In 1991, Leslie “Les” Wexner — the founder and CEO of L Brands (owner of Victoria’s Secret, Limited, and other retail giants) — granted Jeffrey Epstein one of the broadest powers of attorney on record. The document gave Epstein the authority to act in virtually every capacity on Wexner’s behalf: managing assets, taking out loans, making investments, buying and selling property, and entering legal agreements.
How broad was it?: The power of attorney allowed Epstein to operate as if he were Wexner. Wexner later acknowledged that Epstein had abused this authority and had stolen a significant amount of money from him — estimated at over $46 million.
Why it happened: Wexner has offered limited explanations. The most common account is that Wexner, then in his early fifties, was in a transitional period personally and professionally, and trusted Epstein implicitly with management of his financial affairs. Epstein had positioned himself as a financial genius who could grow Wexner’s wealth.
What it enabled: Using the POA, Epstein:
- Transferred Wexner’s nine-story Manhattan townhouse (71st Street) into his own name for reportedly $0
- Managed trusts and accounts belonging to the Wexner family foundation
- Conducted financial transactions without Wexner’s direct involvement
The unanswered question: How a man with no verified track record of managing large institutional fortunes convinced one of the wealthiest people in America to give him essentially unlimited financial authority remains one of the biggest mysteries of the case. Some investigators and journalists have suggested the relationship may have involved leverage of some kind.