Strange Financial Transactions Between Les Wexner and Jeffery Epstein

Bloomberg Finance’s article “More Questions on How Jeffery Epstein Got Island-Owning Rich” looks at transactions conducted by Wexner and Epstein that may have been to put money in Epstein’s pocket.

“But the L Brands financial disclosure documents from the 1990s and 2000s suggest that their relationship was even closer than that. In Schedule 13D documents filed with the SEC from that era, Epstein is listed as a trustee — sometimes with Wexner, sometimes by himself — on a handful of Wexner trusts, including several for Wexner’s children. Some of the transactions in the 13Ds raise the possibility that Wexner may have paid Epstein by letting him sell L Brands stock out of those trusts.”

It goes on to say:

“It is possible that the sale was simply a diversification move — though, as I noted earlier, Epstein had never registered with the SEC as an investment professional. It seems more likely that it was a way to put money in Epstein’s pocket. There are a half-dozen 13Ds that show a similar pattern: Wexner transfers L Brands stock from a trust he solely controls to one where Epstein is a trustee. Within days, the Epstein-managed trust sold the stock. (An L Brands spokesperson would not respond to any questions about Epstein’s involvement in Wexner’s trusts.)”

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-17/more-questions-about-how-jeffrey-epstein-got-island-owning-rich

An example of such a transaction can be seen here:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/701985/0000909518-99-000504.txt

8.8 millions shares of The Limited, Inc. stock were transferred from Wexner-owned trusts into another trust called “ASW Investments”, which then contributed that stock to Delaware corporation “ASW Holdings, Inc.” (Jeffery Epstein is shown as the president.) ASW Holdings sold the stock in a private sale to Bear Stearns.