Ghislaine Maxwell told a deputy U.S. attorney general that Jeffrey Epstein "ran New Albany" and that New Albany billionaire Les Wexner was, in her opinion, Epstein's best friend for a time.
Maxwell's comments comes from a Justice Department transcript released Friday from interviews with the imprisoned Maxwell on July 24 and 25.
Maxwell was Epstein's longtime partner and was sentenced to a 20-year prison term for helping convicted sex offender Epstein abuse underage girls.
The hundreds of pages of transcripts were released "in the interest of transparency," Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday.
The Trump administration has faced pressure from Democrats and some supporters inside the Republican Party to share more information about any files it has on Epstein and his case.
Maxwell was asked about President Trump and others who knew or were in contact with Epstein.
That included Wexner. During the interviews, Maxwell called Wexner a "very important client" for Epstein, talking about what Epstein did.
"So he would — he structured or restructured The Limited," Maxwell said, referring to the company Wexner founded. Maxwell said Epstein also organized a trust for Wexner's children.
"He restructured his entire personal finances, and would also handle all of the investment strategy," Maxwell said.
Maxwell also referred to Wexner's New Albany house.
"And he built -- I remember this conversation, he built himself a very large house, like truly enormous and it's one of the biggest private homes I've ever been to. And he built all the houses around him, and I'm like, this is so random, why would you do that? And he said to me, well, because I want to
make sure that the people around me are my friends — I want my friends around me and my neighbors. And I was like, well, whatever. Okay, you know. I've been around enormous wealth my whole life, and I've like — at some point I just say, okay, whatever. I get it, and I don't. And so that's what he did," Maxwell said.
"But Epstein ran New Albany, which included a country club and a golf club and a — I mean, your boss is one of the all-time great, you know, businessmen in this area." Maxwell said.
A Wexner spokesman had no comment when asked about Maxwell's comments.
A 30-year executive of The New Albany Company who was not authorized to speak said that in his entire tenure with the company he had never met Epstein.
Maxwell also talked about the friendship between Epstein and Wexner.
"Wexner was, in my opinion, his closest friend in this time period from when I met him in '91, right, all the way until-- well, 'til, I don't know," Maxwell said.
Wexner has said he severed all ties with Epstein in 2007.
When Epstein was indicted on sex trafficking charges in 2019, Wexner wrote an email to L Brands employees:
"When Mr. Epstein was my personal money manager, he was involved in many aspects of my financial life. But let me assure you that I was NEVER aware of the illegal activity charged in the indictment," Wexner wrote.
