Epstein Data Wiki

Victoria's Secret, L Brands, and the Wexner Connection

Properties2
tagsentity, ohio, retail, l-brands, victorias-secret, modeling
aliasesL Brands, Limited Brands, The Limited, Victoria's Secret

14 min read

CompanyFounded in Columbus, Ohio in 1963 by Leslie H. Wexner as The Limited, Inc.; renamed Limited Brands, Inc. in 2002 and L Brands, Inc. in 2013; renamed Bath & Body Works, Inc. in 202112
Victoria’s SecretFounded by Roy Raymond, first store 1977; bought by Wexner’s company for $1 million in 1982; a separate SEC registrant, Victoria’s Secret & Co., from 202134
Relationship to EpsteinEpstein handled Wexner’s personal finances from the early 1990s until 2007, on the account Wexner’s lawyers gave prosecutors56
Epstein’s role at the brandWexner’s lawyers told federal prosecutors in July 2019 that “Epstein had no formal role in L Brands or Victoria’s Secret”; L Brands said it did not believe he was ever employed by or an authorised representative of the company67
Company reviewL Brands said on July 24, 2019 that its board had hired a law firm to review Epstein’s role7

Victoria’s Secret is the lingerie chain bought in 1982 by the Columbus, Ohio retailer that Leslie H. Wexner founded as The Limited, Inc. and that later traded as Limited Brands, Inc. and L Brands, Inc.123 On the account Wexner’s lawyers gave federal prosecutors in July 2019, Jeffrey Epstein came to control all of Wexner’s personal finances “with virtually no oversight,” obtained a power of attorney from him in 1991, and handled his personal business affairs until 2007.56 L Brands said in July 2019 that it did not believe he had ever been employed by the company or served as an authorised representative of it.7 This page sets out three kinds of material connecting him to the brand: an account, given to federal prosecutors by Wexner’s lawyers, that Wexner had heard a rumour Epstein was holding himself out as connected to Victoria’s Secret and that Epstein denied it;6 press reporting that company executives had learned in the mid-1990s that Epstein was pitching himself as a recruiter for Victoria’s Secret models;8 and correspondence between Epstein’s office and the brand’s chief marketing officer.910 The financial relationship between Epstein and Wexner is set out on Wexner’s page.

The company

Limited Brands’ annual report for the fiscal year ended February 3, 2007 states that “Leslie H. Wexner, 69, has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company for more than thirty years and its Chief Executive Officer since he founded the Company in 1963.”1 The registrant filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as The Limited, Inc. until 2002, as Limited Brands, Inc. until 2013, as L Brands, Inc. until 2021, and thereafter as Bath & Body Works, Inc.; Victoria’s Secret & Co. has filed separately since 2021.24

Bloomberg Businessweek reported in August 2019 that Roy Raymond opened the first Victoria’s Secret in 1977 and that Wexner, “already owner of retailers Limited, Lane Bryant, and Express, bought the company for $1 million in 1982.”3 The same article dates the first Victoria’s Secret fashion show to 1995 at the Plaza Hotel in New York, reports that ratings for the televised show bottomed out in 2018 at 3.3 million viewers, and that in May 2019 the company pulled the show from network television after 23 years.3 It reports that Ed Razek, whom it describes as the division’s chief marketing officer, had “worked for Wexner since the 1980s and is part of his inner circle,” and that he and his team decided which models earned angel wings.3 The New York Times reported on August 7, 2019 that Wexner had told employees that week that Razek was retiring.8

Whether Epstein had a role at Victoria’s Secret

The account relied on here is a December 19, 2019 memorandum from Assistant U.S. Attorneys to Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, recording an attorney proffer that counsel for Wexner gave on July 25, 2019.115 The memorandum records what Wexner’s lawyers said, not a finding by prosecutors. On the company, it states:

Epstein had no formal role in L Brands or Victoria’s Secret. At some point, Wexner heard a rumor that Epstein might be holding himself out as connected to Victoria’s Secret, but when Wexner asked Epstein about it, Epstein denied doing so.6

The New York Times had reported in July 2019, as it recounted in its article of August 7, 2019, “that company executives in the mid-1990s had learned that Mr. Epstein was trying to pitch himself as a recruiter for Victoria’s Secret models.”8

Asked at her deposition in Giuffre v. Maxwell on July 22, 2016 whether she had ever told anyone that Epstein “was a scout for Victoria’s Secret,” Ghislaine Maxwell answered, “I don’t recall saying that,” and gave the same answer when asked whether she had told anyone Epstein “could get them a job with Victoria’s Secret.”12 Asked whether she denied saying it or only did not recall, her counsel instructed her not to answer.12

Epstein’s chief pilot, Lawrence Visoski, agreed on cross-examination at the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell on November 30, 2021 that he had flown Epstein to Columbus, Ohio a number of times, that “Columbus, Ohio is where Les Wexner lives,” that Wexner was “the billionaire owner of the Limited,” and that it “owns Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch, among other companies.” Asked whether Epstein was a client, Visoski answered, “To my knowledge, Mr. Epstein would call him a client, yes.”13

Epstein and the brand’s marketing chief

In two documented exchanges, Razek was in direct contact with Epstein or his office.

On September 30, 2005 Razek forwarded to Epstein a message he had received the previous day from William Mook of Mok Industries, LLC of Columbus, Ohio,14 pitching an investment in a jet-fuel project and asking Razek to “let me know if there is any interest by Jeffrey Epstein, or anyone you know.” The forward is printed from a Gmail account; Razek’s covering message reads in full: “Jeffrey- / FYI. / Ed”.9

On May 1, 2009, two years after the separation Wexner describes, Razek emailed Epstein’s assistant Lesley Groff from his company address: “Does Jeffrey have a contact so that I can order a Ferrari California?” Groff forwarded it to Epstein the same afternoon and asked him four days later, “Did you want me to answer Ed on this?”1015

Bloomberg reported on July 13, 2019 that Mook said he had met Epstein after pitching that investment opportunity to Razek in September 2005, that Epstein invited the two men to his Manhattan mansion, and that “when he and Razek showed up, Mook said, they were welcomed by young women who said they were working as models for Epstein.”14 Bloomberg Businessweek repeated the account in August 2019 and added that “Razek told fellow guest William Mook, head of Mok Industries LLC in Columbus, Ohio, that Victoria’s Secret used Epstein models and that his girls were in ‘the major league,’ according to Mook.”3 That is Mook’s account of what Razek said. Bloomberg reported in July 2019 that “An L Brands spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for an interview with Razek,” and in August 2019 that “A representative of L Brands declined to comment beyond statements already issued.”143 No statement by Razek on the visit or on the remark attributed to him is recorded on this page.

MC2 Model Management

MC2 was the Miami modelling agency owned by Jean-Luc Brunel, who described it in his own 2015 pleading as MC2 Model & Talent Miami, LLC.16 Bloomberg Businessweek reported in August 2019 that Epstein had a $1 million investment in the agency, on the account of a sworn deposition by a former company bookkeeper, and that Brunel had been alleged in a civil lawsuit to have brought girls as young as twelve for sexual purposes and provided them to Epstein and other friends.3 The Daily Beast reported in October 2019 that Brunel had issued a statement denying an accuser’s claims, saying he never participated “directly nor indirectly, in the actions Mr. Jeffrey Epstein is being accused of.”17 He was charged in France in December 2020; his lawyers said he had always maintained his innocence.18 He died in custody in Paris on February 19, 2022, before trial, and no further statement from him on the Bloomberg allegations is recorded on this page.19

On the company relationship, the same Bloomberg article reported that Victoria’s Secret continued to work with MC2-represented models after Wexner severed ties with Epstein, that MC2 models walked in its 2015 fashion show, that “the agency’s models were at auditions in 2017 and 2018” and “They’ve also posed for its catalogs and website.”3 It reported that in a 2014 letter to Brunel, “MC2 President Jeff Fuller cited worries by Saks, Nordstrom, Macy’s, and other clients about Brunel’s friendship with Epstein,” and that “There was no mention of concern on the part of Victoria’s Secret.”3 Bloomberg reported in July 2019 that a spokeswoman for L Brands declined to comment on whether any of the MC2 models the company had employed were tied to Epstein, and Bloomberg Businessweek reported in August that “MC2 didn’t respond to a request for comment.”143

The company’s response

The Wall Street Journal reported on July 25, 2019 that on the Wednesday of that week L Brands had said “its board hired a law firm to conduct a review of Mr. Epstein’s role,” and quoted an L Brands spokeswoman: “We do not believe he was ever employed by nor served as an authorized representative of the company.”7 The New York Times reported on August 7, 2019 that the company “has said it hired outside lawyers ‘to conduct a thorough review’ into the relationship.”8

The same Journal article reported that in a companywide email that month Wexner said he had not been aware of Epstein’s alleged behaviour with women and had severed ties nearly twelve years earlier: “I would not have continued to work with any individual capable of such egregious, sickening behavior as has been reported about him.”7 In his August 7, 2019 letter to the Wexner Foundation community, distributed to the press, Wexner wrote that he had been “able to recover some of the funds” he said Epstein had misappropriated, and that “I am embarrassed that, like so many others, I was deceived by Mr. Epstein. I know now that my trust in him was grossly misplaced, and I deeply regret having ever crossed his path.”8 In a letter to L Brands employees the previous month he had said he was “NEVER aware of the illegal activity charged in the indictment.”8

Timeline

DateEventSource
1963Wexner founds The Limited, Inc. in Columbus, Ohio1
1977Roy Raymond opens the first Victoria’s Secret store3
1982Wexner’s company buys Victoria’s Secret for $1 million3
1991Epstein obtains a power of attorney from Wexner5
1995First Victoria’s Secret fashion show, at the Plaza Hotel, New York3
Mid-1990sCompany executives learn Epstein is pitching himself as a recruiter for Victoria’s Secret models, the New York Times reported8
Sept. 30, 2005Razek forwards an investment pitch to Epstein: “Jeffrey- / FYI. / Ed”9
2007The Wexners withdraw the power of attorney and instruct counsel to negotiate a private settlement6
May 1, 2009Razek emails Epstein’s assistant asking for a contact to order a car10
July 22, 2016Maxwell testifies she does not recall telling anyone Epstein was a scout for Victoria’s Secret12
May 2019Victoria’s Secret pulls its fashion show from network television after 23 years3
July 13, 2019Bloomberg publishes Mook’s account of the 2005 visit to Epstein’s mansion14
July 24, 2019L Brands says its board has hired a law firm to review Epstein’s role7
July 25, 2019Counsel for Wexner give an attorney proffer to prosecutors in the Southern District of New York5
Aug. 7, 2019Wexner’s letter to the Wexner Foundation community is reported; Razek’s retirement is announced to employees8
Nov. 30, 2021Visoski testifies at the Maxwell trial about Epstein’s Columbus flights and Wexner13
2021L Brands is renamed Bath & Body Works, Inc.; Victoria’s Secret & Co. becomes a separate SEC registrant24

Coverage

  • Bloomberg, July 13, 2019 (“A Billionaire and a Sex Offender: The Wexner and Epstein Ties”).
  • Wall Street Journal, July 25, 2019 (Khadeeja Safdar, Rebecca Davis O’Brien, Gregory Zuckerman and Jenny Strasburg).
  • Bloomberg Businessweek, August 5, 2019 (Kim Bhasin, Jordyn Holman, Sophie Alexander and Anders Melin), “It’s a Man’s World.”
  • New York Times, August 7, 2019 (Steve Eder and Emily Steel).
  • The Daily Beast, October 29, 2019 (Kate Briquelet and Pervaiz Shallwani).

Footnotes

  1. Limited Brands, Inc., annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 3, 2007, “Supplemental Item. Executive Officers of the Registrant.” https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00190141 p.31. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR company record for CIK 0000701985, Bath & Body Works, Inc., listing the former names L Brands, Inc. (filings through July 30, 2021), Limited Brands Inc (through March 22, 2013) and Limited Inc (through June 12, 2002). https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000701985&type=8-K ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. Kim Bhasin, Jordyn Holman, Sophie Alexander and Anders Melin, “It’s a Man’s World,” Bloomberg Businessweek, Aug. 5, 2019, pp.14–16, preserved as a printed clipping in a DOJ production. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01699268 pp.3–5. The right margin of the p.3 scan is cropped; passages running to the edge of that column are paraphrased rather than quoted. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15

  4. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR company record for CIK 0001856437, Victoria’s Secret & Co., Reynoldsburg, Ohio, showing filings under the registrant from 2021 and an earliest annual report on Form 10-K filed March 18, 2022. https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001856437 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. Same memorandum, p.65 (“d. Counsel for Leslie Wexner”), read from the page image. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02731082 p.65. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  6. Same memorandum, p.66, read from the page image. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02731082 p.66. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  7. Khadeeja Safdar, Rebecca Davis O’Brien, Gregory Zuckerman and Jenny Strasburg, “Jeffrey Epstein Burrowed Into the Lives of the Rich and Made a Fortune,” Wall Street Journal, July 25, 2019, forwarded in an internal Deutsche Bank email chain. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01410768 pp.3, 7. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  8. Steve Eder and Emily Steel, “Leslie Wexner Accuses Jeffrey Epstein of Misappropriating ‘Vast Sums of Money,’” New York Times, Aug. 7, 2019, preserved in a DOJ production. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00172284 pp.2–3. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  9. Ed Razek to Epstein, “FW: [Fwd: [Fwd: Re: contract]],” Fri, Sept. 30, 2005 at 10:26 AM, forwarding William Mook’s message of Sept. 29, 2005; printed from a Gmail account, with both the From and To header addresses redacted in the image. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01304561 p.13. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  10. Ed Razek to Lesley Groff, May 1, 2009 12:01 PM, forwarded by Groff to Epstein the same day at 4:01 PM. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02442284 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  11. Memorandum from Assistant U.S. Attorneys to Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. Attorney, “Investigation into Potential Co-Conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein,” Dec. 19, 2019, p.1. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02731082 p.1. Other pages of this memorandum are not cited here. ↩

  12. Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 15-cv-07433 (S.D.N.Y.), continued videotaped deposition of Ghislaine Maxwell, July 22, 2016, transcript pp.142–143, filed as Exhibit D to Doc. 1201-14 on Jan. 27, 2021. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02785335 p.38. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  13. United States v. Ghislaine Maxwell, No. 20-cr-330, trial transcript, Doc. 743, Nov. 30, 2021, transcript p.216 (Visoski cross-examination). https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02839611 p.88. ↩ ↩2

  14. “A Billionaire and a Sex Offender: The Wexner and Epstein Ties,” Bloomberg, July 13, 2019, section headed “Victoria’s Secret Models,” excerpted in an email of July 26, 2019 produced in the release. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00082040 p.1. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  15. Lesley Groff to Epstein, “Ed Razek…,” May 5, 2009. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02442269 ↩

  16. Brunel and MC2 Model & Talent Miami, LLC v. Epstein, No. 14-21348 CA 01 (Fla. 11th Cir. Ct.), amended verified complaint, e-filed Jan. 26, 2015. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00599855 pp.5–9. See also Jean-Luc Brunel for Brunel’s own account of the agency’s founding. ↩

  17. Kate Briquelet and Pervaiz Shallwani, “Federal Prosecutors Are Lining Up Witnesses Against Jeffrey Epstein’s Cronies,” The Daily Beast, Oct. 29, 2019, forwarded within the Department of Justice the same day. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00023920 p.7. ↩

  18. “Jean-Luc Brunel: Ex-Epstein associate found dead in French jail,” Al Jazeera (with Agence France-Presse), Feb. 19, 2022. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/19/modeling-agent-close-to-epstein-found-dead-in-french-jail ↩

  19. Ali Dukakis and Aicha El Hammar Castano, “Jeffrey Epstein associate Jean Luc Brunel found dead by suicide in prison,” ABC News, Feb. 19, 2022. https://abcnews.go.com/International/jeffrey-epstein-associate-jean-luc-brunel-found-dead/story?id=83001807 ↩

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