Jeffrey Epstein’s life was shrouded in mystery, but the source of his wealth—and his power—might be the greatest mystery of all. His relationship with the billionaire retail magnate Leslie Wexner could be the key to unlocking the truth.
In the fall of 1982, a money manager named Harold Levin got a phone call that would change his life. A lawyer representing Leslie H. Wexner, the founder and CEO of the women’s apparel retailer The Limited, said Wexner was looking for a financial adviser. Would Levin be interested? Levin most certainly was. In Columbus, Ohio, where Levin lived, Wexner was a legend.
Levin said Epstein taunted him on his way out. “On my last day, Epstein walked into my office and held up a piece of paper. He bragged that Les had given him power of attorney over his money. I worked for Les for seven years and I never had general power of attorney,” Levin said. Epstein, Levin continued, even ordered him to surrender equity in Wexner’s town project, likely costing Levin millions.
Epstein burnished his own myth, telling people, preposterously, that he only accepted clients with assets of $1 billion or more. But until recently, Epstein’s only publicly named client was Wexner. “When I asked Jeffrey who else he worked with, he’d say, ‘I can’t talk about it,’ ” an Epstein friend recalled. Wexner paid Epstein’s predecessor about $600,000 a year in today’s dollars. Epstein, a former high school math teacher from Coney Island, Brooklyn, was worth a reported $559 million.
Epstein struck up a conversation with Meister on a commercial flight to Palm Beach. Meister remembered being impressed with the young banker. In reality, Epstein lived in a one-bedroom apartment and ran a fledgling investment firm. “He was a great bullshit artist,” Meister said. People who knew Epstein remarked at his savant-like skill at impressing powerful older men. “Jeffrey was a flatterer,” said interior designer Robert Couturier, who met Epstein in the 1980s.
Meister, whose estimation of Epstein had done a total 180, gave his friend a general warning about his character. Meister says he and his wife, Wendy, warned Wexner to stay away from Epstein. “We begged him, don’t get involved,” Meister recalled. It was too late: Wexner had hired Epstein as his financial adviser. “He thought Epstein was brilliant,” Meister said.
As shopping malls spread across the country, The Limited boomed. Wexner went on an acquisition spree in the 1980s. He took over the Lane Bryant and Lerner chains, the department store Henri Bendel and a struggling Palo Alto lingerie store called Victoria’s Secret. At the time he met Epstein, The Limited had an annual revenue of $3 billion. Despite the success, Wexner remained little known outside Ohio.
The friendship vexed Wexner’s mother, Bella. Sources said she wanted Les to settle down and get married. “Bella hated Epstein. She was so blunt,” Merritt said. Around 1990, Wendy Meister introduced Wexner to a corporate lawyer in her late 20s named Abigail Koppel, who worked in the London office of Davis Polk, The Limited’s outside law firm. “Abigail was so secretive about it,” a friend from London recalled. “She said, ‘Don’t tell anyone. I don’t want to jinx it.
Epstein kept close in that circle of influence. U.N. ambassador Bill Richardson and Middle East envoy George Mitchell allegedly participated in Epstein’s sex ring, according to a lawsuit filed by Giuffre. Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak was an Epstein confidant. Epstein invested $1 million in one of Barak’s business ventures; Barak reportedly visited the East 66th Street condo building. Dershowitz told me he once arrived at Epstein’s town house as Epstein and Barak were wrapping up lunch.
Fields told the executive to report Epstein to Wexner immediately, according to a source briefed on the conversation. “Les said he would stop it,” the source recalled. Nonetheless, Farmer accepted Epstein’s offer and that May, she packed her supplies into a truck and drove west to Wexner’s Ohio village. But what seemed like a dream would turn into a nightmare. This account is based on my interviews with Farmer and a sworn affidavit she submitted in federal court in 2019.
In September 1997, Wexner celebrated his 60th birthday with a dinner at his Ohio estate. Meister says he used the occasion to once again tell Wexner how untrustworthy Epstein was. “My wife and I told him and Abigail hundreds of times to stay away from Epstein,” Meister said. In front of guests including former senator Joe Lieberman and real estate developer Marshall Rose, Meister said he begged Wexner to sever ties with Epstein. “Les wouldn’t listen,” Meister said.
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