What, Exactly, Was the Connection Between Victoria’s Secret and Jeffrey Epstein?

For decades, Victoria’s Secret was the final word in U.S. lingerie, the store that defined sexy for a generation of young women and constantly assured its customers that perfection was just one push-up bra away. In 2018, though, comments widely seen as trans-phobic and fat-phobic from chief marketing officer Ed Razek cast a pall on the brand’s power to influence; Razek soon stepped down, but questions had already been raised about who, exactly, was behind the curtain at Victoria’s Secret.

Unfortunately, as the new documentary series Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons explores, Razek’s comments—and the accusations of misconduct and harassment made against him—weren’t the only checkered part of the brand’s past: Financier and sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein also played a role. Find out why below.

What was Jeffrey Epstein’s association with Victoria’s Secret? 

In a 2019 New York Times exposé titled “How Jeffrey Epstein Used the Billionaire Behind Victoria’s Secret for Wealth and Women,” a team of journalists found that in the 1990s Epstein served as an adviser to Les Wexner, Victoria’s Secret chief executive. (Wexner stepped down from the company in 2020.) During that time, Epstein tried to pose as a recruiter for the brand in order to have access to young models.

In 1997, then 27-year-old model Alicia Arden was invited to a hotel room by Epstein, supposedly to discuss appearing in the Victoria’s Secret catalog; instead, as she recalls in Angels and Demons, Epstein grabbed and tried to undress her. This took place less than a year after Epstein sexually assaulted Maria Farmer, who was working on a project for him in Wexner’s Ohio home; she testified that she “fled the room and called the police, but that Mr. Wexner’s security staff refused to let her leave for 12 hours,” according to the Times.

How deep did Wexner and Epstein’s relationship go?

Quite deep, as it turns out. The two were introduced by insurance executive Robert Meister in the mid-to-late 1980s, and the New York Times story noted that Wexner eventually “authorized [Epstein] to borrow money on his behalf, to sign his tax returns, to hire people, and to make acquisitions.” The documentary series also notes the business and financial influence that Epstein appeared to have on Wexner and Epstein’s working relationship with Ed Razek.

Has Les Wexner responded to the series’s claims?

Wexner’s attorney issued the following statement, which is cited in the series: “The issue of Epstein claiming an association with Victoria’s Secret was raised on one occasion with Mr. Wexner. He confronted Epstein and was clear that it was a violation of Company policy for him to suggest that he was associated in any way with Victoria’s Secret and that Epstein was forbidden from ever doing so again. Epstein denied having done so.” However, sources in the series expressed their skepticism that Wexner actually took action to stop Epstein’s behavior.