Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Lesley Groff And The Transcript From Her Epstein Related Trip to Congress (Part 13) (7/9/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:03Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to pick up
- 0:06where he left off with a Leslie Groff interview with
- 0:09Congress Miss Brignac. Were there any other organizations that promoted
- 0:14the advancement of young women that mister Epstein was involved with?
- 0:18Answer not that I can think of. Question did you
- 0:20find this to be unique interest of a registered sex offender?
- 0:24Answer that he was friends with Barbara. Question that he
- 0:27was paying large sums of money to a school after
- 0:30a meeting with young women that attended that school. Answer,
- 0:33I thought he was supporting Barbara and the Stockholm School
- 0:36of Economics. Question okay, Miss Toland. Okay, that will conclude
- 0:41our hour. Here we'll go off the record. Question, Miss Groff,
- 0:45you previously testified that mister Epstein was incarcerated. You stopped
- 0:49booking Massages Forum? Is that correct? Answer? Correct? Question? I
- 0:55would like to introduce as minority exhibit, see this email
- 0:58exchange between you and or a DAK person from October
- 1:01twenty first, twenty eleven. The Bates number is EFTA zero
- 1:06zero nine two one eight one nine. Question. In this exchange,
- 1:11you write to this person quote Jeffrey says, he called
- 1:13you at ten thirty last night, but no answer. He's
- 1:16wondering if you might like to stop by today redacted
- 1:20at either three or seven. There are some back and
- 1:23forth about scheduling, and then the person says, quote redacted
- 1:26just got back and spoke to her now about tonight.
- 1:29She's never done anything of this sort before and is
- 1:32a little nervous about the whole thing. I don't know
- 1:34what Jeffrey has planned for tonight, but is it okay
- 1:37if they just meet it this time? She would really
- 1:39feel more comfortable that way. You then forward the email
- 1:42to mister Epstein, and he says, quote of course, when
- 1:47this person said that this other person, presumably their friend
- 1:50quote has never done anything of this sort before and
- 1:53was quote a little nervous about the whole thing, what
- 1:56did you understand her to mean? Answer? You got to
- 1:59understand My day was super busy. I'm sure that I
- 2:02barely read this email. And she gets caught off. Well,
- 2:05you clearly registered what she said, because you forwarded her
- 2:08question onto mister Epstein, and he said, of course, so
- 2:11you must have registered it if you knew she was
- 2:13making a request of you that you needed his sign
- 2:15off for right. Answer. I'm sure that I did not
- 2:19put that much thought into it. I'm sure that my day.
- 2:22You got to understand, my day was not just focused
- 2:24on this one area of appointments. I had so many
- 2:27other things going on as well. Question I understand that
- 2:30answer and write and so question. It doesn't answer my question, though,
- 2:35Miss Groff, What do you think this person's friend had
- 2:38never done before? Answer? I don't know. Question what do
- 2:42you think this person's friend was nervous about? Answer? I
- 2:45don't know. Question do you think that it's a fair
- 2:48reading of this email chain that mister Epstein called someone
- 2:51likely a girl or a young woman at ten thirty
- 2:53at night, They didn't pick up, and then asked you
- 2:56to contact them to schedule a massage. You did that,
- 3:00and the thing that this person was nervous about, the
- 3:02thing that they never done before, was massaging, mister Epstein,
- 3:06whatever that might have meant. Is that a fair reading
- 3:09of this email, Miss Groff? Answer? It doesn't say anything
- 3:12about massage. I don't know what this was for. Mister Bockner.
- 3:16Are you asking whether today she would agree that this
- 3:18could be a fair reading of what you're saying or
- 3:21what she knew back then. Answer or question. I mean,
- 3:25I understand that she's testifying that she does not remember
- 3:27this particular instance. I'm asking her, given that, given that
- 3:31you do not remember it, and also that you did
- 3:33schedule massages for this man for a long time, whether
- 3:36it's fair reading of this chain that what I described
- 3:40earlier is what happened Backner, knowing what you know now, Groff,
- 3:44knowing what I know now? Yes, redacted question Miss Groff,
- 3:49this email is from twenty eleven. You previously testified that
- 3:52after mister Epstein was incarcerated, you stopped booking massages for him.
- 3:57Answer that's correct. Question. He was incarcerated from two thousand
- 4:00and eight to two thousand and nine. Correct answer, correct question.
- 4:05So wouldn't it suggest that you continued to book massages
- 4:07for him? Answer? I would not have known that this
- 4:10was a massage. I don't know. You're assuming that I
- 4:13would think that this was a massage, But I did
- 4:16not think of it as a massage, I said, I
- 4:18probably didn't put that much thought into it. I was
- 4:21super busy. I just needed to know if you would
- 4:23be able to meet with this person. He said, yes,
- 4:25And I'm sure my day just moved on question. Well,
- 4:28surely he instructed you to reach out to this person, though,
- 4:31because you're the first one in the email. You email
- 4:33and you say he called you last night at ten thirty.
- 4:36Answer yes, question, So when he instructed you, wouldn't he
- 4:40have said, hey, ms Groff, can you schedule this person
- 4:43for a massage? Backner, I'm sorry to interrupt. If we
- 4:47knew the redacted name, maybe that could help her know
- 4:50what this is about. But right now it's a redacted name.
- 4:53You're asking her to speculate as to what this possibility
- 4:56could mean. It's kind of not fair, miss Groff. I
- 4:59was just making an appointment for him, as requested. He
- 5:02wanted to know if this person could come over at
- 5:04three or seven, and as directed by him, I asked
- 5:07if this person could come over at three or seven redacted.
- 5:11So your testimony today is that, as far as you know,
- 5:14this was not the Book of Massage, and you stand
- 5:16by your earlier statement that mister Epstein was incarcerated, you
- 5:20no longer book massages forum. Mis Groff. That is correct,
- 5:23except for maybe the one time in Palm Beach at
- 5:25the medical spa redacted after he was incarcerated. Did you
- 5:30coordinate payment for massages, Miss Groff, no question. I would
- 5:34like to introduce this minority. Exhibit D. This email exchange
- 5:37between you and mister Epstein from September nineteenth, twenty eleven.
- 5:42Debates number is EFTA zero one eight five five zero
- 5:46six nine. Question. In the first email, you write to
- 5:50mister Epstein that quote redacted would like to pick up
- 5:52money for time spent on the island. How much should
- 5:55I tell redacted to give her? Mister Epstein then responds
- 5:57quote six hundred and you've mention redacted before? Can you
- 6:01remind me what her role was? Answer? She was in
- 6:04the accounting department. Question and the island refers to Little
- 6:07Saint James. Correct answer correct question. What was your understanding
- 6:11of why this person was being paid for the time
- 6:14they spent on the island? Answer? I, unfortunately don't know
- 6:17who this person is. I don't recall this email, and
- 6:20I don't know what this person was doing. He had
- 6:24architects and decorators and artists go to his island. He
- 6:27was constantly trying to redecorate and do things there. I
- 6:30don't know what this was for. Question. The email doesn't
- 6:33say for any kind of specific task. Right. It doesn't
- 6:36say for redecorating, it doesn't say for building. It says
- 6:40for time spent on the island, and the amount to
- 6:42six hundred correct answer correct question. When mister Epstein would
- 6:47pay girls and women for massages where he sexually abused them,
- 6:51he would typically pay them two or three hundred correct
- 6:54answer correct question. So isn't it a fair reading of
- 6:57this email? The six hundred is likely for two instances
- 7:01where mister Epstein received a massage and sexually abused a
- 7:04girl or a young woman. Answer. At the time, I
- 7:08did not know that's what was occurring. I never saw
- 7:11anything inappropriate, So my mind was not going in the
- 7:14direction you're trying to take my mind. Everything to me
- 7:17that I was doing, I feel like now looking through
- 7:19a dirty lens, things looked dirty. But this time I
- 7:22was unaware of anything that was going on. Question. So
- 7:26this was twenty eleven, though, so you weren't aware because
- 7:29you had been investigated or he had been investigated and arrested,
- 7:32he had pleaded guilty to the charges, one of which
- 7:35involved a minor. He had been incarcerated, he'd been on
- 7:39house arrest. There was a lot of stories in the
- 7:41news about him. So, actually you did have information about
- 7:44who this man was and what he had done. Admittedly
- 7:47that was not complete, but wouldn't that have informed you
- 7:52of how to understand this email? Answer? At the time,
- 7:55I was still being told that he had been blackmailed
- 7:57and that this sentence was for soliciting a prostate. I
- 8:00didn't know that these other things were occurring at the time,
- 8:04and he lied to me, he manipulated me, and he
- 8:06had me as well. It seems to me everyone else
- 8:09believing that this was that things out there were being
- 8:12said were wrong and just false. Question, and what about
- 8:16looking back at it now, do you think that it
- 8:18was a fair reading of the email? Is that a
- 8:21girl or young woman who was on the island was
- 8:23asking to be paid for instances where she was sexually abused.
- 8:28Answer in hindsight and being able to see the big
- 8:31picture in his emails and what everybody is saying now, Yeah,
- 8:34it's terrible question, Okay, And this is also from twenty eleven,
- 8:39so also for his incarceration. So then your previous statement
- 8:42about how he didn't help pay girls who had massaged
- 8:45him after his incarceration was incorrect. Mister Whitcomb. Objection that's
- 8:51not what she said. You're a mischaracterizing her testimony. Redacted.
- 8:56The rules of evidence do not apply here. Please answer
- 8:59the question. Mister Whitcomb. Yeah, but the rules of fairness
- 9:02apply redacted. Could you please answer the question. Witcomb object
- 9:06to the form of the question too, it's incoherent, mister Backner, misredacted.
- 9:11Could you just add the word knowingly. I mean her
- 9:13testimony earlier was that she didn't knowingly do that redacted. Okay, great,
- 9:18let's clarify that. Would you now say? Looking at the
- 9:21email as we discussed it, what you have agreed is
- 9:25a fair characterization of it. It appears that after he
- 9:28was incarcerated, you did, in fact facilitate payment for a massage. Backner.
- 9:33That's also not what she said. She said. It's a
- 9:35fair reading to say it could have happened. It's not
- 9:38what she knows happened or did happen. Witcomb asking for
- 9:43speculation as well. Backner, it's redacted question. So you stand
- 9:47by your previous testimony that you did not do that
- 9:50after he was incarcerated. Miss Groff, that's correct. I did
- 9:54not know what this was for. I don't recall the email.
- 9:57I don't know Backner again, the subject line is re acted,
- 10:00the name is redacted. Question. We understand, mister Backner, thank you.
- 10:04You also previously testified that you had no role in
- 10:07sponsorship or visa sponsorship. Is that correct? Graff Well, I
- 10:11correct question. I would like to introduce as minority exhibit
- 10:16E this email exchange between you mister Epstein Arta Bescardis
- 10:21from April fifth, twenty nineteen. The Bates number is EFTA
- 10:25zero zero four nine three one one two. Question. Starting
- 10:31from the bottom of the first page, you email mister
- 10:33Epstein the details of a physical therapy program at Lutheran
- 10:36Hospital in Brooklyn and say, quote, would this work? Can
- 10:40she get our visa and go to New York by
- 10:42April fifteenth? Then you email the course information to mister
- 10:47Biscardis and he responds, quote, I'm actually cuni's attorney. I'll
- 10:51contact them directly, need to see if they give visas.
- 10:55Why were you emailing this information about this program to
- 10:57mister Epstein and asking about whether an individual could get
- 11:01her visa and get to New York by a specific date. Groth,
- 11:05I don't recall this email. I'm sure that mister Epstein
- 11:09asked me to investigate this course. There's no reason that I.
- 11:12Why else would I have investigated this course. I don't
- 11:15know who this person is. Question did you have a
- 11:18role in researching potential programs for girls or women connected
- 11:21to mister Epstein that they could then use to secure visas?
- 11:25Answer no, this is I was not asked. It looks
- 11:29like I was asked to investigate a course as directed.
- 11:32But this I did not speak to Arta. I merely
- 11:35would put mister Epstein in touch with him as a
- 11:37phone call, as somebody that he wanted to speak with.
- 11:40But I don't know why I was asked to go
- 11:42look at the course. Question Okay, even though you explicitly
- 11:45reference a visa in your email to mister Epstein. Answer
- 11:49it was probably something that I was asked by mister
- 11:51Epstein if she could get her visa. I don't know.
- 11:54I don't recall this question. Just a few quick questions
- 11:58about mister biscardis what was your understanding of his role
- 12:02at cun Why answer he was a professor. Question to
- 12:05your knowledge, did he ever use his position at CUNY
- 12:09to have women affiliated with mister Epstein admitted into any
- 12:12program at that institution? Answer? I don't know. Question, to
- 12:16your knowledge, did he ever use his position at CUNY
- 12:19to secure visas for any woman affiliated with mister Epstein?
- 12:23Answer I don't know. Question did you ever get his
- 12:27contact information to anyone in mister Epstein's network? Answer I
- 12:30don't know. Question do you have any memory of his
- 12:35contact to Leon Black or anyone who worked for Leon Black?
- 12:41Answer I don't know. All right, folks, we're going to
- 12:44wrap up right here, and in the next episode dealing
- 12:46with the topic, we're going to pick up where we
- 12:48left off. All the information that goes with this episode
- 12:52can be found in the description box.