Leslie Wexner, the billionaire founding father of L Brands Inc., can’t be held chargeable for as soon as proudly owning the Manhattan townhouse the place a lady alleges she was raped as a young person by Jeffrey Epstein, a federal choose dominated.
US District Courtroom Decide Ann Donnelly on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Jennifer Araoz towards Wexner, who had employed Epstein as a monetary adviser and beforehand rented the East 71st Road property to him. The choose additionally tossed Araoz’s claims towards Wexner’s spouse, charities and different defendants.
Donnelly concluded that Araoz was barred from submitting the federal lawsuit as a result of she made related claims in a New York state courtroom case that was dismissed with prejudice, which suggests it could now not be pursued. She’d sued Epstein’s property in 2019, claiming she was 15 when he raped her nearly twenty years earlier. Epstein killed himself in jail whereas dealing with sex-trafficking fees.
Final month, Araoz’s lawyer argued newly-unsealed paperwork associated to a separate case filed by one other accuser towards Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, confirmed “Wexner knew or should have known that Epstein was sexually trafficking underage girls.” Maxwell was convicted in 2021.
However the Brooklyn-based federal choose discovered Araoz “has not shown that new evidence was fraudulently concealed.” Donnelly stated the fabric she cited was publicly obtainable on the time of the state courtroom dismissal and couldn’t be used to justify a “negligent supervision” declare towards Wexner.
In earlier courtroom filings, Wexner’s legal professionals referred to as the claims “utterly devoid of merit.” Wexner stated in a sworn affidavit final yr that he rented the townhouse to Epstein within the Nineties, however bought his shares within the company that owned title to the property in 1998, effectively earlier than the alleged rape, which Araoz stated occurred round 2001.
Robert Hantman, a lawyer for Araoz, stated she is contemplating submitting an enchantment, “While I have the highest regard for the judge we are disappointed our client won’t have her day in court,” Hantman stated.
Epstein was a long-time cash supervisor for Wexner. The billionaire lower ties with Epstein in 2007 and later accused the financier of deception and misappropriating “vast sums of money from me and my family.”
Marion Little and Man Petrillo, legal professionals for Wexner, didn’t instantly return messages in search of remark in regards to the ruling.
The case is Araoz v. New Albany Firm, 22-cv-0125, US District Courtroom, Jap District of New York (Brooklyn).
