A lawyer for billionaire Les Wexner apparently had sufficient of the businessman’s long-winded solutions throughout a deposition earlier than Home Oversight Committee investigators earlier this week – and was caught on a scorching mic bluntly telling him to maintain his solutions to questions on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein brief and candy.
“I’ll f—king kill you if you happen to reply one other query with greater than 5 phrases, OK?” lawyer Michael Levy whispered to Wexner about four-and-a-half hours into the former Victoria’s Secret proprietor’s deposition within the congressional Epstein probe.
The wild second was captured on video footage of Wexner’s deposition, which was launched in its entirety by the committee on Thursday.
Wexner, 88, had been requested about how usually disgraced financier carried out work for him and proceeded to ramble about all his possessions that wanted inventorying, one thing he defined he didn’t notice was essential till he employed Epstein.
Wexner laughed after receiving the recommendation from his lawyer, the footage confirmed.
Levy didn’t reply to The Submit’s request for remark.
Wexner was adamant that he didn’t “witness, condone or allow” any of Epstein’s intercourse crimes.
The LBrands CEO described Epstein, who managed his wealth for many years, as a “world Olympic con artist” and accused him of getting “stolen huge sums” of his fortune earlier than pleading responsible to soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008.
“I utterly and irrevocably lower ties with Epstein almost 20 years in the past once I discovered that he was an abuser, a criminal and a liar,” Wexner stated in his ready remarks. “I used to be by no means a participant nor co-conspirator in any of Epstein’s unlawful actions.”
In his testimony, Wexner acknowledged visiting Epstein on his notorious Island within the Caribbean as soon as together with his spouse, describing it as “crummy” and “a pile of rocks.”
Requested a few salacious letter he wrote for a ebook compiled forward of Epstein’s fiftieth birthday, Wexner stated he was “attempting to be humorous.”
“He was a bachelor so I drew a pair of boobs,” the lingerie magnate instructed investigators.
Wexner couldn’t recall ever being with Epstein and President Trump on the identical time, however famous they could have “coincidentally” crossed paths at a Victoria’s Secret style present.
“Jeffrey Epstein held [Trump] out as a pal,“ Wexner stated, suggesting that he didn’t truly know if the 2 have been shut.
Requested about ex-Prince Andrew, Wexner claimed that they solely had “one transient, like, two sentence telephone dialog” about shopping for and promoting plane.
“I by no means met Prince Andrew … So I wasn’t conscious of something,” he stated of the disgraced royal who was detained for hours Thursday by British authorities over allegations that he shared state secrets and techniques with Epstein.
The testimony appeared to refute accusations from Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who claimed Wexner was certainly one of six males “doubtless incriminated” by his Epstein ties, citing the retail maven’s look in thousands and thousands of investigative supplies launched by the Division of Justice in late January.
Federal prosecutors initially listed Wexner as a possible co-conspirator following Epstein’s arrest in July 2019, however the FBI discovered “restricted proof relating to his involvement,” based on an e mail from a New York Area Workplace agent included within the DOJ’s Epstein information.
Epstein died by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell whereas awaiting trial on youngster intercourse trafficking fees.
