Les Wexner, the billionaire founder of L Brands and a major art collector, gave testimony to the US House of Representatives on Wednesday, in a closed door deposition from his home in New Albany, Ohio. In an opening statement to the House Oversight Committee, which is conducting an investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein case, Wexner said he had been “naive, foolish, and gullible” for trusting Epstein.
“I was naive, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein. He was a con man,” Wexner said in a prepared statement that was made available to media. “While I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide.”
While Wexner’s testimony was not made public, Democratic lawmakers said that the 88-year-old retail magnate provided few new details and said that he could not remember key events. Primarily, he denied wrongdoing and said he had never witnessed or had knowledge of Epstein’s criminal conduct. He also rejected claims that he had sexual contact with Epstein victims.
The deposition comes several months after the Department of Justice released thousands of files related to the Epstein case, many of which involve Wexner. As ARTnews‘s Alex Greenberger reported in December:
“One email from an FBI official that was released to the public this week referred to potential ‘co-conspirators’ who had worked with Epstein. While the email was heavily redacted, like other files released by the Department of Justice on December 23, the message clearly refers to Wexner, the namesake collector behind the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio.”
Though best known for leading brands such as Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie, Wexner and his wife Abigail are noted art collectors, appearing on ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list every year between 2003 and 2018. Their collection reportedly includes major works by Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning. Wexner also funded the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University.
Epstein, who died by apparent suicide in 2019 while in jail facing additional charges related to alleged sex trafficking in New York and Florida, had deep connections across a wide range of fields, including art. Wexner is far from the only art collector to have questionable ties to Epstein.
