From “The Last American Vagabond”
By: Derrick Broze
American Billionaire Les Wexner Testifies Today on His Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Faces Deposition in Ohio State University Sexual Abuse Lawsuit
On Wednesday, February 18, 2026, billionaire Les Wexner is scheduled to testify in a closed door deposition regarding his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The relationship between the two men has been well documented for over a decade.
Wexner has also been ordered to testify in an ongoing lawsuit related to claims that former Ohio State University team doctor Richard Strauss sexually abused dozens of men from the late 1970s through the 1990s.
Wexner is the founder of retail giant L Brands Inc. (now known as Bath & Body Works) and the former owner of Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, Lane Bryant, and The Limited.
In early January 2026, Rep. Robert Garcia of California forced subpoenas of Wexner, as well as Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn—Epstein’s long-time lawyer and accountant.
“These subpoenas for the executors of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, and billionaire benefactor Les Wexner, are an enormous step forward in our investigation to deliver justice for the survivors and truth for the American people. Oversight Democrats know how important it is to follow the money to identify anyone that enabled Epstein’s horrific abuses and illegal activities. We are now one step closer to ending this White House cover-up,” said Garcia.
Wexner was originally slated to testify on Wednesday at 10 a.m. before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington. However, in recent days, it was reported that members of Congress would now travel to New Albany, Ohio, to depose Wexner about his connections to Epstein. The change was first reported by The Dispatch. A congressional spokesperson declined to answer questions from The Dispatch regarding why Wexner would not travel to D.C.
The Dispatch received the following statement from a spokesperson of House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer regarding the change:
“The House Oversight Committee will conduct a deposition with Mr. Wexner on February 18 in Ohio. As is standard with all deposition subpoenas, Committee staff coordinated in good faith with Mr. Wexner’s legal counsel and are proceeding in accordance with established House and Committee procedures.”
While Wexner’s relationship with Epstein has been extensively documented, Wexner, his wife Abigail, and the Wexner Foundation have previously claimed Epstein had “no contact” with the foundation’s staff after September 2007. However, in December The Last American Vagabond reported that Epstein’s leaked Yahoo emails show he was regularly consulted for approval and advice on financial transactions, even after he was exposed for child abuse.
In the two months since that report, Wexner’s name has been revealed in numerous documents, and calls for him to testify have grown louder.
On Feb. 11, 2026, Rep. Thomas Massie questioned U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on why the DOJ had redacted Wexner’s name in at least one of the files. Massie also asked why Wexner was not prosecuted despite some documents labeling him as a “co-conspirator”.
“At what point did the FBI and DOJ decide that Les Wexner is not a co-conspirator? Because our Epstein files transparency act requires you… to release the internal decision about whether to prosecute him or not, and it’s not in the files—it’s not in the files for any of these other men,” Massie asked Bondi.
One email contained in the Epstein files, dated July 7, 2019, listed Wexner and asked for “an update on the status of the 10 co-conspirators.”
An August 15, 2019, FBI email also labeled Wexner and others as “secondary co-conspirators,” though it stated there was “limited evidence regarding his involvement.” The email made the same statement about Jean-Luc Brunel, the former head of modeling agencies Karin Models and MC2. Brunel has been accused of sexual abuse for decades. He is the epitome of the fashion/modeling industry to sexual assault pipeline.
In 1988, CBS’ 60 Minutes reported on the accusations against Brunel in a rare TV broadcast titled, “American Girls in Paris.” Brunel faced no charges or legitimate investigation until Epstein’s arrest in July 2019. After Epstein’s arrest, investigators attempted to locate Brunel, who had all but disappeared from public life. In September 2019, The Cut reported:
“In the time that Brunel was missing, the allegations against him only mounted: In mid-August, two models accused Brunel of sexual assault, which in part compelled French officials to launch a criminal investigation into charges that Brunel had sexually assaulted women and minors in France. Then, on September 24, le Parisien reported that Brunel had been found in South America, after weeks of being in hiding.”
Brunel was arrested on December 16, 2020, in France and charged with drugging and raping minors. Brunel allegedly hung himself in his cell at La Santé Prison before he could go to trial.
In an undated draft letter from Epstein to Wexner, Epstein wrote that the two men had “gang stuff” for 15 years and owed each other a great debt. The letter appears to postdate public knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, as it mentions Abigail Wexner making accusations against him.
“Abigail and I sat, she asked many questions. She made many unfair, aggressive and false accusations. None of which could have been fully answered without violating a confidence with you. Many of which I did not answer. Some that I did.”
Epstein continued: “You and I had ‘gang stuff’ for over 15 years. A great deal of it, that she was unaware of. I had no intention of divulging any confidence of ours, no matter what accusations she made. And she made quite a few.”
Epstein also mentions another OSU figure connected to Wexner: “I am certain that John Zeiger has transmitted my suggestion that you and I sit down together.”
Zeiger is Wexner’s attorney, chair of the OSU Board of Trustees, and a member of the OSU Wexner Medical Center Board. His name is mentioned twenty times in the Epstein files released by the DOJ, in the context of settlements relating to accusations against Wexner.
In a January 13, 2016, deposition, attorney Alan Dershowitz stated: “I was told by John Zeiger, who was Leslie Wexner’s lawyer, that Sigrid McCawley claims that her client alleges that she had sex with Leslie Wexner on numerous occasions, including one—and she said this, according to Mr. Zeiger, very aggressively.”
While Wexner is now being forced to testify about his relationship with Epstein, albeit behind closed doors in New Albany instead of D.C., he is also facing legal repercussions in the ongoing OSU sexual abuse case.
Wexner Ordered to Testify in OSU Sexual Abuse Lawsuit
Les Wexner has been ordered to appear for questioning within 60 days to share what he knew about the abuse of young men by OSU team doctor Richard Strauss.
The alleged victims of Strauss are currently suing OSU for failing to prevent the abuse. As part of the suit, they have subpoenaed Wexner to determine what he knew of Strauss’ actions.
On January 11, 2026, Judge Michael Watson of the Southern District of Ohio ordered Wexner to sit for a deposition within 60 days, writing: “Having thoroughly reviewed the filings, the Court is satisfied that Plaintiffs have adequately demonstrated the relevance of Mr. Wexner’s testimony,” Judge Watson wrote.
Watson said Wexner’s testimony is relevant because of the timing and length of his tenure on the OSU Board of Trustees: “Plaintiffs are entitled to discover what Mr. Wexner knew about Dr. Strauss and when he knew it.” The judge added that Wexner’s testimony “may also illuminate what the Board did to monitor OSU’s sexual harassment compliance”.
Prior to Judge Watson’s ruling, lawyers representing the abuse victims said Wexner’s private security repeatedly prevented process servers from serving him with the subpoena. They also argued that Wexner’s attorney had refused to accept the subpoena on Wexner’s behalf. The plaintiffs’ attorneys asked for an alternative way to deliver the subpoena.
Michael Carpenter, the lawyer representing OSU, filed a motion on December 10 declaring there was no need to subpoena Wexner because the university “has not identified Mr. Wexner as a witness in this litigation.” The motion states: “none of the discovery taken to date suggests that Mr. Wexner has any specific information ‘relevant to any party’s claim or defense’ in this litigation.”
Judge Watson ultimately granted the plaintiffs’ motion (allowing Wexner to be served with a subpoena by email, through his lawyer, or via his bodyguard), denied OSU’s motion to quash, and ordered the deposition.
Meanwhile, OSU has announced an investigation into university professor Dr. Mark Landon (chair of Ohio State’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology) regarding his working relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s. Landon worked as a consultant to the New York Strategies Group, a company owned by Epstein.
While the 88-year-old billionaire avoided traveling to Washington, his name appearing the Epstein files, the renewed interest in his role in the Epstein Network, and the OSU victims relentless efforts to force him to testify will guarantee that Les Wexner cannot avoid the spotlight for much longer. The one area unlikely to see more public disclosure is his involvement with the Mega Group and rumors of ties to Ohio mafia figures.
Wexner’s Israeli and Potential Mafia Connections
Wexner is a prominent donor to Israeli causes and has numerous connections to powerful Israelis and Jewish financiers. It is these connections that some researchers believe may be another source of Jeffrey Epstein’s potential relationships with intelligence networks.
Wexner is considered to be one of the most prominent Jewish philanthropists. One of these efforts included organizing what was sometimes known as the “Study Group,” but more commonly known as the “Mega Group.” The Wall Street Journal reported in 1998 that the Mega Group was a “group of elite Jewish philanthropists” that was “formed in 1991 and developed as an effort to conduct a high-minded philanthropic discussion about the pressing issues of the Jewish people.” The Mega Group has been accused of being a front for Israeli intelligence.
The relationship between Epstein and Wexner has been explored extensively, both in Whitney Webb’s One Nation Under Blackmail and the mainstream press. In 1986, Epstein was introduced to Wexner in by Robert Meister, an insurance executive who provided insurance for Wexner’s clothing company, The Limited. It was Meister’s wife, Wendy, who introduced Les Wexner to his future wife, Abigail Koppel.
Koppel was a young Israeli-American attorney with her own connections to the state of Israel. Her father, Yehuda Koppel, was a former commander of a special-operations unit of the Haganah, the main Zionist paramilitary organization (comprised of various militias) that united behind the ostensible cause of Zionism—establishing a Jewish homeland. The Haganah would ultimately be dissolved in 1948 and become the official army of the state of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Yehuda Koppel was a key player in the founding of Israel’s military intelligence network. Drop Site News reports that in his diary, David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding father, notes that Koppel served in SHAI, Haganah’s intelligence arm and the predecessor to Israel’s central military intelligence directorate, Aman.
In another example of the extensive relationship between Epstein and Les Wexner, it was Epstein who drafted the prenuptial agreement for Les and Abigail ahead of their marriage in January 1993.
Rumors of mafia connections have also hung over Wexner’s head for over two decades.
The rumors stem from the 1985 murder of attorney Arthur Shapiro. The murder was described as a “mob style” slaying and immediately set off an investigation by the Columbus Police Department. The day after Shapiro’s body was found, The Columbus Dispatch reported that he had been under investigation by the US IRS. The Dispatch quoted unnamed sources as saying Shapiro had not filed an income tax in seven years and that federal prosecutors were preparing to take the case to a grand jury.
The murder remains unsolved to this day. The main suspect was a man named Berry L. Kessler. He was found guilty in at least one other murder-for-hire plot and sentenced to death, but never admitted to killing Arthur Shapiro.
By 1991, the Columbus Police Department’s Organized Crime Bureau had researched and written a report on the Shapiro murder. The report, titled “Shapiro Homicide Investigation: Analysis and Hypothesis,” was not initially made public but later became known after it was revealed that Columbus Police Chief James G. Jackson had ordered its destruction. Jackson was temporarily suspended for his actions.
Despite the efforts to destroy the so-called Shapiro File, the independent media outlet The Columbus Free Press released it in full in the late 1990s. Though the report was described as having “unsubstantiated allegations,” it specifically names Les Wexner and his businesses as having relationships with individuals believed to be associated with organized crime families.
The report noted that Arthur Shapiro had been a partner in the law firm of Schwartz, Shapiro, Kelm & Warren, which represented Wexner’s company The Limited, and that prior to his death “Arthur Shapiro managed this account for the law firm.” Wexner also had several other connections with individuals linked to organized crime families.
The report concluded, “Thus, it can be determined that Les Wexner, through the Limited, is associated with at least two organized crime figures who are associated with the Pittsburgh crime family.”
The Columbus Police report also states:
“From the predicate facts presented, it appears that Les Wexner had established contact with associates reputed to be organized crime figures, one of who was a major investment partner and another was using The Limited headquarters as a mailing address. It is not known whether there are other such figures among Wexner associates, but it can be hypothesized that the Genovese-LaRoca crime families might consider Wexner a friend.”
The report argues that Shapiro may have had incriminating information on a number of powerful individuals and “might have been forced to answer” questions in his “impending Grand Jury hearing.”
Les Wexner has repeatedly denied any knowledge of the Shapiro murder.
*UPDATE: Les Wexner’s official statement to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has been released. Wexner states:
“never saw or heard about Epstein being in the company of a minor girl. To the contrary, he led me to believe he was in serious and long-term relationships with two women, Dr. Eva Andersson and later Ghislaine Maxwell, both of whom he said he contemplated marrying. I was never on his airplane. Contrary 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. After we moved out, I never set foot in that house again. I visited Epstein’s island only once, shortly after he purchased it, when Abigail, our young children, and I stopped for a few hours one morning while we were on a cruise on our boat. Again, the side of Epstein that he chose to reveal to me was far different from the predator he eventually was exposed to be.”
Read the full statement here.