{"id":137961,"date":"2026-02-18T21:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/137961\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T21:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:49:12","slug":"what-les-wexner-said-about-the-manhattan-penthouse-he-sold-to-jeffrey-epstein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/137961\/","title":{"rendered":"What Les Wexner said about the Manhattan penthouse he sold to Jeffrey Epstein"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW ALBANY, Ohio (WCMH<\/a>) \u2014 In his prepared statement to Congress<\/a>, Ohio billionaire Les Wexner discussed his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and brought up one connection they shared in particular: the Manhattan penthouse that Wexner sold to Epstein where many of the latter\u2019s alleged crimes took place.<\/p>\n

Wexner testified Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee<\/a> at his New Albany residence that he had no knowledge of Epstein\u2019s crimes and that he was \u201cduped by a world-class con man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Epstein and Wexner had a close business relationship and friendship from the 1980s until 2007, when Wexner said he cut ties. Wexner said the pair split amid Epstein\u2019s first charges for sex abuse and because Wexner discovered Epstein had misappropriated money from the Wexner family. Wexner testified the two did not speak again, and Epstein died by apparent suicide in jail in 2019.<\/p>\n

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In his deposition, Wexner addressed concerns about the Manhattan penthouse<\/a> a block from Central Park that Epstein acquired from Wexner. According to court records, Epstein was accused of trafficking dozens of underage girls to the apartment and sexually assaulting and abusing them there. FBI agents said the uncovered thousands of photographs of nude and partially nude girls, at least one of whom was a minor.<\/p>\n

\u201cContrary to rumor, I did not give Epstein the New York townhouse; he purchased it from me for what I was told was the appraised value,\u201d Wexner told Congress. \u201cAfter we moved out, I never set foot in that house again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wexner bought the property at 9 E. 71st St. in 1989 under a corporation, according to New York property records. He did not appear to frequent the residence; in 1996, Epstein told the\u00a0New York Times\u00a0Wexner \u201cnever spent more than two months\u201d in the mansion.<\/p>\n

Bank documents obtained by NBC4 Investigates show Wexner sold Epstein the property in 1998. Epstein purchased the property through a corporation for $20 million in November 1998. He initially paid $10,012,028.24, then paid the remaining $10 million in installments through March 2000.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Wexner denies any knowledge of the crimes that may have happened there, and most allegations do not overlap with his ownership of the property.<\/p>\n

One anonymous victim alleged in a 2016 lawsuit that she and other underage girls were sexually abused and assaulted by Epstein and President Donald Trump in the summer of 1994, four years before Wexner sold it to Epstein. Trump widely denied the claims, and the White House said they were false allegations<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n

In the dismissed lawsuit, the victim called the location \u201cthe Wexner mansion.\u201d The timing of the allegation was disputed; a source familiar with the New York home told NBC4 the mansion was unoccupied in the summer of 1994 except for a Wexner security guard, who ensured no one was in the mansion.<\/p>\n

Besides the Manhattan residence, Epstein was part of Wexner\u2019s efforts to redevelop New Albany<\/a> as a master planned community, and he lived for a while in a mansion on land there adjoining Wexner\u2019s estate.<\/p>\n

Wexner has long denied any involvement or knowledge of Epstein\u2019s crimes and has never been charged in connection.<\/p>\n

Wexner became Ohio\u2019s richest man by running businesses like Victoria\u2019s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch, and his name is familiar to many in central Ohio through the Wexner Medical Center or Wexner Center for the Arts.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW ALBANY, Ohio (WCMH) \u2014 In his prepared statement to Congress, Ohio billionaire Les Wexner discussed his relationship…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[22635,6769,58505,75,84,83,9,24,63,58506],"class_list":["post-137961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-house-oversight-committee","tag-jeffrey-epstein","tag-les-wexner","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-wexner-medical-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}