The boss of Victoria’s Secret has said he’s “embarrassed” by his close relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who served as his personal financial adviser.
Les Wexner, the founder and CEO of L Brands, entrusted Epstein with millions of dollars between the mid-1980s and the mid-2000s, when he cut ties with the financier. Epstein reportedly posed as a talent scout for Victoria’s Secret to lure young women, according to the New York Times. He also obtained two mansions and a private plane — valued at about $100 million today — that were previously owned by Wexner or his companies, the newspaper said.
“Everyone has to feel enormous regret for the advantage that was taken of so many young women,” Wexner told analysts at an investor update meeting this week. “That’s just unexplainable, abhorrent behavior, and clearly is something we all would condemn.”
“At some point in your life we are all betrayed by friends,” Wexner continued, adding that “people have secret lives” and hide them so well they can have relationships without revealing their “peculiar” behavior. “Being taken advantage of by someone who was so sick, so cunning, so deprived is something that I’m embarrassed that I was even close to.”
L Brands didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Markets Insider.
Epstein was arrested and charged with sex trafficking of minors in July. He pleaded not guilty to paying dozens of underage girls to engage in sex acts. He was found dead in his jail cell in August. – read more