Wexner’s Billion. A Democrat said it on camera. His own office took it back two days later.
Les Wexner sat for a five-hour House Oversight deposition on February 18, 2026. He confirmed he gave Jeffrey Epstein power of attorney over his finances for sixteen years, and that Epstein stole roughly $100 million from him. The $1 billion figure that dominated the headlines came from somewhere else, and it did not survive the week.
Rep. Robert Garcia, the committee’s ranking Democrat, told reporters after the deposition that “approximately over a billion dollars” had moved from Wexner to Epstein. Two days later his office told the Columbus Dispatch he had misspoken. No transcript of Wexner’s deposition has been published. This page grades the $1B claim separately from the facts Wexner himself put on the record.
Primary sources include the House Oversight Committee’s release of the full deposition video, the Columbus Dispatch’s walkback reporting, and CBS News on Wexner’s written statement.
What this page is about
Les Wexner gave Jeffrey Epstein power of attorney over his personal finances in 1991 and did not revoke it until September 2007, nine months before Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea. Wexner has said Epstein stole roughly $100 million from him, which Wexner recovered. Both facts are FACT-tier, resting on Wexner’s own statements.
On February 18, 2026, Wexner sat for a subpoenaed House Oversight deposition. The committee released the full video the next day. Rep. Robert Garcia told reporters afterward that “approximately over a billion dollars” moved from Wexner to Epstein. The Columbus Dispatch reported two days later that Garcia’s office called this a misspeak and that the deposition itself did not support a $1 billion transfer. This page grades the $1B aggregate as SOME_SMOKE, not FACT, pending a public transcript.
Every claim on this page is graded against Wexner’s own written statement, the released deposition video, and named-byline reporting on both. Wexner’s deposition transcript has not been published as of this writing. Claims sourced only to secondhand accounts of the video are marked as pending transcript confirmation.
We are not saying Wexner transferred $1 billion to Epstein. That figure came from one person’s press remarks, and that person’s own office walked it back within 48 hours. We report the walkback alongside the original claim.
We are not saying Wexner has been charged with any crime related to Epstein. He has not. He denies being a co-conspirator despite a 2019 FBI document that named him as one.
We are not saying the $100 million theft figure and the $1 billion aggregate describe the same money. Wexner’s own account is that Epstein stole from him and he recovered the funds. Garcia’s claim described a much larger, separately sourced figure that has not been independently confirmed.
Wexner handed Epstein control of his money for sixteen years. What that money totaled is still unproven.
Two separate claims got merged into one headline in February 2026, and they deserve to be pulled back apart.
The first claim is not in dispute. Wexner gave Epstein power of attorney over his personal finances in 1991. He kept that arrangement in place for sixteen years, revoking it only in September 2007, nine months before Epstein’s first guilty plea. Wexner has said Epstein stole roughly $100 million from him during that period, which Wexner says he recovered. Wexner said all of this himself, on the record, in a written statement and in five hours of deposition testimony.
The second claim is the one that made headlines and did not hold up. Rep. Robert Garcia told reporters after the deposition that “approximately over a billion dollars” moved from Wexner to Epstein. Two days later, Garcia’s own office told the Columbus Dispatch he had misspoken. The deposition record, per that same reporting, showed Wexner testifying he did not know how much Epstein ultimately retained from roughly $1 billion in stock sales Epstein had been managing on Wexner’s behalf. That is a very different statement from “Wexner gave Epstein a billion dollars,” and the gap between the two is the story this page is built around.
1991 to March 2026: the power of attorney, the deposition, and the walkback.
- 1980sWexner and Epstein meet via a Bear Stearns/Rothschild referral, per Wexner’s written statement to the committee. CBS News.
- 1991Wexner grants Epstein full power of attorney over his personal finances, an arrangement that continues for sixteen years. Wall Street Journal.
- 1998Wexner sells 9 East 71st Street, his Manhattan townhouse, to an Epstein-controlled entity. Full chain of title, including the disputed sale price and the later corporate restructuring, is covered in The Townhouses.
- September 2007Wexner revokes Epstein’s power of attorney, nine months before Epstein’s first guilty plea. CBS News.
- August 7, 2019Wexner tells L Brands shareholders that Epstein “misappropriated vast sums of money” from him and his family, without publicly quantifying the total. Wall Street Journal.
- January 2026A 2019 FBI document naming Wexner as a co-conspirator is unredacted and made public. Forbes.
- January 23, 2026House Oversight Chairman James Comer issues a subpoena for Wexner’s deposition; the notice is served February 9, 2026. ABC News.
- February 18, 2026Wexner is deposed for roughly five to six hours at his home in New Albany, Ohio, by Republican staff alongside five Democratic members. He submits a three-page written statement in advance, describing himself as “duped by a world-class con man,” confirming the power of attorney and its 2007 revocation, and saying he recovered roughly $100 million Epstein had stolen from him. CBS News; New York Times; Axios; CNBC.
- February 18, 2026 (same day, post-deposition)In a press availability, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the committee’s ranking member, tells reporters “we know that approximately over a billion dollars ... was either transferred, provided in stocks, or given directly to Mr. Epstein by Wexner,” and calls Wexner the person “more involved in providing Jeffrey Epstein with financial support to commit his crimes” than anyone else. CBS Austin/KEYE.
- February 19, 2026The committee releases the full 4:55:45 deposition video on its official site, also mirrored on YouTube. No transcript is released for Wexner specifically, unlike other witnesses in the same probe. House Oversight Committee; YouTube mirror; PBS NewsHour.
- February 19, 2026POLITICO reports deposition color: Wexner says Epstein told him he’d been “shaken down by a hooker” regarding the 2008 case, calls Epstein “diabolical,” says “Bernie Madoff is a boy scout compared to Jeffrey,” confirms he sold (not gifted) Epstein the Manhattan townhouse, and describes a single roughly hour-long visit to Little St. James with his family, calling it “a pretty crummy island.” POLITICO.
- February 20, 2026The Columbus Dispatch reports that Garcia’s office said he had “misspoke[n]” on the $1 billion figure. The deposition transcript, per that reporting, did not corroborate a $1 billion transfer; Wexner testified he did not know how much Epstein ultimately retained from roughly $1 billion in stock sales Epstein had been managing on Wexner’s behalf. Columbus Dispatch.
- March 11, 2026Epstein’s longtime accountant Richard Kahn is deposed. Comer tells reporters Kahn named five clients who “transferred significant sums of money to Epstein”: Wexner, Leon Black, Steven Sinofsky, Glenn Dubin, and “the Rothschilds,” describing Epstein’s business as tax and wealth advisory. Wexner’s spokesperson responds that Wexner “did not transfer money to Epstein” but retained him for wealth management, and that Epstein stole roughly $100 million from Wexner, which Wexner recovered. POLITICO; NPR; CBS News.
The billionaire, the committee members, and the accountant whose later testimony corroborated a narrower claim.
Gave Epstein power of attorney over his personal finances from 1991 to 2007. Sold 9 East 71st Street to an Epstein-controlled entity in 1998. Says Epstein stole roughly $100 million from him, which he recovered. Deposed by House Oversight on February 18, 2026. Denies being a co-conspirator despite a 2019 FBI document naming him as one.
Held Wexner’s power of attorney for sixteen years. Managed stock sales Wexner testified totaled roughly $1 billion, per the Columbus Dispatch’s account of the deposition record. Died in federal custody in 2019 before trial.
Issued the subpoena for Wexner’s deposition on January 23, 2026. Later told reporters that Epstein’s accountant Richard Kahn named five clients, including Wexner, in the March 11, 2026 deposition.
Told reporters after the Feb. 18, 2026 deposition that “approximately over a billion dollars” moved from Wexner to Epstein. His office told the Columbus Dispatch two days later that he had misspoken and that the deposition record did not support the figure.
Deposed March 11, 2026. Per Comer, named five clients who transferred significant sums to Epstein: Wexner, Leon Black, Steven Sinofsky, Glenn Dubin, and “the Rothschilds.” Described Epstein’s business as tax and wealth advisory. This is independent corroboration that money moved from Wexner to Epstein, distinct from and narrower than Garcia’s retracted $1B aggregate.
Ten claims about Wexner and Epstein’s money, each graded, each cited to a named source.
Wexner granted Epstein power of attorney over his personal finances in 1991, and did not revoke it until September 2007.
FACTWexner disclosed this directly, first in a 2019 letter to his family foundation and again in his written statement ahead of the February 2026 deposition. The sixteen-year duration and the September 2007 revocation date, nine months before Epstein's first guilty plea, are Wexner's own account.
Wexner sold, rather than gifted, 9 East 71st Street in Manhattan to an Epstein-controlled entity in 1998.
FACTWexner confirmed the sale (not gift) characterization directly in his deposition testimony, per POLITICO's reporting. The full chain of title, including the disputed sale price and the 2011 corporate restructuring that moved the property to Maple Inc., is covered in full in The Townhouses; this page treats it as a single cross-linked line item.
Wexner says Epstein stole roughly $100 million from him, which he recovered.
FACTThis is Wexner's own account, stated publicly since 2019 and repeated in his 2026 written statement and deposition. He has not sued Epstein's estate or made a public criminal referral over the theft, and has not explained that decision on the record.
A 2019 FBI document, unredacted in January 2026, names Wexner as a co-conspirator. Wexner denies the characterization.
FACTThe document's unredaction and its naming of Wexner are documented in Forbes' aggregation of the released Epstein files. Wexner's denial is his own public statement. The document's existence and content are FACT-tier; whether the FBI's internal characterization is itself accurate is a separate, unresolved question this page does not adjudicate.
Wexner was subpoenaed by House Oversight Chairman James Comer on January 23, 2026, and deposed on February 18, 2026 for roughly five to six hours.
FACTThe subpoena date, service date, deposition date, and duration are documented in ABC News' pre-deposition reporting and confirmed by the committee's own video release. Republican staff conducted the deposition alongside five Democratic members.
The full deposition video (4:55:45) is public. No transcript for Wexner's deposition has been published.
FACTThe committee released the video on February 19, 2026, mirrored on YouTube. Unlike other witnesses in the same probe (Bondi, Lesley Groff, Waitt), whose transcripts are posted as PDFs, no Wexner transcript has appeared at the same file path as of this writing. This absence is itself the reason several claims below cannot be upgraded past secondhand reporting.
Rep. Robert Garcia told reporters after the deposition that "approximately over a billion dollars" moved from Wexner to Epstein, and called Wexner the person most involved in financially supporting Epstein's crimes.
FACTGarcia made this statement on camera at a press availability, reported by CBS Austin/KEYE. That he said it is not in dispute. Whether the underlying figure is accurate is a separate claim, graded below, and Garcia's own office subsequently disputed it.
“We know that approximately over a billion dollars ... was either transferred, provided in stocks, or given directly to Mr. Epstein by Wexner.”
The $1 billion transfer figure itself is not corroborated by the deposition record, per Garcia's own office.
SOME SMOKEThe Columbus Dispatch reported on February 20, 2026 that Garcia's office called the billion-dollar claim a misspeak. Per that reporting, Wexner testified he did not know how much Epstein ultimately retained from roughly $1 billion in stock sales Epstein had been managing on his behalf, which is a materially different statement than a billion-dollar transfer to Epstein. No public transcript exists to independently verify either account. This is the central open question of this page, and it is graded SOME_SMOKE rather than FACT for that reason. It is graded above PURE_SPECULATION because a real underlying stock-management relationship, involving sums in the same order of magnitude, is not in dispute.
Wexner, in deposition color reported by POLITICO, described Epstein as “diabolical,” said Epstein told him he'd been “shaken down by a hooker” regarding the 2008 case, and visited Little St. James once for roughly an hour.
PROBABLY TRUEThis rests on a single outlet's account of deposition color, without an independent second outlet confirming the specific quotes, and without a public transcript to check the account against. POLITICO is a named-byline, on-the-record source with no history of retraction on this story, which supports PROBABLY_TRUE rather than SOME_SMOKE. This claim should be revisited and potentially upgraded to FACT once a transcript is public.
“Bernie Madoff is a boy scout compared to Jeffrey.”
Epstein's accountant Richard Kahn, deposed March 11, 2026, named Wexner as one of five clients who transferred significant sums to Epstein, independently corroborating that money moved without validating any specific dollar total.
PROBABLY TRUEComer's characterization of Kahn's testimony is reported by POLITICO, NPR, and CBS News, three independent named-byline outlets, which supports PROBABLY_TRUE. It is not FACT because the underlying claim rests on Comer's summary of testimony rather than a public transcript or direct quotation from Kahn. Wexner's spokesperson disputes the framing, saying Wexner did not 'transfer money' to Epstein but retained him for wealth management and was himself a theft victim.
A billion-dollar headline outran a five-hour deposition, and the deposition record itself is still not public.
The gap between the press narrative and the underlying record is the story here. Garcia’s billion-dollar framing ran across national outlets within hours of the deposition ending. The correction, when it came, ran two days later in a single regional paper, the Columbus Dispatch, and did not receive comparable national pickup. A number stated once by a sitting member of Congress travels farther than the same member’s office quietly calling it a misspeak.
No House Oversight majority staff report, memo, or exhibit list quantifying Wexner’s total transfers to Epstein has been published. The committee has released only the raw video. Every dollar figure in circulation, including both the $1 billion aggregate and the roughly $1 billion in stock sales Wexner reportedly testified to, comes from secondhand accounts of that video, not from a document a reader can check directly. That is a real limit on what this page can currently verify, and it is why the top-line aggregate claim is graded SOME_SMOKE rather than FACT.
What is not contested is the shape of the underlying relationship. Wexner gave Epstein control of his money for sixteen years. Wexner says Epstein stole from him and he recovered roughly $100 million. Wexner has never sued Epstein’s estate over that theft, never made a public criminal referral, and has not explained that choice on the record. Those facts do not require a transcript to stand. They came from Wexner himself, years before the 2026 deposition, and they are unchanged by Garcia’s retraction.
Why Wexner matters now: Congress is still building the Epstein financial record in public, one deposition at a time.
The Epstein Class hub tracks how wealthy, powerful people around Epstein avoided consequences that would have ended an ordinary person’s career or freedom. Wexner is the clearest financial-broker case in that pattern: he gave Epstein sixteen years of control over his money, says Epstein stole from him, and has never sued or referred the matter for criminal investigation. That inaction, not any specific dollar figure, is the durable part of the record.
The Garcia walkback matters for a separate reason. House Oversight is actively building the public record on Epstein’s financial network through 2026, deposition by deposition. The Kahn deposition in March 2026 already added independent, narrower corroboration that money moved from Wexner to Epstein, alongside Leon Black, Steven Sinofsky, Glenn Dubin, and the Rothschilds. This page will be revised once Wexner’s transcript is public. Until then, the responsible position is to hold the $1 billion aggregate at SOME_SMOKE and let the FACT-tier claims, power of attorney, the $100 million theft, the townhouse sale, carry the piece.
Questions worth taking seriously
Did Wexner really give Epstein a billion dollars?
Is there a transcript of Wexner's deposition?
What does Wexner admit to?
Does the Kahn deposition prove the billion-dollar figure?
If you are named on this page
If you are named on this page, or are a party materially affected by the claims made here, and you wish to respond, correct the record, or add context, use the Contact page. Responses are published verbatim alongside the original claim, with the sender identified and the date of receipt. The channel stays open for the life of the page.
This site aggregates and grades a record that other outlets and primary sources have already put on the record. Every FACT-graded claim above is sourced to court filings, government reports, sworn whistleblower disclosures, published investigative journalism, or named-source statements. The citations are the accountability mechanism; this section is how you get on the record too.
The Wexner research brief and the primary sources it cites.
Every claim on this page grades to one of FACT · PROBABLY TRUE · SOME SMOKE · PURE SPECULATION · FALSE / MISLEADING. The grade badge hedges. The prose does not. Nothing false is asserted here as accepted claim.
The full research brief, with all sourcing and notes on editorial judgment, is in the knowledge base at web/docs/research/epstein-hub-audit/wexners-billion.md.
Full method: Methodology. Related hub: Epstein Class. Cross-cut hub: Self-Dealing.
Last updated July 20, 2026. If a link 404s or a date is wrong, tell us and we will fix it publicly.