Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Les Wexner’s Ohio State Exit and the Investigation Into Epstein-Linked Doctors
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:03Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we have two articles that
- 0:07Speaker 1: we're going to dive into. One has to do with
- 0:09Speaker 1: Les Wexner and him stepping down as chair of Ohio
- 0:13Speaker 1: State University's Wexner Medical Center Board. And the other article
- 0:18Speaker 1: has to do with doctors that are being investigated in
- 0:21Speaker 1: New York in relation to their ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
- 0:26Speaker 1: So why don't we just dive right in and start
- 0:29Speaker 1: with the article from the Ohio Capital Journal about Les Wexner. Headlined,
- 0:35Speaker 1: Les Wexner Stepping Down as Chair of Ohio State University
- 0:39Speaker 1: Wexner Medical Center Board. The author of this article is
- 0:43Speaker 1: Megan Henry. Central Ohio billionaire Les Wexner is stepping down
- 0:48Speaker 1: as chair of the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
- 0:52Speaker 1: Board after continued scrutiny over his relationship with the late
- 0:56Speaker 1: convicted child sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Well,
- 1:02Speaker 1: a little too late, no? This should have happened a
- 1:05Speaker 1: long time ago. But Ohio State was very, very, very
- 1:09Speaker 1: insistent that Les Wexner wasn't going anywhere. But there has
- 1:14Speaker 1: been a lot of pressure and a lot of people
- 1:17Speaker 1: that have come out and complained about what's going on
- 1:21Speaker 1: as far as Wexner and his involvement with projects like
- 1:24Speaker 1: this one. And that criticism hasn't just come from outside forces.
- 1:28Speaker 1: There has been a lot of internal conversation about Wexner
- 1:32Speaker 1: and his place at Ohio State University, especially after the
- 1:36Speaker 1: wrestlers who were abused on campus sent a letter asking
- 1:41Speaker 1: the university to get rid of Wexner. So not exactly
- 1:45Speaker 1: the kind of publicity that you want hanging around your university, right? Wexner, 88,
- 1:52Speaker 1: will remain on the board as chair, but he is
- 1:54Speaker 1: no longer a voting member, university spokesperson, Ben Johnson said,
- 1:59Speaker 1: Les Wexner has stepped back from his role as chair.
- 2:02Speaker 1: Les and Abigail have been great supporters of the university
- 2:05Speaker 1: for many years, and we appreciate his ongoing service on
- 2:09Speaker 1: the committee, Johnson said in a statement. So it's basically
- 2:13Speaker 1: the same thing they did over at Apollo, right? Oh, well,
- 2:16Speaker 1: Leon Black's going to step down, and he's no longer
- 2:19Speaker 1: part of, you know, the voting board, but he'll still
- 2:23Speaker 1: be around. Why don't you just cut ties completely? Now,
- 2:27Speaker 1: I understand that Les Wexner is a golden goose for them,
- 2:30Speaker 1: and I get it, right? I understand. But you mean
- 2:34Speaker 1: to tell me there's no other rich people that are
- 2:36Speaker 1: alumni from Ohio State that want to help the university,
- 2:39Speaker 1: that want to donate? I have a hard time believing that.
- 2:45Speaker 1: A spokesperson for Wexner declined to comment. Robert Schottenstein will
- 2:50Speaker 1: likely replace Wexner's place as chair, according to a resolution
- 2:54Speaker 1: set to be approved at the September 1st meeting. New
- 2:57Speaker 1: board chairs always refresh the committee structure and appointments, Johnson
- 3:01Speaker 1: said in the statement. In other words, we're going to
- 3:04Speaker 1: try and get rid of the people that Wexner has around.
- 3:07Speaker 1: It's like the saying, a new broom sweeps clean. So
- 3:10Speaker 1: you get a new manager, you get new management. A
- 3:13Speaker 1: lot of times there's a lot of changes for the company, right?
- 3:17Speaker 1: Or in this case, for the board. And I think
- 3:20Speaker 1: that's going to be very much apparent here. Not sweeping changes, right?
- 3:25Speaker 1: but you get a new guy in here, he's going
- 3:26Speaker 1: to want some of his people around him. Schottenstein is
- 3:31Speaker 1: the chief executive officer and president of Columbus-based MI Homes Incorporated.
- 3:36Speaker 1: He was a trustee of Ohio State University from 2005
- 3:40Speaker 1: to 2014 and served as a chairman of the board
- 3:44Speaker 1: from 2012 to 2014. So somebody that is very familiar
- 3:49Speaker 1: with how things work and somebody that is already ensconced
- 3:54Speaker 1: within the university. Now, I don't know much about Mr. Schottenstein,
- 3:58Speaker 1: so I can't really comment further than that, but anybody
- 4:03Speaker 1: is better than Les Wexner. Schottenstein did not respond to
- 4:06Speaker 1: a request for comment by the Ohio Capital Journal, and
- 4:10Speaker 1: I don't think he will. What's the point? I think
- 4:13Speaker 1: he'll wait until he is elevated, and then from there,
- 4:16Speaker 1: you'll get a statement from him. Wexner, the billionaire founder
- 4:20Speaker 1: of L Brands, who lives in New Albany, was deposed
- 4:23Speaker 1: by members of Congress in February about his relationship with Epstein.
- 4:28Speaker 1: Wexner was listed as an alleged co-conspirator of Epstein in
- 4:32Speaker 1: a 2019 FBI document, the same document listing Wexner as
- 4:36Speaker 1: a co-conspirator says there is limited evidence of his involvement.
- 4:40Speaker 1: Oh yeah, limited evidence, is it? Maybe, just maybe, you
- 4:43Speaker 1: should have listened to Virginia, who credibly accused Les Wexner
- 4:48Speaker 1: of taking part in the abuse. But I guess we'll
- 4:51Speaker 1: just forget about that, right? and all those weak-ass Republicans
- 4:54Speaker 1: who didn't even bother to go talk to him? How
- 4:58Speaker 1: embarrassing you people are. You would think that if you
- 5:02Speaker 1: want to get to the bottom of what Epstein was
- 5:03Speaker 1: up to, Bless Wexner would have been one of the
- 5:06Speaker 1: first people that you want to talk to. But I
- 5:08Speaker 1: guess not. U.S. House Democrats accused Wexner of facilitating Epstein's
- 5:14Speaker 1: alleged sex trafficking ring. Wexner has denied any wrongdoing. Epstein,
- 5:20Speaker 1: who died by suicide, allegedly, In a New York jail
- 5:24Speaker 1: in 2019, after being arrested on federal sex trafficking charges,
- 5:28Speaker 1: was Wexner's personal financial advisor from 1997 to 2007, during
- 5:34Speaker 1: which time Epstein reportedly misappropriated millions of dollars. I don't
- 5:38Speaker 1: believe that. I think that was their baked-in scheme in
- 5:41Speaker 1: case Epstein was ever caught. This is how we'll cut ties.
- 5:45Speaker 1: This is how I'll protect you. This is how you'll
- 5:47Speaker 1: protect yourself. That kind of deal. Wexner graduated from Ohio
- 5:52Speaker 1: State in 1959, went on to found L Brands in 63,
- 5:56Speaker 1: which created Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, and Abercrombie
- 6:00Speaker 1: & Fitch. Schottenstein previously served as a member of the
- 6:04Speaker 1: board of L Brands. Yo, when I was growing up,
- 6:09Speaker 1: Abercrombie & Fitch was like all the rage. And they
- 6:12Speaker 1: were selling like cut up ass holy jeans for like
- 6:16Speaker 1: a hundred bucks. And we're talking about, you know, the
- 6:18Speaker 1: late 90s, 2000s here. And even during the time, I
- 6:21Speaker 1: had no idea what the draw was when it comes
- 6:25Speaker 1: to Abercrombie & Fitch. I'll stick with a pair of Levi's.
- 6:30Speaker 1: Less than his wife, Abigail Wexner, and the Limited Brand
- 6:32Speaker 1: Foundation have given, raised, or pledged more than $ 200 million,
- 6:36Speaker 1: Johnson said. Ohio State University has received 500 requests to
- 6:41Speaker 1: remove Wexner's name from university buildings, which remain under consideration,
- 6:45Speaker 1: Johnson said. I doubt that's going to happen, but it should.
- 6:50Speaker 1: Les Wexner should not have his name on any of
- 6:52Speaker 1: these buildings, in my opinion. The name requests are not
- 6:57Speaker 1: related to Wexner stepping down his chair, Johnson said. In
- 7:01Speaker 1: addition to the Wexner Medical Center, Wexner's name is on
- 7:04Speaker 1: two other buildings at Ohio State. The Wexner Center for
- 7:07Speaker 1: the Arts is named after Les' late father, Harry Wexner.
- 7:12Speaker 1: Wexner's name is on the Les Wexner Football Complex at
- 7:15Speaker 1: the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. All right, so there's the
- 7:19Speaker 1: latest update on Les Wexner and him stepping down. Now
- 7:23Speaker 1: on to the second article, and this one is from TMZ.
- 7:28Speaker 1: The headline, New York Department of Health reviewing doctors linked
- 7:32Speaker 1: to the pedo. This article was authored by TMZ staff.
- 7:37Speaker 1: The New York State Department of Health says it's taking
- 7:40Speaker 1: a closer look at allegations involving doctors connected to Jeffrey Epstein,
- 7:45Speaker 1: telling us the claims raised in recent media reports are
- 7:48Speaker 1: deeply troubling and warrant review. So we're talking about people
- 7:52Speaker 1: like Eva Dubin. We're talking about people like Henry Jurecki.
- 7:57Speaker 1: We're talking about the dentists and all the other doctors
- 8:00Speaker 1: that were involved when it comes to all those clandestine
- 8:03Speaker 1: meetings that were happening between Epstein survivors and these doctors. Remember,
- 8:08Speaker 1: they weren't sending them to the emergency room. They would
- 8:12Speaker 1: have them go see people like Eva Anderson Dubin, and
- 8:14Speaker 1: then she'd hook them up one way or the other,
- 8:16Speaker 1: whatever that might be. But now that's all under review,
- 8:20Speaker 1: and it should be. I mean, how many of those
- 8:23Speaker 1: girls were being abused and signs of abuse were ignored
- 8:26Speaker 1: by the doctors that were treating them? Now flip the script,
- 8:30Speaker 1: and if they went to the emergency room or a
- 8:33Speaker 1: regular doctor, well, Epstein wouldn't be protected, would he? A
- 8:39Speaker 1: spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health tells
- 8:42Speaker 1: TMZ that the agency cannot discuss details. of ongoing investigations,
- 8:46Speaker 1: but says officials are taking the allegations seriously, and they
- 8:49Speaker 1: should be. Again, this is something that needs to be
- 8:53Speaker 1: looked into. Who was helping Epstein? Who helped promote the abuse?
- 8:57Speaker 1: Who helped enable it? And who helped hide it? Because
- 9:00Speaker 1: he couldn't do it all on his own. So obviously
- 9:03Speaker 1: there was a lot of other people involved. The question is,
- 9:06Speaker 1: who are they? And if they're going to be held accountable?
- 9:11Speaker 1: The spokesperson added that the department condemns any abuse by
- 9:14Speaker 1: medical staff and any abuse of a physician's role that
- 9:18Speaker 1: undermines patient trust and safety, including predatory or unlawful behavior.
- 9:24Speaker 1: The department declined to provide additional comment citing the sensitive
- 9:28Speaker 1: nature of the matter. The spokesperson added, We extend our
- 9:32Speaker 1: support to all victims and survivors of medical misconduct, physical
- 9:36Speaker 1: or sexual abuse. and encouraged any patient who believes they
- 9:41Speaker 1: may be the victim of professional medical misconduct to file
- 9:44Speaker 1: a complaint. And that's where it all starts, but a
- 9:47Speaker 1: lot of these women, they're scared to do that. They
- 9:50Speaker 1: don't want the blowback, and they don't want the criticism
- 9:54Speaker 1: that comes with it. The department statement comes amid renewed
- 9:57Speaker 1: scrutiny of Epstein's relationship with members of the medical community
- 10:01Speaker 1: after the Department of Justice released their names in the
- 10:04Speaker 1: Epstein files. A New York Times investigation identified the various
- 10:08Speaker 1: physicians linked to Epstein, but the NYSDH did not have
- 10:13Speaker 1: any comment on specific names with respect to its investigation.
- 10:17Speaker 1: And they're not going to give that away. the investigation's ongoing.
- 10:21Speaker 1: And if we get an indictment, then obviously that'll change.
- 10:26Speaker 1: But as of now, I don't see them giving us
- 10:29Speaker 1: any information about what they're working on. For now, the
- 10:33Speaker 1: New York State Department of Health says it will have
- 10:36Speaker 1: no further comment on the matter as the investigations remain ongoing. Alright,
- 10:42Speaker 1: so there's where we stand with Les Wexner and this
- 10:45Speaker 1: new investigation, or alleged investigation, into medical professionals in New York.
- 10:52Speaker 1: And I have a funny feeling that when it comes
- 10:54Speaker 1: to both of these topics, there's plenty more to come.
- 10:58Speaker 1: And as always, we'll be swimming through all that muck
- 11:01Speaker 1: looking for some clarity. All the information that goes with
- 11:05Speaker 1: this episode can be found in the description box.