Victoria's Secret mogul may get dragged into suit against Jeffrey Epstein accuser
Leslie Wexner has tried to avoid spotlight amid scrutiny of disgraced financier, who died in a Manhattan jail
Victoria’s Secret CEO Leslie Wexner may be dragged into the legal drama between Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz and a Jeffrey Epstein accuser.
WHO IS LESLIE WEXNER, THE FOUNDER OF L BRANDS?
Dershowitz, who is countersuing Virginia Giuffre for defamation after Giuffre alleged that Epstein set her up to have sexual relations with the professor emeritus beginning when she was 16 years old, filed a motion seeking to compel Wexner to testify in the matter.
Dershowitz, an attorney who helped broker a sweetheart deal for Epstein in his 2007 conviction on child prostitution charges in Florida, has called Giuffre a liar and said she has tried to extort money from the billionaire Wexner in the past.
Dershowitz says Wexner has documents that could bolster his case.
Wexner has done his best to shirk the spotlight as heavy scrutiny continues to mount in the Epstein case against the disgraced financier's alleged cohort Ghislaine Maxwell, who is awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking involving minors.
Wexner's relationship to Epstein is shrouded in mystery. Epstein controlled the L Brands founder's fortune and Wexner was the previous owner of Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion, where several victims have alleged Epstein and Maxwell solicited sex from minors.
Wexner severed ties with Epstein after the 2007 guilty plea.
Wexner's attorney, John Zeiger, has vehemently denied that the L Brands chief was ever in touch with Giuffre's attorneys or that he was ever extorted by her or paid settlement money to her.
Zeiger communicated with David Boies, one of Giuffre's attorneys, and "can readily confirm that: No extortion demand was ever made, no settlement was entered into, and not a penny (or other consideration) was ever paid,” Marion Little, from the firm Zeiger, Tigges & Little, wrote in a 4-page letter to the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where the case was filed.
“Just the opposite is true for Mr. Wexner, however,” the letter continues. “He had no involvement, and thus lacks any personal knowledge relating to, [Dershowitz]’s so-called ‘Extortion Claim.’”
The court ordered Monday that the documents submitted by Dershowitz, Giuffre, Wexner, and Zeiger be unsealed, and the judge set up a hearing between all parties scheduled for Aug. 17.
"The court sees no reason for that correspondence to remain under seal," U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska wrote Monday. "The parties shall file their respective letters on the public docket as soon as is practicable."