Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Epstein Survivors Withdraw Wexner Lawsuit Without Prejudice (9/3/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:03Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. A couple of weeks ago, we were talking
- 0:06Speaker 1: about a lawsuit that was filed by Epstein survivors against
- 0:10Speaker 1: Les Wexner. Well, that lawsuit has been withdrawn, not because
- 0:16Speaker 1: there's no merit, but because there was a battle over jurisdiction,
- 0:21Speaker 1: meaning which venue the lawsuit should be filed within. So
- 0:25Speaker 1: this lawsuit has been withdrawn without prejudice. And of course,
- 0:30Speaker 1: that's significant because it means it can be refiled. And
- 0:33Speaker 1: that's exactly what these survivors are going to do. And
- 0:36Speaker 1: how many times have I told you, people like Les Wexner,
- 0:39Speaker 1: the only thing they can rely on are loopholes and technicalities.
- 0:44Speaker 1: Because when it comes to the evidence, when it comes
- 0:46Speaker 1: to actually, you know, proving one way or the other
- 0:50Speaker 1: what you're saying, we haven't seen much of that from Mr.
- 0:54Speaker 1: Wexner or anybody in Epstein's orbit, if I'm being honest.
- 0:59Speaker 1: So today we have an article from the International Business
- 1:03Speaker 1: Times and the headline, Epstein Abuse Claimants Withdraw Wexner Foundation
- 1:08Speaker 1: Suit Without Prejudice After Federal Venue Fight. This article was
- 1:13Speaker 1: authored by Rohit David. Eleven Jeffrey Epstein survivors have withdrawn
- 1:19Speaker 1: their lawsuit against Leslie Wexner, the Wexner Foundation, and Nine
- 1:23Speaker 1: East 71st Street Corporation without prejudice after a dispute over
- 1:28Speaker 1: federal jurisdiction. And that's a relatively common fight to have.
- 1:33Speaker 1: If you're going to bring a lawsuit, it has to
- 1:34Speaker 1: be brought in the right jurisdiction. And according to the court,
- 1:39Speaker 1: that wasn't the case here. According to the latest court filing,
- 1:42Speaker 1: the plaintiffs voluntarily dismiss the action without prejudice on September
- 1:46Speaker 1: 1st in the Southern District of New York. The step
- 1:49Speaker 1: leaves the claims unadjudicated and does not, on its face,
- 1:53Speaker 1: borrow later fresh action. No, of course not. anytime you
- 1:57Speaker 1: have a complaint dismissed without prejudice, you can refile that complaint.
- 2:03Speaker 1: Whether that's in a new jurisdiction or with the same jurisdiction,
- 2:08Speaker 1: following whatever rules or guidelines the court gave you, you
- 2:11Speaker 1: can refile. And I wholly expect these women to refile
- 2:15Speaker 1: this lawsuit. The complaint was filed in New York Supreme
- 2:20Speaker 1: Court on March 6th, under the city's gender-motivated Violence Protection Act,
- 2:24Speaker 1: naming Wexner the foundation and the company that once held
- 2:28Speaker 1: the title to East 71st Street townhouses later linked to Epstein.
- 2:34Speaker 1: And I think that lawsuits against Wexner should be even
- 2:36Speaker 1: more prevalent. The problem is he was never investigated, right?
- 2:43Speaker 1: So if they never investigated him, there's no file on him.
- 2:46Speaker 1: And that makes it a lot harder to prove what
- 2:48Speaker 1: these women are saying. But anybody who's followed along knows
- 2:52Speaker 1: just how connected Wexner and Epstein were. We're not talking about,
- 2:56Speaker 1: you know, kind of friends, maybe friends. We're talking about deep,
- 3:01Speaker 1: deep ties. Wexner and the foundation removed the case to
- 3:04Speaker 1: federal court on March 30th, citing diversity jurisdiction. Judge John G.
- 3:10Speaker 1: Cottle took the matter. A separate action involving two additional
- 3:14Speaker 1: plaintiffs was later consolidated with the case, bringing the combined
- 3:18Speaker 1: total to 13. Counsel for Nine East told the court
- 3:22Speaker 1: in April that the company had been dissolved for more
- 3:25Speaker 1: than a decade and fully wound down. So anything to
- 3:29Speaker 1: avoid having to pay out some money. And Wexner, if anybody,
- 3:34Speaker 1: should be paying out some money. Without Wexner, there is
- 3:38Speaker 1: no Epstein. This was a man that was integral to
- 3:42Speaker 1: the rise of the monster. Now with that said, we
- 3:45Speaker 1: can't put all the blame on Wexner, right? Just another
- 3:48Speaker 1: rich scumbag. that happened to be along for the ride.
- 3:51Speaker 1: But when we're talking about Wexner, we have to remember
- 3:55Speaker 1: that according to Virginia, according to Maria, this son of
- 4:00Speaker 1: a bitch was involved in the abuse. So we're not
- 4:04Speaker 1: talking about just somebody who enabled Jeffrey Epstein. We're not
- 4:06Speaker 1: talking about somebody that was just around, somebody that came
- 4:09Speaker 1: over for a spritzer. We're talking about somebody that was
- 4:13Speaker 1: right in the middle of all of it. And without
- 4:16Speaker 1: this dude, the doors that opened would have remained shut.
- 4:23Speaker 1: Wexner's lawyers questioned personal jurisdiction over their Ohio-based client. Kodal
- 4:28Speaker 1: declined to hear a dismissal motion until he ruled on remand.
- 4:33Speaker 1: And I think that's the right way to go, right,
- 4:34Speaker 1: from the judge? If it's not the right jurisdiction, it's
- 4:37Speaker 1: not the right jurisdiction. So what you do is you
- 4:41Speaker 1: dismiss the case without prejudice and give them a crack
- 4:43Speaker 1: at it again. And I would be shocked if we
- 4:46Speaker 1: didn't see them take another crack. Because there's plenty of
- 4:50Speaker 1: evidence here. And I think the evidence, when it comes
- 4:53Speaker 1: to Les Wexner and his relationship with Epstein at the
- 4:56Speaker 1: very least financially, I don't think there's any dispute. The
- 5:02Speaker 1: venue fight turned on whether complete diversity existed. Plaintiffs pressed
- 5:06Speaker 1: to send the case back to state court. The dispute
- 5:10Speaker 1: sharpened around plaintiff Andrea Sterling, who claimed residence in Tulum,
- 5:14Speaker 1: Mexico from August 2025, a change in domicile that could
- 5:18Speaker 1: affect whether the federal court had diversity jurisdiction. Loopholes, technicalities.
- 5:25Speaker 1: Eventually they're going to figure out what the jurisdiction is,
- 5:28Speaker 1: where to file it, and that's what they're going to do.
- 5:31Speaker 1: But this is all part of the dance, right? All
- 5:34Speaker 1: part of the routine. Defense lawyers disputed Sterling's claims Tulum
- 5:39Speaker 1: residents pointing to social media and professional profiles that they
- 5:44Speaker 1: said continued to list Miami as her residence. Plaintiff's counsel
- 5:48Speaker 1: asked on August 19th for concrete evidence challenging the Tulum claim.
- 5:53Speaker 1: They filed the second remand motion two days after receiving
- 5:56Speaker 1: a link to the interview. So what they're going to
- 5:58Speaker 1: do whenever somebody files suit, they're going to try and
- 6:01Speaker 1: pick apart everything about that person's life. And if there's
- 6:04Speaker 1: any kind of inroad, they're going to take it. And
- 6:07Speaker 1: I don't blame them for that. When you're in a
- 6:10Speaker 1: legal dispute, that's what you do. And it usually comes
- 6:13Speaker 1: down to who has more money, right? Who can hire
- 6:16Speaker 1: the better private investigator? Who has the better lawyer? Who
- 6:21Speaker 1: can just bleed money and not give a fuck about it? Well,
- 6:25Speaker 1: certainly not these women. But Les Wexner? Huh, he has
- 6:29Speaker 1: plenty of money, don't he? On August 31st, Nine East
- 6:35Speaker 1: opposed remand and sought limited discovery into Sterling's domicile. Hours later,
- 6:40Speaker 1: the plaintiffs lodged a notice of voluntary dismissal under Rule 41A-1A-I.
- 6:45Speaker 1: A corrected version followed on the 1st of September. According
- 6:52Speaker 1: to the complaint, the plaintiffs alleged that Wexner enabled Epstein's
- 6:55Speaker 1: abuse through financial support, control over finances, and access to
- 7:00Speaker 1: the Manhattan mansion, and a lot more. Let's be real.
- 7:04Speaker 1: If it wasn't for Les Wexner opening that door, Epstein
- 7:07Speaker 1: would have never had that veneer of credibility, and the
- 7:10Speaker 1: people that got close to him, I doubt they would have.
- 7:14Speaker 1: It all hinged on Wexner, and they knew that Wexner
- 7:17Speaker 1: was very powerful, very rich, and they figured that Wexner...
- 7:21Speaker 1: would be somebody that would vet the people around him.
- 7:24Speaker 1: And boy, were they in for a shock. The House
- 7:28Speaker 1: Oversight Committee has estimated Epstein obtained about $ 200 million from
- 7:32Speaker 1: Wexler's finances over more than 15 years that they worked together.
- 7:36Speaker 1: And I've always said that he didn't steal this money.
- 7:39Speaker 1: I thought that this was the baked-in plan. If you
- 7:42Speaker 1: ever get caught, we'll say that you stole from me.
- 7:44Speaker 1: That way we have some distance. And I still believe
- 7:47Speaker 1: that to this day. Can I prove it? No. But
- 7:49Speaker 1: that's my opinion. A 2020 Foundation review said it found
- 7:54Speaker 1: no evidence he used that role to commit assaults. A
- 7:57Speaker 1: Wexner spokesperson said the complaint, however, fails to state any
- 8:01Speaker 1: factual basis for asserting a claim against Mr. Wexner. Oh yeah,
- 8:06Speaker 1: there's no factual claims against Wexner. Are these people for real?
- 8:12Speaker 1: The problem is, there's never been a real investigation. That's
- 8:16Speaker 1: the problem. And the reason why is so that people
- 8:19Speaker 1: like Wexner later on down the road... could say, look,
- 8:21Speaker 1: I've never even been investigated. What are you talking about?
- 8:25Speaker 1: And that works with a lot of people who don't
- 8:27Speaker 1: know what's going on. They say to themselves, look, this
- 8:30Speaker 1: guy was never even investigated. How could this be as
- 8:32Speaker 1: widespread as people make it out to be? And look,
- 8:36Speaker 1: that's legitimate if you don't know what you're talking about.
- 8:39Speaker 1: If you never dove deep into the case, I get it.
- 8:43Speaker 1: But if you start diving deep, well, things start to change,
- 8:47Speaker 1: don't they? The same statement said he paid Epstein for
- 8:52Speaker 1: wealth management services, sold the house years before the alleged abuse,
- 8:56Speaker 1: and had no knowledge of Epstein's wrongdoing. Wexner has not
- 8:59Speaker 1: been charged, hasn't even been investigated. An amendment to New
- 9:05Speaker 1: York City's law has created a filing window that, according
- 9:08Speaker 1: to the article's legal sources, runs through July 2027. Because
- 9:13Speaker 1: the dismissal was without prejudice... The plaintiffs may be able
- 9:16Speaker 1: to pursue the claims again, subject to applicable jurisdictional venue
- 9:20Speaker 1: and limitation requirements. Well, that's for sure. And they're going
- 9:23Speaker 1: to pursue it. I have no doubt about that. The
- 9:26Speaker 1: question is, what jurisdiction are they going to try in?
- 9:31Speaker 1: Down in Florida? Maybe, I don't know, Virgin Islands? Who
- 9:35Speaker 1: the fuck knows? So we'll have to follow along and
- 9:38Speaker 1: see what ends up happening. But I have a hard
- 9:41Speaker 1: time believing that they're just going to shrug their shoulders
- 9:44Speaker 1: and move on. especially considering that there's a lot of
- 9:47Speaker 1: evidence that certainly points to Les Wexner as somebody who really,
- 9:51Speaker 1: really enabled Jeffrey Epstein. And that's what they're alleging. They're
- 9:56Speaker 1: not alleging that Wexner abused them. They're not alleging that
- 9:59Speaker 1: Wexner was in the room. What they're saying is that
- 10:03Speaker 1: without Wexner and his financial support of Epstein, then none
- 10:07Speaker 1: of this could have occurred. And from where I'm sitting,
- 10:09Speaker 1: here in the peanut gallery, I most certainly agree. So
- 10:13Speaker 1: we'll see what happens, and we'll see when they refile it,
- 10:16Speaker 1: if they refile it, and when and if that happens.
- 10:19Speaker 1: We'll get that added to the catalog as well. All
- 10:23Speaker 1: the information that goes with this episode can be found
- 10:26Speaker 1: in the description box.