Les Wexner Congressional Deposition in progress

Billionaire Leslie Wexner said in Congressional testimony Wednesday that she had virtually no social relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, a claim the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee called “bullshit.”

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said during a break in the closed-door hearing at Wexner’s New Albany, Ohio, home that he “couldn’t believe Mr. Wexner’s statement that he had no personal or friendly relationship” with the notorious sex offender.

Mr. Garcia also harshly criticized the Justice Department after Mr. Wexner told him that he had not been contacted by the FBI about matters related to Epstein.

“What the hell is going on? It’s shameful,” Garcia said.

The 88-year-old retail billionaire’s deposition resumed after a break, coming weeks after the Justice Department released millions of additional files revealing new connections between Epstein and key figures in business and politics.

Mr. Wexner is a retired founder. victoria’s secret Former parent company L Brands has faced intense scrutiny for years over its personal and financial ties to Mr. Epstein. The latest document dump raises new questions about the scope of the relationship and how long it lasted, even though Wexner claimed the relationship was “completely severed” nearly two decades ago.

He claims he had no knowledge of or involvement in any criminal activity related to Epstein.

“I was naive, foolish and gullible to trust Jeffrey Epstein,” Wexner said in a statement to the Oversight Committee prior to his deposition.

“He was a con artist, and I was being lied to, but I had done nothing wrong and had nothing to hide,” Wexner said.

He went on to call Mr. Epstein a “master operative” who “led a double life” and claimed that any criminal activity was “meticulously and completely concealed from me.”

“Again, let me be clear: I have never seen or heard of Epstein being with any underage girls,” Wexner said.

Decades ago, Mr. Wexner gave Mr. Epstein, a high school math teacher turned money manager, power of attorney over his finances. Wexner was for a long time Epstein’s only publicly known client.

“The most important information for us is actually about the money,” Garcia told CNN earlier Wednesday.

“We know that Mr. Wexner is Jeffrey Epstein’s biggest benefactor,” Garcia said. “If you think about Epstein’s wealth, whether it was planes, islands, the amount of money he owned, his home, a lot of it came directly from Wexner.”

“We don’t know exactly why. It’s not clear,” he said. “If you talk to survivors, they will all share that Wexner was at the center of Epstein’s operations.”

Mr. Wexner has not been charged with any crime. After Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019 and died by suicide in prison a month later, Wexner said he was ashamed to have been “taken advantage of by someone so corrupt.”

The Oversight Committee had bipartisan support to subpoena Wexner and other Epstein associates in January.

“Nearly 20 years ago, when I learned that Mr. Epstein was an abuser, a cheater, and a liar, I completely and irrevocably severed ties with Mr. Epstein,” Wexner insisted in a prepared statement before Wednesday’s deposition.

“And let me be clear: I never witnessed or had any knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activities. I was neither a participant nor an accomplice in any of Epstein’s illegal activities. I am deeply embarrassed and unfortunately, like so many others, I was deceived by a world-class fraudster. Even though I regret meeting him, I cannot undo that part of my personal history,” Wexner’s statement said.

Wexner said he hired Epstein as a financial manager several years after he was introduced to him by Bob Meister, a former vice chairman of insurance giant Aon, in the 1980s. Mr. Wexner also said he had consulted about Mr. Epstein with Ace Greenberg and Jimmy Cain of Mr. Epstein’s former employer Bear Stearns, as well as Elie de Rothschild of the Rothschild banking dynasty, whom Mr. Epstein introduced as a reference.

Mr. Epstein initially refused to accept Mr. Wexner as a client, instead offering him occasional free financial advice. “Little did I realize from the beginning that Mr. Epstein was conspiring to gain my trust,” Wexner’s statement said.

Wexner eventually succeeded in officially hiring Epstein. “Because of the sensitivity of our public company and other responsibilities, we provided Mr. Epstein with a power of attorney, allowing him to execute transactions quickly without requiring his signature at all times,” Wexner said.

“The need for a power of attorney is clear to me, and I have given Mr. Epstein the same scope of authority that I gave to his successor, Dennis Hirsch,” he said in a statement. “What I didn’t expect was that Epstein would abuse the trust I placed in him, despite his fiduciary duty to act in my best interests.”

Wexner has been adamant that he knew nothing about the allegations that Epstein ran a large-scale sex trafficking operation exploiting girls and young women.

“He knew that I could never condone his terrible behavior. There was never any of that. I never witnessed any of the now infamous aspects of Epstein’s life,” Wexner’s statement said.

Mr. Wexner also said he never flew on Mr. Epstein’s plane and disputed “rumors” that he had given Mr. Epstein a New York townhouse. Epstein “purchased it from me at the stated appraised value,” and Wexner never entered the home after that, the statement said.

Wexner admitted to visiting Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but said his wife and young children “stopped by for a few hours one morning while we were cruising on our boat.”

Mr. Wexner said he revoked Mr. Epstein’s power of attorney in September 2007, months before Mr. Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to a state charge of soliciting the prostitution of a minor.

“We hold the survivors of Epstein’s horrific crimes in our hearts and pray for their healing and strength,” the Wexner Foundation told CNBC in a statement.