Leslie H. Wexner is best known for turning a single Columbus clothing shop into the retail giant that once owned Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, but his legacy now sits under a dark cloud.
From 1987 to 2007 he gave financier Jeffrey Epstein sweeping control over his fortune and personal affairs, and in the mid-1990s his company helped lure ex-CIA cargo carrier Southern Air Transport to Ohio—an airline later linked to Iran-Contra gun-running and cocaine flights. These relationships have triggered lawsuits, board shake-ups, and a public reckoning that contrasts sharply with Wexner's philanthropic image.
Early life and business ascent
Born in Dayton, Ohio, on Sept 8 1937, Wexner studied business at Ohio State and opened The Limited in downtown Columbus in 1963, targeting young women with a tightly edited mix of apparel. By the late 1990s he controlled a stable of brands including Victoria's Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Express, amassing a fortune estimated at $5 billion.1 In 2011 he donated $100 million to Ohio State University, the school's largest gift to date.2
Jeffrey Epstein connection
Wexner met Epstein in the mid-1980s and in 1991 signed a power-of-attorney that let Epstein hire and fire staff, borrow money, and sign checks in his name.3 Epstein soon occupied Wexner's Manhattan mansion at 9 East 71st Street—then valued at $77 million—before ultimately taking title to it.4 Former executives say Epstein also posed as a Victoria's Secret "scout," using the relationship to approach and assault models such as Alicia Arden and Maria Farmer.56 After Epstein's 2019 arrest on sex-trafficking charges, Wexner wrote to his foundation that the financier had "misappropriated vast sums," and he stepped off the L Brands board in 2020.7
Legal fallout
Shareholders sued L Brands directors for letting a "culture of harassment" flourish and for retaining Epstein despite warnings. The company settled in 2021, agreeing to spend $90 million on governance and workplace reforms without admitting liability.8 Court filings detail how the scandal damaged brand value and forced Wexner from day-to-day control.9 Meanwhile, a Washington Post profile of Maria Farmer—who says she was assaulted on the Wexner estate—kept public attention on unanswered questions about what the billionaire knew.6
Southern Air Transport episode
In 1995 Southern Air Transport (SAT), a cargo line previously owned by the CIA and cited in Iran-Contra cocaine probes, moved its headquarters from Miami to the Rickenbacker freight hub outside Columbus. Investigative reporting shows Wexner's Limited supplied the high-volume Asia-to-Ohio freight contracts that underpinned the relocation, and Ohio officials offered $2 million in incentives in part because of his backing.1011
SAT collapsed into bankruptcy three years later, the same day a CIA Inspector General report confirmed its Contra-era trafficking role; taxpayers were left with unpaid loans, and critics labeled the deal "Spook Air."11 Though no charges were brought against Wexner, the episode fixed his name to yet another enterprise shadowed by covert operations and narcotics smuggling.12
Reputation today
A three-part Hulu/FX documentary (Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons) and books such as One Nation Under Blackmail have cemented the view that Wexner's judgment—or complicity—enabled criminal behavior around him.1314 Forbes reports that even the last pieces of Epstein-linked real estate were offloaded only in 2025, keeping Wexner in headlines years after he tried to distance himself.15 His personal fortune remains sizable, but public honors have been muted; the Wexner Foundation scrubbed his image from its website in 2020, signaling quiet retreat from the limelight he once commanded.16
Wexner's rise from small-town merchant to retail titan is uncontested, but his long alliance with Jeffrey Epstein and facilitation of Southern Air Transport's move to Ohio stitched him into two of the late-20th-century's most notorious criminal sagas, leaving an indelible mark on his legacy.