Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Lesley Groff And The Transcript From Her Epstein Related Trip to Congress (Part 6) (7/5/26)
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 the Leslie Groff transcripts from
- 0:09her interview with Congress. Question, you talked a little bit
- 0:15about your role and responsibilities and also about the people
- 0:18that you work with. Can you say some more about
- 0:21the other assistants that mister Epstein had and your relationship
- 0:24to them? Answer? Sure. In the office, there was an
- 0:27assistant to miss Maxwell, There was an assistant to the
- 0:29two attorneys. There was when I first started a traveling assistant.
- 0:33There was another assistant there. She was only there briefly.
- 0:37And we had a receptionist I replaced redacted. She was
- 0:40mister Epstein's assistant and then I replaced her, so then
- 0:43I became the receptionist. Question did you at any point
- 0:47manage any of those assistants? Answer no question? So you
- 0:50never had your own team of assistants? Answer no question?
- 0:54And how did you fit in with a larger operation,
- 0:56so you mentioned earlier Darren Endick. Also there was Richard Kahn.
- 1:00Would they have ever asked you to do anything? Would
- 1:03Maxwell have ever asked you to do anything? Or did
- 1:05you only respond to mister Epstein. Answer it was mister Epstein,
- 1:09purely question, what might a typical day look like? Answer sure,
- 1:14I would get in, try to get in by at
- 1:16least day fifty five, because he was definitely calling me
- 1:18at nine am sharp. He would call me and give
- 1:21me twenty to ten to twenty pages of notes that
- 1:23he had to be thinking about all night, all throughout
- 1:26the night. In the morning and he'd call me with
- 1:28all of his directives of the people that he wanted
- 1:31to see that day. The call list was always huge.
- 1:34He would direct me to coordinate with his house staff.
- 1:36If he was going to be, say leaving that day
- 1:38or the next day for Palm Beach, he would want
- 1:41to make sure that the Palm Beach staff was going
- 1:43to be ready to go and ready for his visit.
- 1:46I would have to coordinate with the pilots, and he'd
- 1:48give me it's possible. He gave me directives for people
- 1:51in the office as well, to communicate. He would It
- 1:54was just it was crazy. It was very, very busy
- 1:57because at the same time that he was giving me
- 1:59all his directives, people were also calling in for him
- 2:03as well. I had the two phones on my desk,
- 2:05and it was just NonStop. So I would take messages
- 2:08from people who are calling in for him, as well
- 2:11as giving me directives. Question when you say that he
- 2:15would have directives for people in the office to communicate,
- 2:18what do you mean? Answer it would be like tell
- 2:21Darren to be sure and call so and so today,
- 2:24Like I was just the go between to tell Darren
- 2:26so that he didn't have to call Darren himself, that
- 2:29type of thing. Question got it. You talked a little
- 2:33bit about this earlier. But how would mister Epstein typically
- 2:37communicate with you? Answer? It was first all telephone, all telephone.
- 2:41I don't even think he had a cell phone. He
- 2:43definitely didn't have email, so there was a lot. That's
- 2:46why he called me so often to find out his
- 2:49messages and find out about his schedule and give me
- 2:51more things to do. It was very typical for him
- 2:54to book things and then reschedule and then book again.
- 2:57It was chaotic. At what point did he start emailing you,
- 3:02because he clearly did email you eventually answer, yeah, he
- 3:05clearly did. I would say it was more around twenty
- 3:08eleven ten eleven about then. Question, Okay, so before twenty eleven,
- 3:13twenty twelve, He mostly called you correct answer correct yes question.
- 3:18Did he also text you answer? No, we were not texters.
- 3:22Question okay, mister redacted, And just to go back quickly,
- 3:27you listed out who worked in the office, and you
- 3:29mentioned Maxwell's assistant. You mentioned redacted. Can you give us
- 3:33the names of those individuals please? Who was Maxwell's assistant Groff?
- 3:37When I first started, it was redacted, and then it
- 3:40was redacted, mister adacted. Was there anyone else in that
- 3:43office that you recall? Ms? Groff? Yeah, there were two attorneys,
- 3:47Darren Endyke and Jeff Schantz. There was an accountant, Eric Ganny,
- 3:52and he was there when I first started, and then
- 3:54it changed to Richard Kahn. There was redacted who I
- 3:58thought was the assistant to the accountant, the keeper. Then
- 4:00there was Henry Henry Beller, who I thought was the trader,
- 4:04did his trades, that sort of thing. And then after
- 4:07a while it was a Madhna who was the controller.
- 4:10Mister redacted, Thank you, misredacted. Question what kind of hours
- 4:15did you work? Answer? At first it was nine to five.
- 4:18It was typical, and then after I had my son,
- 4:21it changed. I was given a very flexible schedule. I
- 4:26would work usually two or three days a week in
- 4:28the office only when he was in town, and I
- 4:31job shared with redacted. She would sit in for me
- 4:34when I was not there, and I got to work
- 4:36from home when he was not around. Question and you
- 4:39had your son in two thousand and four two thousand
- 4:41and five. Answer two thousand and four December sixteenth, two
- 4:45thousand and four, so right on the cusp of two
- 4:47thousand and five. Question so from two thousand and one
- 4:50to two thousand and four, you're working nine to five
- 4:52in the office. Answer I think I got pregnant and
- 4:56was really really pregnant. I got to work from home
- 4:59some as well. Question and once you have that flexible schedule,
- 5:02did you keep it or was there a point where
- 5:05you were in the office five days a week? Answer?
- 5:07I got to keep the flexible schedule, and I got
- 5:09to leave early as well. There was a train I
- 5:12was able to leave at four insteat of five on
- 5:14the days that I went in. Question did mister Epstein
- 5:18call or make requests of you outside of work hours? Answer?
- 5:22That happened later with the smartphones. Yeah, he had no filter.
- 5:25It became more like twenty four to seven holidays. Uh, huh.
- 5:29Question when did that start? Answer? I would say, I'm
- 5:33just trying to remember twenty eleven, twenty twelve, thirteen. I'm
- 5:36just trying to put it in perspective of where I
- 5:38was living. Yeah, around that time period. It progressed over time.
- 5:42Question sure, so fair to say starting in twenty eleven,
- 5:45twenty twelve, maybe twenty thirteen, you were working pretty long
- 5:50hours because mister Epstein might reach out to you at
- 5:52any point. Answer, yeah, it was not just typical hours. Question.
- 5:57I'd like to ask you a few questions about the
- 5:59offices that you worked in. You said earlier that when
- 6:03you started working for mister Epstein you worked at four
- 6:05fifty seven Madison Avenue. Is that correct? Answer? Correct question?
- 6:11And that was from two thousand and one to two
- 6:13thousand and nine. Correct answer, correct question. Can you tell
- 6:17us more about how that office was set up? Answer? Sure,
- 6:20So when you came into the courtyard of the Helmsley
- 6:22Palace on the left hand side what they called the
- 6:25Villard House. So you entered a door and there was
- 6:29a security guard there, and then a small elevator that
- 6:31took you up to go to I think it was
- 6:33the fourth floor, and that elevator dumped you right into
- 6:36the reception area of the office space. Then there was
- 6:39a receptionist desk, there there were two bathrooms. To the left,
- 6:43there was a large office that had the accountants and
- 6:46the trader and the controller. To the right was Darren
- 6:49in Dyke's office and kitchen. And then you headed down
- 6:52the corridor and there was a door on the right
- 6:54hand side that went into the office where miss Maxwell sat.
- 6:58Darren and Jeff's assistant redacted sat in there, and there
- 7:01were several desks. Question what about mister Epstein, where was he? Answer? Yes,
- 7:06So down that same corridor there was a door. Oh,
- 7:09there was first of all Jeff Shant's office, and then
- 7:12there was mister Epstein's office. Question and where were you
- 7:16in a relationship or excuse me, where were you in
- 7:18relation to mister Epstein? Answer right, So my office was
- 7:22next to his. You had to go down the long
- 7:24corridor and the door to my office was right of
- 7:27the whole office. And then my desk was in the middle.
- 7:30And he had a very very large office, and he
- 7:32had a door you could enter his office from the corridor,
- 7:35or there was a door next to the desk that
- 7:37you could enter into his office as well. Question, so
- 7:40you would have seen people coming in and out of
- 7:42his office. Answer, Actually, he kept his door closed to
- 7:45my office most of the time. If people came, they
- 7:48entered in that first door. To go into the office,
- 7:51he had to set up with a sofa and a
- 7:53fireplace at the front of the office, and then at
- 7:56the back of the office was his desk. Question when
- 8:01you left the offices at four fifty seven Madison, did
- 8:04you go next to three oh one East sixty six
- 8:07or was that Lexington office? Answer? It was three oh
- 8:10one East sixty six. Question? And how long were you there? Answer?
- 8:16I believe that was two three years? Okay? Question so
- 8:19two thousand and nine to twenty eleven or twelve. Answer,
- 8:24I think that's right, yeah, question okay. And then after
- 8:27that you went to the Lexington office answer correct? Question
- 8:31And how long were you there? Answer? That was from
- 8:34about twenty eleven to twenty thirteen or so, and that
- 8:37office remained The people who were in that office stayed there.
- 8:40I started working from his home around twenty thirteen. Question
- 8:45And mister Epstein's office in his home was on the
- 8:47second floor. Correct answer. He had an office on the
- 8:50second floor uh huh. Question what flora was the massage room?
- 8:54On answer, I don't know. I didn't go upstairs. Question
- 8:58you don't even know what flora was on answer It
- 9:00could have been, well, I don't know for sure if
- 9:02it was on the third or the fourth or the fifth.
- 9:06Question And where was your office? Answer on the first floor?
- 9:09Question so you would have seen people come in and
- 9:12out of his residence? Answer? Actually no. The way that
- 9:16the office was situated, you came in the front door
- 9:18and there was a foire where you walked up about
- 9:21eight to ten steps, and then at the platform at
- 9:23the top there was a door on the left that
- 9:25was my office. It was an oval room, and my
- 9:29desk was set in the back of the office, which
- 9:31was actually the desk out the window was seventy first Street,
- 9:35So you had to come up the steps, make a
- 9:37left into my office, and then come back towards the
- 9:39front of the house, if you will. And my desk
- 9:42was there so people could come and go that I
- 9:46would not see question because your back was to the window. Grof,
- 9:50that's correct. Question. And was there a doorman of any sort? Groff,
- 9:55I would say, a butler and the maid if you
- 9:57call them dorman, I mean not a doorman like see
- 10:00in a New York City apartment. Question. Sure, I guess
- 10:04A better question is if a visitor arrived there, who
- 10:06would let them in? Miss Groff? It would be the
- 10:08maid Lynn, the butler, Jojo, or maybe Rich was the
- 10:12engineer's security guy. Mister Garcia. Would it be one of
- 10:16those three that would have seen folks that were coming
- 10:19in and out more than anyone else of the three
- 10:22names you gave us, or is there anyone else that
- 10:25you would know that has more information about who was
- 10:28let in and out of the residence? Groff, I would
- 10:31say that those are the top, the top three, Garcia,
- 10:34and we have the three names redacted? Yes, Garcia, thank you? Redacted. Question.
- 10:41You said earlier that you have not been to his
- 10:42pom Beach residence. Is that correct answer? That's correct question?
- 10:47And you have not been to Zorro Ranch? Answer correct question?
- 10:50Did you ever go to his residence in Ohio? Answer
- 10:53no question? And you said you took day trips to
- 10:57Little Saint James? Is that correct? Answer? Correct question? And
- 11:01you said that you took a vacation there answer no question,
- 11:05no answer, no question, Okay, And you and your husband
- 11:08visited his apartment in Paris? Is that correct? Answer correct?
- 11:12The guest apartment? Question? Okay, did you separately ever travel
- 11:17with mister Ebstein? Answer no? Question he said, you've never
- 11:21been on any of his planes? Is that correct? Answer correct?
- 11:24I never traveled on his airplane? Question? Did you ever
- 11:28travel on his helicopter? Answer? I did? Question how many times?
- 11:32Answer once? Question? What for? Answer to go to Saint
- 11:37Thomas to his island? Question approximately? How much do you
- 11:42think that you earned over the course of your employment
- 11:44with mister Ebstein? Answer? I've got to do some math.
- 11:48Mister Whitcombe, you said there would be no math. Couldn't resist.
- 11:52Mister Backner. Maybe you want to take her year by year.
- 11:55She can just give you maybe the salary Graff, Can
- 11:58I give amounts? Question? Sure you said it started at
- 12:01fifty thousand, answer Riot, and I believe that was four
- 12:04up until two thousand and five. I did get a
- 12:07bonus of ten thousand dollars the first year. I don't
- 12:09recall how much my bonus was the next year. I
- 12:12know after I had my child, I went up to
- 12:15one hundred and twenty thousand, and that was four until
- 12:18two thousand and nine and then it dropped to one
- 12:21thousand and eight dollars, and then it went back up
- 12:23in twenty fifteen to I don't know, one hundred and
- 12:26thirty thousand. I'm guessing I think maybe it went to
- 12:29as high as one hundred and fifty and then it
- 12:31went back down again. Question when did it go down?
- 12:35Answer in twenty seventeen. I think it went down nominally.
- 12:39Question as you know. In twenty sixteen, mister Epstein was
- 12:43charged with solicitation of prostitution and an excuse me. In
- 12:47two thousand and six, mister Epstein was charged with solicitation
- 12:51of prostitution. In two thousand and eight, he pleaded to
- 12:55solicitation a prostitution and solicitation of a minor for prostitution,
- 13:00after which he served thirteen months in the Palm Beach Stockade.
- 13:03We're going to get into that in more depth later,
- 13:06but I'd like to ask you some questions about what
- 13:08you were aware of in the time that you work
- 13:10for mister Ebstein, and I'd like to focus on the
- 13:13time that you spent at ninety seventy First Street. I
- 13:17understand that you didn't see people come in and doubt,
- 13:20but when you were there, the years that you spent there,
- 13:23did you see minor girls and young women at the property?
- 13:26Answer no, minors, no question. Young women answer if you're
- 13:30talking about the assistance all of age question, not the staff.
- 13:34Answer oh, no, no question. So, from twenty thirteen to
- 13:38twenty nineteen, the time that you spent at the residence,
- 13:42you never once saw minor girls or young women. Answer
- 13:45that's correct. Question, You never observed mister Ebstein interacting with
- 13:50minor girls or young women. Answer no, mister Whitcomb at
- 13:54the residence. Misterdacted at the residence. All right, folks, we're
- 13:58going to wrap up right here, and in the next episode,
- 14:01we're gonna pick up where we left off. All the
- 14:04information that goes with this episode can be found in
- 14:07the description box.