Eleven women, their voices trembling with long-buried pain, walked into a New York courtroom and dropped a legal bomb: they are suing billionaire Les Wexner and his Wexner Foundation for enabling Jeffrey Epstein’s nightmare for decades.
The survivors claim the retail tycoon behind Victoria’s Secret poured more than $200 million into Epstein’s hands, helping him build an international sex trafficking ring and commit heinous acts of gender-motivated violence—often inside the lavish New York mansion Wexner once owned.
What stuns most is the stark contrast: a celebrated philanthropist and fashion empire builder now accused of turning a blind eye—or worse—while young lives were shattered behind closed doors of power and privilege.
The lawsuit, filed under New York’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act, demands answers and accountability from one of the last untouchable figures tied to Epstein’s web.
Will this finally tear down the walls protecting the enablers, or will billions and influence silence the truth once more?
Eleven women, their voices trembling with long-buried pain, walked into a New York courtroom and dropped a legal bomb: they are suing billionaire Les Wexner and his Wexner Foundation for enabling Jeffrey Epstein’s nightmare for decades.
The survivors claim the retail tycoon behind Victoria’s Secret poured more than $200 million into Epstein’s hands over nearly two decades, helping him build an international sex trafficking ring and commit heinous acts of gender-motivated violence—often inside the lavish New York mansion at 9 East 71st Street that Wexner once controlled through the Nine East 71st Street Corporation.
What stuns most is the stark contrast: a celebrated philanthropist and fashion empire builder—whose name adorns major institutions like the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University—now accused of turning a blind eye, or worse, while young lives were shattered behind closed doors of power and privilege. The lawsuit, filed on March 6, 2026, in New York Supreme Court under the state’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act (GMVA), alleges Wexner “knew or should have known” about the abuse. It claims his substantial payments, combined with granting Epstein power of attorney and access to his properties and business network (including modeling ties through Victoria’s Secret), provided the financial fuel and infrastructure for Epstein’s operation from the late 1980s into the 2000s.
The 11 named plaintiffs—including Malgorzata Lesniewski, Audra Christiansen, and others—seek monetary damages for physical and emotional trauma, medical expenses, and legal costs. Their attorneys argue there would be “no Epstein without Les Wexner,” positioning the billionaire as the key financial backbone that allowed the crimes to flourish unchecked.
Wexner’s representatives have vehemently denied the allegations. They insist the payments were legitimate compensation for Epstein’s wealth management services, not gifts, and that Wexner had “no knowledge” of any criminal activity. The mansion, they note, was sold to Epstein for $20 million in 1998. Wexner has long described himself as deceived by a “world-class con man” and says he severed ties upon learning of the misconduct.
This civil suit arrives amid broader scrutiny of Epstein’s network, including recent document releases and congressional depositions. Under the GMVA, plaintiffs must show a pattern of gender-motivated violence that the defendants enabled, a lower bar than criminal charges but still demanding strong evidence of knowledge or reckless disregard.
For the survivors, the filing is both cathartic and courageous—a demand for accountability from one of the last high-profile figures linked to Epstein’s web. Whether it pierces the protective layers of elite wealth and influence, or becomes yet another prolonged legal battle where billions buy silence, remains uncertain. The walls of privilege have held firm in the past, but each survivor’s testimony chips away at the foundations of impunity. Justice, if it comes, may finally force a reckoning with the uncomfortable truth that money and power can sometimes shield the darkest crimes.
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