Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / How Power, Loyalty, and Donations Became Les Wexner’s Shield Against Epstein Allegations

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How Power, Loyalty, and Donations Became Les Wexner’s Shield Against Epstein Allegations · The Epstein Chronicles

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
0:03
Epstein Chronicles. Let's be clear right out of the gate,
0:07
Les Wexner and Jeffrey Epstein, we're not casual acquaintances who
0:11
cross paths at a charity dinner and then drifted apart.
0:15
We're not talking about a loose social overlap. This was
0:18
a deep, sustained, financially entangled relationship that fundamentally reshaped Wexner's
0:24
personal and corporate universe. And anyone still pretending that's not
0:28
a big deal is either wilfully ignorant or actively lying less.
0:33
Wexner handed Epstein unprecedented control over his money, his legal affairs,
0:37
his charities, his real estate, and his personal life, not
0:42
to a hedge funge manager, not a regulated financial institution,
0:46
but instead entrusted all of that to a man with
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no meaningful credentials, no transparent client list, and no legitimate
0:53
track record, who somehow became the sole gatekeeper to the
0:56
fortune of one of the most powerful retail magnates America.
1:00
And yet we're told by defenders, apologists, and the ever
1:04
useful class of institutional yes men that Wexner was merely fooled,
1:09
that he was taken advantage of that Epstein was just
1:12
a con man who slipped past everyone's defenses. Well, that
1:17
line collapses under even the most minimal amount of scrutiny.
1:21
We're not talking about a short term grift. This wasn't
1:24
a forged document or a hidden clause. This was years
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of access, years of power, years of proximity, years of
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Epstein operating as a de facto shadow principle inside Wexner's
1:36
financial and personal empire. Ask yourself this, How does someone
1:40
become the largest private property holder in Manhattan without scrutiny
1:44
from the person funding it? How does someone move tens
1:47
of millions, acquire planes, mansions, and influence while claiming to
1:51
work for one primary patron without that patron noticing where
1:55
the money, leverage, and power are actually going. The idea
2:00
that Wexner didn't know anything is not just implausible, it's
2:04
insulting to the intelligence of anyone who understands how wealth
2:07
control and governance actually function at that level. And then
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there is the silence, the carefully worded statements, the refusal
2:17
to fully open records, the insistence that everything relevant has
2:21
already been disclosed despite obvious gaps, contradictions, and unanswered questions.
2:28
If there is truly nothing to answer for, then transparency
2:31
should be effortless. Instead, what we see is containment, distance,
2:36
legal insulation, a narrative crafted to minimize exposure rather than
2:42
confront reality. And to me, the most offensive part isn't
2:45
even the relationship itself. It's the ongoing insistence that scrutiny
2:50
is unfair, that asking hard questions is somehow unreasonable, that
2:56
one of the most powerful businessmen in America should be
2:58
treated as a pass a victim in a saga that
3:01
depended on money, access, and elite protection to exist at all.
3:06
Epstein didn't operate in a vacuum. He didn't conjure legitimacy
3:09
at a thin air. He borrowed it from powerful people
3:13
who open doors, vouch for him, and empowered them. So no,
3:17
this wasn't no big deal, And no, Les Wexner doesn't
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get to SKay by on selective ignorance and curated statements.
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Power carries responsibility, Proximity carries accountability, or at least it should.
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Today's article is from WOSU dot Org and the headline
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former OSU President Ghee defends Les Wexner amid probe into
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billionaire's ties to Epstein. This article was authored by George Shilcock.
3:51
Damn you know George had a rough time of it
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in school, right a name like Shilcock. Former Ohio State
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President E. Gordon Ghee says the effort to remove Ohio
4:03
billionaire Less Wexner's name from university buildings is cancel culture. No,
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this is not cancel culture. What this is is your
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chickens coming home to roost. For all these years, you
4:15
were able to swim above scrutiny. For all these years
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you were shielded by your power, your money, and your connections.
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Well that shield has finally been pierced, and people don't
4:25
want to hear it anymore. People want to know why
4:28
you were so deeply entangled with Jeffrey Epstein. People want
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to know why you're head of security. According to Maria
4:36
Farmer held her hostage, people want to know why the
4:39
Wexners don't give a shit about Epstein's survivors. And people
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also want to know why a man like Les Wexner,
4:47
who was credibly accused by Virginia Roberts, was never investigated.
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Gee went to bat for Wexner, who he calls a
4:58
friend and wonderful flaanthropist. Gee's time as president overlap with
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Wexner's time as chair of the OSU Board of Trustees.
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So this guy has his name littered all over the campus. Right. Meanwhile,
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there's a gigantic scandal going on at Ohio State because
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one of the doctors there, doctor Strauss, abused a bunch
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of wrestlers. So that whole entire situation is brewing. And
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at the same time you have the Epstein touch with Wexner.
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Maybe it's time for Ohio State to change its name
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to Diddler State. I mean, you would think that you'd
5:34
want to cut all ties with somebody like Les Wexner,
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you'd want to pull his name off all these buildings.
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But it's always about money over people, right, And Les Wexner,
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if he has anything, he has money. Gee spoke about
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osugh's biggest donor and Ohio's richest man on all sides
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with Amy Yurevich Wednesday morning. Gee is now a consultant
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for current Ohio State President Ted Carter at the university's
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new Senate Pha Center for Civics, Culture, and Society. So
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this dude's an assistant, he's a consultant. Really, this is
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the guy you want steering the conversation. Probably not a
6:15
great idea. If he thinks this highly of Les Wexner,
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he's probably somebody that thinks highly of mister Strauss too,
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and probably thinks pretty highly of Jeffrey Epstein, and that
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the whole story is overblown because there's a lot of
6:28
people out there who feel that way, and the vast
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majority of people that feel that way are people that
6:33
have something to hide or someone to protect. Because anybody
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who's decent and normal takes one look at this and says,
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everybody involved needs to be investigated. Doesn't matter how much
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money you have, doesn't matter who your friends are, none
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of that should matter. Everybody should be investigated who has
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been credibly accused. Wexner is being called before Congress in
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February to testify about his close relationship with convicted sex
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offender jeff for Epstein. Gee said he thinks Wexner had
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no idea about what Epstein was doing. Well, how would
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you know? Were you unless Wexner hanging out together? Were
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you on the plane, were you flying around with Jeffrey
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and with less? Were you in on those board meetings
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like a lot of the other executives who quit were
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did you have the inside scoop on what was going on?
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Orre you just running your fat ass yap to run
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your fat ass yap. I'm gonna go with you just
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running your fat ass yap. Gee made the comments after
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being asked about an effort to remove Wexner's name from
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the Woody Hayes Athletics Center's football complex. The university denied
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a request to remove Wesner's name on the basis that
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there was a lack of information for the naming committee
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to review. Translation, we're not removing his name. We want
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his money. We don't care what happened to those girls,
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and we don't care what happened to our students. That's
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what they're I'm telling you. They're just doing it with
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a smile, right. The request, made by survivors of sexual
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abuse at the hands of former OSU team doctor Richard
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Strauss decades ago, contained accusations of misconduct related to Strauss
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and not Wesner. Well, it's all in the same gang, right,
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I mean, Strauss was actually doing the abusing Wexner, according
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to Virginia, abused her and we all know that he
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was funding Jeffrey Epstein for years. So if you want
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to talk about a co conspirator, you want to talk
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about somebody that was involved, then no, doubt less Wexner.
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I mean, if this was the mafia, bro would have
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already been arrested. Imagine if he was the moneyman for
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John Gottie. Do you think that mister Gee would be
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making these comments. Furthermore, do you think he wouldn't be
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in a cell, because he most certainly would be. I
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have seen people thrown into jail cells for a lot less,
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people that got hit with RICO for wire fraud, for
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illegal sports betting, you know, stuff that obviously is illegal
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and people should pay a penalty for it. I'm not
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saying that people should be above the law. The law
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is what it is. But I think that the law
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should be applied equally. So that means if people that
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we know go to prison for things like I was
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just talking about, then people like Jeffrey Epstein and his
9:26
friends should certainly go to prison for abusing people. This
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is cancel culture gone wild. If you believe that there
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was even some scintilla of an issue. Sometimes people just
9:37
want to go right to defcon too. That's silly, Gee said, well,
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mister gee, why don't you listen to what Maria Farmer said?
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Why don't you listen to what Virginia said? And then
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you tell me if it's cancel culture or not, because
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in my opinion, it's not cancel culture. It's consequence culture.
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There's a big difference. And the fact that your a buddy,
9:59
Les Wexner has and running from this for all these
10:01
years is just another tell that he has something to hide.
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He's never come forward, he's never sat down with anybody,
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he's never offered his sympathy to the women that were abused.
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Just another person that's trying to position himself as some
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kind of victim. Well, that shit's not gonna fly here
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on this podcast, Wexner and Ghee also faced the threat
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of subpoenas to testify in the ongoing lawsuit against Ohio
10:28
State by Strauss abuse survivors. Ohio State intervened, arguing that
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Wexner shouldn't have to testify. Of course not. Let's protect
10:36
our buddy. It's always about protecting our donors, protecting who's
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paying the bills, right, whether it's our politicians or our universities,
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it's always the same story. Strauss time at Ohio State,
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where he's alleged to have sexually assaulted dozens of students,
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overlap with Gee's time as president and Wexner's time as
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the chair of the US University's board of Trustees. When
11:03
asked by Yurovich, Gee declined to comment on the Strauss case.
11:07
This is a legal matter of which I'm not free
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to talk about, so I will just not answer that question,
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Gee said. Only four months ago, Gee spoke to Woshugh
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frankly confirming he expected to be deposed in the case.
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Gee said in September he can't remember much of anything
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from that time. Oh, of course, not amnesia. Baby. We
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all got it right, especially if it has to do
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with you sitting on the stand and answering a subpoena.
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Gee told Yurevich on Wednesday, he is known for not
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holding his tongue on controversial issues. I'm well known for
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getting ahead of my skis. I'm well known for having
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the quip. I'm the only guy who's ever been featured
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for some of the stupid things I've said on the
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front page of the New York Times, Gee said. And
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that's what you brag about, the fact that you're a
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blowhard the fact that you're a moron, ok, I guess.
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Steve snyder Hill, one of Straus's survivors suing the university,
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criticized Gee's cancel culture comment using an expletive. Snyder Hill said,
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the group just wants Wexner to say under oath that
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he had no knowledge about strauss criminal actions. We're not
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trying to cancel less Wexner from anything. Unfortunately for mister
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Wexner right now, he's under a lot of scrutiny with
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the US government, Snyder Hill said. He questioned why it's
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such a big ask for Ohio State, Wexner and Ghee
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to testify in the case. Yurevich asked Gee whether Wexner
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really didn't know Epstein or what Epstein did. I think
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that mister Wexner made it very clear. But you know,
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people are going to get their own scenarios going on
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and whatever they want to. I think people are getting
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too much exercise jumping to conclusions rather than really being
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fact based on any of these kinds of things. Gee said,
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says the guy that doesn't use facts when he's talking
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about his buddy, it's always somebody else who's missing the
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bigger picture. Right, it's always you. You're too stupid to
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really understand somebody like Les Wexner. No, we're just too normal.
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He's a degenerate and another sick bastard. That's right, I
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said it. I think he's a degenerate. And I also
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believe that he abused Virginia. I believe that. And as
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far as Maria's story of him and his security holding
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her hostage, I believe that too. Gee said that he
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texted Wexner before he made his trip to Columbus in
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hopes a meeting up. He said. Wexner is currently in Florida.
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Wexner faces a congressional subpoena to be deposed about his
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relationship to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The billionaire who
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was rarely seen in public, is scheduled to be on
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Capitol Hill on February eighteenth. Oh, I have my doubts
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about that. Guys like Wexner always find a way to
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wiggle off the hook. So is Wexner gonna end up
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getting deposed? I hope so he should. But Willie, well,
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that's the question, all right, folks, that's going to do
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it for this one. All of the information that goes
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with this episode can be found in the description box.