A woman allegedly attacked by Jeffrey Epstein said she holds Victoria’s Secret billionaire Leslie Wexner “responsible for what happened to me” because she was staying on a property monitored by Wexner and his wife and guarded by his security team, the Washington Post reported.
Maria Farmer stayed in a home that was a half-mile away from Wexner’s home in New Albany, Ohio during the summer of 1996 while she was creating two paintings for the film “As Good as it Gets.”
Farmer was employed by Jeffrey Epstein at the time, and while she was staying in the house in Ohio, she alleges that Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell sexually assaulted her.
{mosads}When she tried to leave the home after the alleged assault, Farmer said a security guard employed by Wexner told her “You aren’t leaving,” and “You’re not going anywhere.” She said another security guard later took her by the arm, and as she fought against him, he grabbed her so hard she bruised.
Farmer said she also tried to call local police and the Franklin County Sheriff’s office. But Wexner had contracted with the office, and a person told her “we work for Wexner,” when she tried to report the crime, Farmer told the Washington Post.
She also alleged that she was discouraged from leaving the house without the permission of Abigail Wexler, Leslie Wexler’s wife. She was later picked up by her father at the Washington home.
Farmer filed an affidavit detailing the allegations earlier this year as part of a lawsuit by another alleged victim of Epstein’s.
Farmer said Epstein also inappropriately touched her sister, Annie who was 16 at the time of the alleged attack on her sister, according to The Washington Post. It was not immediately clear whether Maria was under 16 at the time she was allegedly attacked.
She said she did not tell anyone about it at the time because she thought of Epstein as her sister’s boss.
A security officer who was involved with the Wexner family’s security at the time denied the allegation about the security team, telling The Washington Post “I don’t even remember what happened, and I can tell you, if that had happened, I would have remembered it.”
A spokesman for the Franklin County sheriff’s office told the Washington Post it had no record of Farmer’s 1996 call. But, according to the office’s retention policy, it does not retain records of a call like Farmer’s for more than two years, the Washington Post reported.
Wexner accused Epstein of “misappropriating vast sums of money from me and my family” earlier this year. Representatives of Wexner’s L Brands have denied connections between the two men, the Washington Post reported.
Maxwell could not be located for comment by The Washington Post.
If you are a sexual assault survivor you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or reach it online at hotline.rainn.org/online.