Victoria’s Secret founder Les Wexner has been torched by lawmakers after he claimed he was a victim of Jeffrey Epstein. The billionaire sat for a private deposition with Democratic and Republican lawmakers from the House Oversight Committee at his estate in Ohio on Wednesday. Wexner, 88, categorically denied any knowledge of Epstein’s [sexual] trafficking crimes in a written statement claiming that he too was a victim of the [child predator] financier. ‘I was naïve, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein. He was a con man. And while I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide,’ Wexner said.

He added that Epstein was ‘diabolical, and a master manipulator.’ ‘The other life he led, that we now know was full of unthinkable crimes, he most carefully and fully hid from me,’ Wexner wrote. ‘He knew that I never would have tolerated his horrible behavior. Not any of it. At no time did I ever witness the side of Epstein’s life for which he is now infamous.’ But his claims were trashed by Democratic lawmakers during an intercession in the deposition this afternoon.

Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari told reporters: ‘We have heard over and over again from these victims, the name of Les Wexner and the importance of following the money … ‘The real reason Jeffrey Epstein was able to get away with [sexually assaulting] and abusing children, young women, boys, young men, for so many years was because of the vast amounts of money that he was able to acquire and that largely came from Les Wexner here in Ohio.’ Wexner has spent years answering questions over his relationship with Epstein after they went into business together.

In an extraordinary move, Wexner gave Epstein power of attorney in 1991, allowing the financier to make investments and purchase property on his behalf. He also famously gave the financier his Manhattan townhouse – then the largest single-family property in the city – for a nominal $1 fee in the 1990s. Representative Jasmine Crockett, a fellow Democrat, also noted Wednesday that Wexner ‘was asked about Donald Trump and Epstein and whether or not they had been in the same room and what that looked like.’

She said that Wexner claimed that ‘he didn’t quite remember but he imagined that yes that possibly happened because he did remember that Donald Trump also would like to show up to the Victoria Secret runway shows.’ ‘That was a little odd to him because Donald Trump was not engaged in fashion whatsoever,’ Crockett noted. A source familiar with Tuesday’s depositions told the Daily Mail that Wexner would not describe Trump and Epstein as friends, and that he never had a conversation with Trump about Epstein or with Epstein about Trump. Wexner’s name appears in the Epstein files over 1,000 times, and the two shared a lengthy business relationship.

Epstein first met Wexner through a business associate around 1986. It was an opportune time for Wexner’s finances. The Ohio business owner had grown a single Limited store in Columbus into a suite of 1980s mall staples: The Limited, Limited Express, Lane Bryant and Victoria’s Secret. Abercrombie & Fitch, Lerner, White Barn Candle Co. and others would follow. Within a couple years, Wexner had turned over management of his vast fortune to Epstein. He gave Epstein authority over his investments, business deals, properties and he would help develop what would become the vast Wexner estate in then-rural New Albany, documents show. In one of the newly released Epstein files, the financier sent rough notes to himself about Wexner saying: ‘never ever, did anything without informing les’ and ‘I would never give him up.’

Another document, an apparent draft letter to Wexner, said the two ‘had “gang stuff” for over 15 years’ and were mutually indebted to each other – as Wexner helped make Epstein rich and Epstein helped make Wexner richer. A spokesperson for Wexner said he never received the letter. ‘It appears Epstein was furious that Mr. Wexner refused to meet with him years after Mr. Wexner terminated Epstein and cut off all ties with him following Mr. Wexner´s discovery of Epstein´s theft and criminal conduct,’ the spokesperson, Tom Davies, said. ‘The draft appears to fit a pattern of untrue, outlandish, and delusional statements made by Epstein in desperate attempts to perpetuate his lies and justify his misconduct.’ Wexner has never been charged with any crimes in connection with Epstein.