," he wrote.
The duo became "close personal friends," according to a lawsuit filed in 2002 by the late artist Nelson Shanks. Epstein reportedly attended Wexner's exclusive birthday parties and flew in and out of Wexner's hometown of Columbus, Ohio, in the billionaire's private jet.
But in 2006, Epstein was charged with multiple counts of molestation and unlawful sexual activity with a minor in Florida.
"As the allegations against Mr. Epstein in Florida were emerging, he vehemently denied them," Wexner wrote.
But in the fall of 2007, Wexner wrote, it was agreed that Epstein should step back from the management of Wexner's personal finances.
"In that process, we discovered that he had misappropriated vast sums of money from me and my family. This was, frankly, a tremendous shock, even though it clearly pales in comparison to the unthinkable allegations against him now," he wrote in the letter.
It was at this point that he severed all ties with Epstein, Wexner wrote. Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008.
Wexner added that he recovered some of the funds he had lost but didn't specify how much. The Wall Street Journal reported that tax records indicated that Epstein made a $46 million transfer to a Wexner charitable fund in January 2008.
"I am embarrassed that, like so many others, I was deceived by Mr. Epstein. I know now that my trust in him was grossly misplaced and I deeply regret having ever crossed his path," Wexner wrote.
Epstein was arrested and charged with sex trafficking of minors in July.