Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who say several men’s names were wrongfully redacted in the Department of Justice’s latest file dump on Jeffrey Epstein took to the House floor and named them.
Reps. Ro Khanna, California Democrat, and Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, listed the “powerful men” who include business magnates Leslie Wexner and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.
The bipartisan duo suggested these names deserved to be in sunlight, given how past associations with Epstein, a convicted sex offender who committed suicide in prison in 2019, have tanked the reputations of European royals and politicians.
“We have to ask ourselves: Are we in America going to have elite accountability?” Mr. Khanna said Tuesday.
Epstein managed the finances for years for Mr. Wexner, who helped build retail giants such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret.
The relationship elevated Epstein’s profile among influential figures in the U.S. and abroad. Still, Mr. Wexner, 88, said he cut ties with Epstein during the fallout from his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Mr. Wexner’s name was linked to Epstein in prior document releases, prompting a legal representative to say that “Mr. Wexner was neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect” of the federal investigation into Epstein.
“Mr. Wexner cooperated fully by providing background information on Epstein and was never contacted again,” the representative said.
Mr. bin Sulayem runs the Dubai-based logistics company DP World, which has a foothold in more than 80 countries.
The sultan sent an email to Epstein in 2015 where he gushed about his dalliance with an engaged woman. Epstein sent Mr. bin Sulayem another email in which he said he “loved the torture video.”
None of the people listed has been accused of any crimes related to Epstein, but Mr. Massie suggested that could change.
“What I saw that bothered me were the names of at least six men that have been redacted that are likely incriminated by their inclusion in these files,” the congressman said this week.
Lesley Groff, Epstein’s longtime assistant, and Jean-Luc Brunel, a former French modeling agent, also had their names unredacted by the DOJ.
An attorney for Ms. Groff said the ex-assistant had “never seen this document and was unaware of it.”
The attorney told CNN, “In fact, neither Lesley nor her counsel were ever notified that she was considered a co-conspirator. On the contrary, after Lesley voluntarily spoke with prosecutors and answered each and every question asked of her, she was told that she was not being prosecuted.”
Brunel killed himself in 2022 after being jailed on charges of raping a minor.
Nicola Caputo is one of the recently unredacted names as well. The name matches that of an Italian politician who was a member of the European Parliament between 2014 and 2019, but there has been no confirmation that it’s the same Nicola Caputo mentioned in the documents.
Three other unredacted names — Leonic Leonov, Zurab Mikeladze and Salvatore Nuara — did not have any public information about who they could be or how they knew Epstein.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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