Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Epstein Survivor Annie Farmer Calls on Ohio State to Remove Wexner’s Name (10/9/26)

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Epstein Survivor Annie Farmer Calls on Ohio State to Remove Wexner’s Name (10/9/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

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  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. When it comes to people that enable Jeffrey Epstein,
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  Speaker 1: one of the people that's certainly at the top of
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  Speaker 1: the list, in my opinion, is Les Wexner. And the
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  Speaker 1: fact that this man's name is pasted all over the
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  Speaker 1: campus of Ohio State University is a travesty. Now, of course,
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  Speaker 1: they'll tell you that Les Wexner has never been convicted
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  Speaker 1: of any kind of crime. But that's only part of
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  Speaker 1: the story, isn't it? And the reason that he was
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  Speaker 1: never convicted is because he was never even investigated. So
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  Speaker 1: how the hell can you be guilty of something if
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  Speaker 1: you've never been investigated? And with all of the allegations
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  Speaker 1: that we've seen fired towards Les Wexner and the credible allegations,
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  Speaker 1: mind you, I would think that that would be enough
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  Speaker 1: to at least initiate an investigation. I'm certainly not calling
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  Speaker 1: for anybody to be, you know, tart and feathered. I'm
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  Speaker 1: calling for due process. I'm calling for the system to
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  Speaker 1: do what the system says it should do. And of course,
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to people like Les Wexner, there's a
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  Speaker 1: whole different set of rules. So today, we have an
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  Speaker 1: article from NBC News and the headline, Epstein survivor Annie
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  Speaker 1: Farmer supports the drive to remove Leslie Wexner's name from
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  Speaker 1: the OSU campus. This article was authored by Corky Simasco.
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  Speaker 1: The former Ohio State University students who sued the school,
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  Speaker 1: alleging that it failed to protect them from being sexually
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  Speaker 1: abused by a campus doctor, got a shout-out of support
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  Speaker 1: Thursday from one of the first women to blow the
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  Speaker 1: whistle on Jeffrey Epstein. Annie Farmer, who says both she
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  Speaker 1: and her sister were among the hundreds of women victimized
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  Speaker 1: by the now-dead financier pedophile, said she supports their push
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  Speaker 1: to have the name of Leslie Wexner, the Ohio billionaire
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  Speaker 1: who once bankrolled Epstein, Removed from campus buildings. Well, she's
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  Speaker 1: certainly not alone. That man's name shouldn't be on any
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  Speaker 1: of these buildings. But we are talking about the Ohio
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  Speaker 1: State University, aren't we? Not exactly a place that gives
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  Speaker 1: a shit. Just ask the wrestlers. Farmer also criticized OSU
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  Speaker 1: leaders for waging a prolonged legal battle settled in June
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  Speaker 1: with hundreds of men who said the university did nothing
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  Speaker 1: to stop Dr. Richard Strauss from sexually assaulting them decades ago,
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  Speaker 1: often under the guise of doing physicals. And if you
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  Speaker 1: haven't watched that documentary yet about what went on at
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State University, I suggest you do. What an absolute shitshow.
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  Speaker 1: And this doctor would bring these dudes in and he'd
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  Speaker 1: say that he's giving them physicals, right? But then he'd
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  Speaker 1: insert his finger in places he shouldn't be inserting his finger,
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  Speaker 1: you know, etc., etc. And we're talking about some of
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  Speaker 1: the most manly men you could possibly imagine. And they
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  Speaker 1: didn't even realize that they were being assaulted at the time, really.
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  Speaker 1: They thought it was, you know, a doctor doing what
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  Speaker 1: a doctor does. Only to come to find out, oh boy,
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  Speaker 1: he's diddling people like he's fucking Larry Nassar. The Strauss
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  Speaker 1: survivors have noted repeatedly that that Wexner served on the
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  Speaker 1: OSU Board of Trustees during the time period that the
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  Speaker 1: campus doctor preyed on them. Well, fellow travelers and all, right?
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  Speaker 1: Perfect place for a guy like Les Wexner, considering who
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  Speaker 1: his best friend was. Hundreds of students and alumni have
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  Speaker 1: made it clear that they do not want Wexner's name
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  Speaker 1: on the building, including many of the brave athletes who
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  Speaker 1: are survivors of Richard Strauss, Farmer said in an email
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  Speaker 1: response to questions from NBC News. If you're an OSU student,
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  Speaker 1: who has been a victim of sexual assault, you're currently
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  Speaker 1: directed to go to the Wexner Medical Center for an exam.
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  Speaker 1: That is highly problematic. Well, I would say so. Somebody
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  Speaker 1: that's been assaulted has to go to a place with
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  Speaker 1: Wexner's name on it, especially in this current environment where
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  Speaker 1: everybody knows what Wexner is and was and who he
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  Speaker 1: was with? That seems a bit cruel, no? Farmer was
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  Speaker 1: in Columbus with the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein
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  Speaker 1: Memorial Reading Room a traveling public art installation that includes
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  Speaker 1: three and a half million pages of partially redacted Department
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  Speaker 1: of Justice documents related to Epstein. And I think that
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  Speaker 1: reading room's a great idea, honestly. Get it out there,
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  Speaker 1: let people see it. And we have to remember that
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  Speaker 1: not everybody's online all the time. So I think that
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  Speaker 1: it's a good idea, right? And unfortunately, as far as
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  Speaker 1: this goes as being politicized, that cat's out of the bag.
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  Speaker 1: And the second that Donald Trump called it a hoax,
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  Speaker 1: that kind of initiated everything, right? And people started falling
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  Speaker 1: into their camps. So I think having this physical reading
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  Speaker 1: room is a good option for people if they want
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  Speaker 1: to just see how vast this library really is. It's
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  Speaker 1: one thing to look at it online, right? It's another
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  Speaker 1: thing to physically take a look and be in the
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  Speaker 1: presence of that many documents. Three and a half million pages.
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  Speaker 1: Think about how many documents that is. A spokesperson for
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  Speaker 1: Wexner declined to comment. Meanwhile, OSU spokesperson Benjamin Johnson did
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  Speaker 1: not directly respond to Farmer's remarks, but said the university
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  Speaker 1: has an established process for considering renaming requests. Oh, please.
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  Speaker 1: You're not going to reconsider anything. Because Les Wexner is
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  Speaker 1: butter in the bread. Like he always has. And that's
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  Speaker 1: what it comes down to. Money. They don't care about people.
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  Speaker 1: They care about money. And that goes doubly... for the
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State University. I mean, look at the way they
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  Speaker 1: run their football program. We've received requests related to Les Wexner,
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  Speaker 1: and they remain under review, Johnson said in an email.
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  Speaker 1: The billionaire's name is on the Les Wexner football complex,
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  Speaker 1: the Wexner Center for the Arts, and the Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: University Wexner Medical Center. Like, come on, man. With all
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  Speaker 1: of the stuff that people know about Wexner. With all
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  Speaker 1: of the allegations. With all of the nonsense. How is
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  Speaker 1: it a good idea to keep his name on those buildings?
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  Speaker 1: And if he really cared about the university, and about
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  Speaker 1: helping people, he wouldn't be mad if they took his
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  Speaker 1: name off. Imagine being accused of this shit, and then
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  Speaker 1: thrown a fit when people don't want to associate with you.
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  Speaker 1: I don't care how much money you gave me. Farmer
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  Speaker 1: told investigators that she was 16 years old in 96
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  Speaker 1: when Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, invited her to
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  Speaker 1: Epstein's New Mexico ranch under the pretense of helping her
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  Speaker 1: with her education. But when she got there, Farmer said
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  Speaker 1: they sexually assaulted her. Her testimony helped convict Maxwell in
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  Speaker 1: 2021 of sex trafficking and other charges. Maxwell is currently
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  Speaker 1: serving a 20-year prison sentence. Epstein, who was charged in
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  Speaker 1: 2019 with sex trafficking of minors, died in a New
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  Speaker 1: York City jail while awaiting trial, and his death was
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  Speaker 1: ruled a suicide. Well, I think there's some questions about that,
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  Speaker 1: aren't there? And I think that the report that's being
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  Speaker 1: put out by Dr. Freeman is going to be a
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  Speaker 1: game changer, just like Annie Farmer's testimony was a game
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  Speaker 1: changer when it comes to convicting Ghislaine Maxwell. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: remember the story we heard from Annie? Remember how disgusting
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  Speaker 1: and disturbing that was? And then Ghislaine Maxwell had the
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  Speaker 1: audacity to try to act like she didn't even know
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  Speaker 1: who Annie was. The problem for Maxwell is that she's
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  Speaker 1: a liar. That's the big problem. And then they tried
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  Speaker 1: to refute what Maria was saying about, you know, New Mexico, etc.
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  Speaker 1: Only to have that art student come out and corroborate
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  Speaker 1: Maria's whole story. So Ghislaine Maxwell... I know this is
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  Speaker 1: breaking news, is not exactly a truthful person. Epstein was
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  Speaker 1: charged in 2019 with sex trafficking of minors, died in
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  Speaker 1: a New York City jail while awaiting trial, and his
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  Speaker 1: death was ruled a suicide. President Donald Trump, who was
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  Speaker 1: once a close friend of Epstein, has never been accused
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  Speaker 1: by authorities of any wrongdoing connected to Epstein. He had
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  Speaker 1: also denied any wrongdoing. Farmer said there are parallels between
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  Speaker 1: what happened to the hundreds of women Epstein groomed and
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  Speaker 1: preyed on and what happened to the young men Strauss
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  Speaker 1: targeted when he worked at OSU from 78 through 1998.
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  Speaker 1: Strauss killed himself in 2005. Ah, just another guy that's
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  Speaker 1: super innocent that decides to check out, huh? Okay, I guess.
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  Speaker 1: You see, the difference between Strauss, though, and Epstein is
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  Speaker 1: that Epstein, he had the resources to fight the charges
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  Speaker 1: against him. A guy like Strauss certainly doesn't have the
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  Speaker 1: kind of bankroll that Jeffrey Epstein did, and he knew
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  Speaker 1: he was cooked. And when you know you're cooked, might
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  Speaker 1: as well get on with it. Both illustrate the tremendous
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  Speaker 1: harm that predators can cause when they're surrounded by a
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  Speaker 1: network of enablers who look the other way because it's
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  Speaker 1: uncomfortable or inconvenient to acknowledge their crimes, Farmer said. And
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  Speaker 1: that's what it comes down to with a lot of
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  Speaker 1: these cases. People look the other way for whatever reason.
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  Speaker 1: whether they're benefiting from it, or whether they're scared, or
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  Speaker 1: whether they're just pieces of shit, the end result's the same.
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  Speaker 1: People like Epstein continue to do what they're doing. Farmer
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  Speaker 1: noted that Strauss' abuse was exposed only because of the
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  Speaker 1: bravery of whistleblowers like Stephen Snyder Hill and Michael DiSabato. DiSabato,
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  Speaker 1: a former OSU wrestler, led the charge to hold the
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  Speaker 1: university accountable. Snyder Hill said, also a former OSU student
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  Speaker 1: and throughout survivor, emerged as an outspoken critic of his
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  Speaker 1: alma mater. my sister Maria Farmer has long been grateful
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  Speaker 1: by for the way this group of brave men has
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  Speaker 1: spoken out Farmer said and yeah Maria has definitely been
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  Speaker 1: a supporter of these wrestlers and I think it's you
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  Speaker 1: know difficult for some people to wrap their mind around
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  Speaker 1: the fact that these kind of dudes could be victims
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  Speaker 1: as well but it just goes to show you When
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  Speaker 1: you have somebody that can manipulate on the level Epstein can,
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  Speaker 1: it's not difficult to fall into his clutches. Back in 2020,
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  Speaker 1: a group of former OSU wrestlers formally asked Ohio Inspector
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  Speaker 1: General Randall Meyer to investigate allegations that Maria Farmer was
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  Speaker 1: assaulted in 1996 by Epstein at an Ohio property owned
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  Speaker 1: and secured by Wexner. Wexner, who said he cut ties
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  Speaker 1: with Epstein in 2007 after the first allegation surfaced that
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  Speaker 1: he was trafficking, in and sexually abusing young women, has
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  Speaker 1: denied knowing Maria Farmer and having any knowledge of her
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  Speaker 1: alleged assault. Wexner has denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I don't believe a minute of that. You didn't know
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  Speaker 1: who Maria is? Sure you didn't, buddy. Oh, I'm an
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  Speaker 1: old man. I don't remember so well. Meyer's office did
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  Speaker 1: not immediately respond to a request to find out if
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  Speaker 1: those allegations were ever investigated. A search of news databases
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  Speaker 1: uncovered no news articles indicating that his office looked in
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  Speaker 1: to the allegations. Well, that's because they didn't. Like everything else,
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  Speaker 1: it was ignored. DiSabato also led the drive to remove
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  Speaker 1: Wexner's name from the OSU campus buildings the Victoria's Secret
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  Speaker 1: founder helped fund. He did so while a group of
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  Speaker 1: 279 Strauss survivors was locked in a legal battle with
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  Speaker 1: the university. The former wrestler was one of 317 plaintiffs
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  Speaker 1: who had settled their lawsuit against OSU earlier. In June,
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  Speaker 1: OSU agreed to pay $ 100 million in damages to the
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  Speaker 1: 279 former students. Currently, a special master is in the
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  Speaker 1: process of determining how to divide the nine-figure settlement with
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  Speaker 1: these claimants. So we did nothing wrong, but here's $ 100 million.
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  Speaker 1: Does anyone buy that? Now look, I'm not going to
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  Speaker 1: sit here and tell you that they're admitting fault. That's
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  Speaker 1: not what they're doing. But as the general public, we
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  Speaker 1: all know what this means. And look, I wouldn't be
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  Speaker 1: shocked somewhere down the road if they end up having
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  Speaker 1: to pay out more money to Epstein survivors. So we'll
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  Speaker 1: have to see what goes down, right? But as far
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  Speaker 1: as Ohio State goes and the situation with Wexner, this
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  Speaker 1: is an ongoing situation. And there's going to be more
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  Speaker 1: conversations to come when it comes to Les Wexner and
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  Speaker 1: his name adorning all those buildings. All the information that
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  Speaker 1: goes with this episode can be found in the description box.