Ex-Victoria's Secret owner now claiming Epstein 'conned' him once suggested he was demonically possessed



Former Victoria's Secret CEO and Bath & Body Works co-founder Leslie Wexner was questioned at his Ohio home on Wednesday by Democrat members of the House Oversight Committee over his relationship to child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The 88-year-old billionaire said in a prepared statement that he has "been the subject of outrageous untrue statements and hurtful rumor, innuendo, and speculation," adding that he was "naive, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein."

Although he has not been charged with any crime, Wexner was identified in the newly released Epstein files — both in a 2019 FBI document and an FBI email — as a possible co-conspirator in Epstein's sex-trafficking case.

Denial

Wexner, whose net worth is presently estimated to be $10.8 billion, told lawmakers that he was introduced to Epstein in the 1980s by Bob Meister, the former vice chairman of the insurance giant Aon.

'Taunting and poking him with impatience, that little demon he really loves.'

After allegedly receiving references for Epstein from two of the pedophile's former superiors at Bear Stearns and Élie de Rothschild of the Rothschild family banking dynasty, Wexner developed a relationship with Epstein, then ultimately hired him to manage his personal finances.

The New York Times reported that during the time he managed Wexner's personal finances, Epstein not only became extraordinarily rich but came into the possession of a New York mansion, a private plane, and a luxury estate in Ohio, altogether valued at roughly $100 million and all previously owned by Wexner or one of his companies. Wexner told lawmakers on Wednesday that Epstein purchased the New York property from him for what he "was told was the appraised value."

Wexner noted in his prepared statement that Epstein "was clever, diabolical, and a master manipulator" — a deceiver living a "double life" who "carefully used his acquaintance with important individuals to curate an aura of legitimacy that he then used to expand his network of acquaintances, and apparent credibility, even farther."

The billionaire claims that he was only personally acquainted with the one side of Epstein — the "sophisticated financial guru," not the "side of Epstein's life for which he is now infamous."

Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre alleged in court documents that she had been trafficked to Wexner, according to multiple outlets. Wexner, however, claimed both that he has never been unfaithful to Abigail, his wife of 33 years, and that he completely severed ties with Epstein around the time of the pedophile's guilty plea in 2008 for solicitation of a minor for prostitution.

RELATED: 'I wasn't his girlfriend': Whoopi Goldberg breaks silence on her presence in the Epstein files

Photo by Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Wexner claimed in 2019 that he had severed ties with the sex offender a year earlier, in 2007.

Wexner stressed in his statement to lawmakers that while he was "conned," he has "done nothing wrong."

Following the deposition, Rep. Robert Garcia (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, stated, "There was no one more involved in providing Jeffrey Epstein with the wealth and financial support he needed to commit his crimes than Les Wexner. There would be no Epstein Island, no Epstein plane, and no money to traffic women and girls without the wealth of Les Wexner."

"And yet, with all this evidence, Mr. Wexner admitted that the FBI and DOJ never questioned him," continued Garcia. "That’s outrageous and unforgivable."

A Wexner spokesperson said in a statement obtained by Politico that the billionaire "honestly answered every question put to him today by the Committee" and that "Wexner reiterated that he has no knowledge of, and did not participate in, Epstein’s illegal conduct."

Another malicious spirit

Epstein may not have been the first "master manipulator" to exert influence on Wexner.

In an interview that served as the basis for Julie Baumgold's August 1985 profile in New York Magazine, Wexner discussed "his dybbuk, which pokes and prods and gives him the itchiness of soul that he calls shpilkes."

According to Jewish folklore, a dybbuk is an evil human spirit whose past sins preclude it from finding peace. These spirits are believed to seek refuge in the bodies of living human beings whom they cling to and/or possess.

Rabbi Julian Sinclair, writing for the Jewish Chronicle, noted that "Kabbalistic works, at least from the 16th century onwards, sometimes contain instructions and protocols for the exorcism of dybbuks, ceremonies to drive them out of the bodies they have colonised."

Baumgold wrote that when Wexner was a boy, his father called the dybbuk "tummel, a churning, so he feels 'molten' and unformed, pricked by these spiritual pins and needles."

"[Wexner] met this demon again when he was 40 and already worth half a billion," continued Baumgold, "when he climbed the mountain in front of his house in Vail and almost froze to death and decided to change his life. This demon he calls 'terminal shpilkes,' which makes him wander from house to house, repeating the pattern of his childhood on a luxurious scale, wanting more, swallowing companies larger than his own. It is precisely the reason that Wexner has a billion and didn't stop at, say, 5 million and a new Mercedes every other year and what he calls 'normal life.'"

The profile concludes with:

Lex Wexner picks up his heavy black case and flies off in his Challenger, with his dybbuk sitting next to him, taunting and poking him with impatience, that little demon he really loves. The dybbuk turns his face. What does he look like? "Me," says Les Wexner.

Journalist Whitney Webb suggested that while "one may interpret this use of shpilkes, literally 'pins' or 'spikes' in Yiddish and often used to describe nervous energy, impatience, or anxiety, as Wexner merely personifying his anxiety," his decision to use the word "dybbuk" was "significant."

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Woke CEOs mocked conservatives. Now the joke’s on them.



Corporate America is bending to conservatives’ market influence. Not out of sudden ideological sympathy, but because conservatives have more economic power than the left — and they’ve stopped pretending not to notice.

For years, corporations ignored conservative concerns. Worse, they often went out of their way to antagonize them, stripping away team mascots like the Redskins and Indians, embracing diversity quotas, and saturating entertainment with left-wing tropes. The squeaky wheel got the grease, and the left made all the noise.

Free markets punish bad bets more effectively than Washington ever could. Let them.

Conservatives, meanwhile, were taken for granted. Corporate leaders assumed they would keep buying no matter how many insults were thrown their way. For a long time, they were right.

That ended when conservatives started fighting back. Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney stunt turned into a disaster. Victoria’s Secret collapsed under its “new image” campaign. Cracker Barrel’s woke makeover backfired so badly its chairs stopped rocking. And when employees mocked Charlie Kirk’s assassination, corporations finally began to realize that “the customer is always right” still applies.

Numbers don’t lie

Corporations aren’t embracing conservatives because they’ve had a change of heart. They’re doing it because they need to survive.

The 2024 election was a wake-up call: Conservative voters outnumbered liberals 35% to 23%. Add moderates, and non-liberals outnumbered liberals more than three to one.

Conservatives overwhelmingly vote Republican. Ninety percent cast ballots for Trump. Pew data shows a majority of middle- and upper-middle-income Americans lean Republican — and 51% of Americans identify as middle class. That’s a lot of disposable income.

Family size makes the math even stronger. The Institute for Family Studies reports that counties where Trump won big also have higher birth rates: 1.76 compared to the national average of 1.63. Harris counties, by contrast, averaged just 1.37. Republicans also want bigger families: half want three or more kids, compared to only 31% of Democrats.

Bigger families and higher incomes mean bigger market clout. And the left’s most extreme advocates — the loudest drivers of corporate wokeness — are a small minority inside an already shrinking ideological bloc.

Why the shift happened

So why did corporations bow to the left for so long? Two reasons.

First, executives themselves lean left. Pew Research found upper-income Americans tilt Democrat, and CEOs have marched steadily leftward over the last two decades. Second, conservatives tolerated it. They didn’t punish woke messaging, making it appear costless for companies to indulge their leadership’s politics.

That illusion is gone. Conservative consumers are awake. And companies are finally capitulating to reality.

RELATED: The right message: Justice. The wrong messenger: Pam Bondi.

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Don’t let government ruin it

This is why Republicans should resist the urge to meddle. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr made a mistake threatening ABC over Jimmy Kimmel. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way”? Let’s not.

That kind of government action obscures the real shift — a market correction, not a political one.

Markets speak louder than regulators. If conservatives let economics do the work, corporations will continue adjusting out of necessity. But if government steps in, companies will chalk the change up to political coercion, not consumer demand, and drift back toward the left as soon as administrations change.

Already the left is trying to spin it that way, casting Jimmy Kimmel as a martyr for “free expression” instead of what he is: a bad business decision. The left wants companies to believe government, not consumers, forced the pivot.

Conservatives know better. Free markets punish bad bets more effectively than Washington. Let them.

Disturbing Victoria's Secret promo proves the fashion show is dead forever



The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show returned in 2024 following a hiatus, but the brand has never been the same.

The company pushed pause on the show in 2019 after chief marketing officer Ed Razek resigned over remarks that were considered to be insensitive to transgender and obese models.

'Plus-size models are a byproduct of the body positivity movement.'

Razek essentially saying the show is not for men or plus-size models was enough for the brand to slam the brakes on both their show and their appeal to women. Upon the fashion show's revival in 2024, Victoria's Secret made its allegiance clear — and it was not with their usual fan base.

Not only did the revamped show feature models over 50 years old, but it also showcased five plus-size models and two men pretending to be women.

In a new promo, the brand is doubling down and proving its 2024 return was not just the last gasp of a woke era, but it was only the beginning of its redrawn standard. Whereas the new genre of Victoria's Secret Angels may have been simple additions to the roster in 2024, in 2025, they are leading the charge ahead of the October show.

In the new promo — aptly titled "The Secret Is Out" — the fashion show features transgender model Alex Consani and plus-size model Yumi Nu front and center, while dragging out some of its legacy models who are widely accused as having facial surgeries.

It is not just the use of Consani that is troubling, but the model's backstory makes his inclusion even more disturbing.

RELATED: Victoria’s Secret or Victor’s Secret? Trans models featured in 2024 fashion show

Alex Consani. Photo by Gisela Schober/Getty Images

At just age 14, Consani gave an interview as "the world's first" and "youngest transgender model," according to Cosmopolitan.

"I was about three or four years old when I realized I was attracted to girls' clothes. So I slowly started wearing girlish clothes and became who I am today," the boy said.

Cosmopolitan eerily wrote that Consani "isn't just interested in looking pretty" but wants to achieve "greater tolerance for transsexuality."

Last year, Victoria's Secret featured Valentina Sampaio, a male model posing as a woman. The 28-year-old Brazilian also has a jaw-dropping background. According to Business Insider, he was told by a psychologist that he was transgender at just 8 years old before he started referring to himself as a girl at 12.

In 2020, Sampaio became the first female-dressing man to be in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, which is also where Nu, the plus-size model in the Victoria's Secret promo, made waves.

RELATED: Candace Owens is wrong: Victoria’s Secret is nothing to celebrate

Yumi Nu. Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit

Nu was the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition cover model in 2022 and was touted by People as the first "Asian curve model" to do so.

These types of titles are often associated with the new era of victim-centric models, including Anok Yai, who was also featured in the Victoria's Secret ad. Yai, 27, was described by Hola! as the the first "black model of South Sudanese descent to open major shows."

Also featured in the promo were veteran models Adriana Lima, 44, Lily Aldridge, 39, and Joan Smalls, 37.

Blaze News reporter Rebeka Zeljko said that while the brand is "clearly trying to relive the glory days," it has still made room for "ugly ideologies" to be represented.

"Trans models like Consani have become immensely successful in the modeling industry, where androgyny is viewed as versatile and desirable," Zeljko explained. "Plus-size models are a byproduct of the body positivity movement that ignored both health standards and objective beauty. In both cases, Consani and Nu clash with Victoria's Secret's original and beloved brand of hyperfemininity."

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Victoria’s Secret or Victor’s Secret? Trans models featured in 2024 fashion show



The Victoria’s Secret annual fashion show used to be a highly anticipated event. Between the elaborate costumes, celebrity singers, stunning models, and high-profile guest list, the show drew millions of viewers from all over the world.

Enter wokeness.

In 2018, the lingerie company jettisoned the uber sexiness that long defined its brand and adopted a more artsy approach to stand in solidarity with the #metoo movement.

Then in 2021, Victoria’s Secret replaced the iconic “angels” with a group of varied models and influencers to show their commitment to diversity and inclusivity.

Last year, the fashion show was replaced with a strange pseudo-documentary featuring little femininity but lots of diversity, including a Nigerian artist who recited poetry.

And now for the cherry on top. This year, the fashion show, which just returned after a six-year hiatus, included two transgender models.

“Transgender models make history at Victoria’s Secret fashion show,” laughs Stu Burguiere, reading from an Entertainment headline.

“Are you kidding me? Is this real?” he asks.

Unfortunately, the answer is yes.

Valentina Sampaio and Alex Consani, two biological males posing as women, strutted down the runway in full-blown lingerie.

Stu displays the pictures of the two models but says he’s afraid to look too close for fear of “whatever might be going on down there.”

If we can learn anything from Victoria’s Secret it’s that “secrets are important, and sometimes you should keep them.”

“Maybe keep the secrets and don’t put them on television,” sighs Stu.

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Victoria's Secret ditches woke rebrand as sales continue to decline: 'Not been enough to carry the day'



Victoria's Secret's progressive experiment did not work.

Over the past several years, Victoria's Secret changed its marketing plan to be more inclusive — hiring LGBT activist Megan Rapinoe and transgender model Valentina Sampaio, among others — and diversified its models, especially in the plus-sized department. In 2019, the company scrapped its annual runway show over complaints of sexism and a lack of diversity. Two years later, Victoria's Secret's angels were no more.

Rapinoe infamously described Victoria's Secret's image as "patriarchal" and "sexist," which she claimed was marketed "through a male lens and through what men desired."

The attempt to redefine "sexy" in the image of woke social justice may have earned "favorable reviews from online critics," according to Business of Fashion, but it "never translated into sales."

In fact, Victoria's Secret is on track to earn $6.2 billion in revenue this year, a 5% decline from last year, which significantly trails the $7.5 billion the company made in 2020.

"Despite everyone's best endeavours, it's not been enough to carry the day," Victoria's Secret CEO Martin Waters told investors at a meeting this month, Business of Fashion reported in a story declaring the progressive rebrand "over."

Now, the company hopes returning to its old traditions will reverse declining sales.

Last month, the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show returned with a format that Business of Fashion described as "somewhere in between the personification of male lust of the brand’s aughts-era heyday and the inclusive utopia promoted by its many disruptors." The company is also featuring models like Hailey Bieber and Emily Ratajkowski, among other supermodels who have worked for the company in the past, in new ad campaigns.

It's a far cry from the direction the company tried to carve out just a few years ago.

By tightly controlling its brand's image, updating its brick-and-mortar locations, and offering new active and swimwear, Victoria's Secret hopes to push its annual revenue back over the $7 billion hump.

The admission about the woke rebrand and changes in company direction come less than a year after Amy Hauk abruptly resigned as CEO. Under Hauk's leadership, Victoria's Secret leaned into the woke changes, and declining sales followed.

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FALLEN ANGELS: Victoria's Secret's devolution from an 'an embrace of femininity and beauty' to a WOKE nightmare



The Victoria's Secret annual fashion show used to be a spectacle like no other. People, especially women, waited all year to gawk at the world’s most beautiful supermodels waltzing down the runway adorned in gorgeous sparkling lingerie and enormous angel wings.

But those days, it seems, are long over. In an age when progressivism has swept the country like an insidious plague, Victoria's Secret is now like nearly every other mainstream brand: woke.

Lauren Chen is disappointed to say the least. As someone who used to enjoy watching the fashion show, as it was “an unabashed example of womanhood and femininity,” she’s disheartened to see that the company has conformed to appease the woke crowd.

While Victoria's Secret made an effort several years ago to include plus-size models in its marketing campaigns and in the fashion show, the company was met with criticism because “even those plus-size models were too attractive and not quite diabetic enough,” says Lauren.

Further, the LGBTQ+ community unsurprisingly complained about the “lack of queer and trans inclusivity.”

“Not enough penis on that runway wearing the lingerie,” Lauren quips.

In 2019, the company’s complete 180-degree transformation began when its former chief marketing officer, Ed Razek, came under fire for allegedly “creating a culture of misogyny and harassment in the workplace.” The weight of these allegations against Razek in combination with “increased scrutiny of social justice and feminist activists” was enough to temporarily suspend the fashion show.

The company promised its brief hiatus would allow it to return to the stage “better than ever,” but “that was a total lie,” says Lauren.

The new and “improved” Victoria's Secret that just emerged this past September in the form of a pseudo-documentary called “The Tour” is as woke as it gets.

“Most of the pieces that feature in this film … are not actually lingerie,” critiques Lauren. “Why they decided to not focus on the thing that the brand actually makes is beyond me, but I'm guessing it has something to do with all those allegations of misogyny.”

Further, “the models featured in ‘The Tour’ don't look nearly as sexy or as glamorous as the models that used to walk the Victoria's Secret fashion show.” In fact, they’re very average-looking (and often overweight) people, which might have worked for a company like Dove selling hygiene products, but it certainly is a “180 pivot” for a company like Victoria's Secret.

Even the stereotypical thin, beautiful models included in “The Tour” were not styled to be glamorous or feminine as they were in the past.

“They were trying to make these attractive models look worse for some reason,” says Lauren, “that reason being equity in beauty.”

But that’s only the beginning of the new Victoria's Secret era. Not only has the company replaced the live fashion show with a film, but it also nixed the iconic pop music.

All previous fashion shows featured a famous artist doing a live performance while the models walked the runway. Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, and Ellie Goulding are just some of the artists who have performed on the Victoria's Secret stage, but this year, the company decided to take a radically different approach.

“Instead they incorporated a poetry recitation from I'm guessing a Nigerian artist,” says Lauren, who found the stunt “awkward and uncomfortable.”

“Victoria's Secret actually took to heart the criticisms of online feminist activists,” says Lauren, and the company created a film that “[checks] all the boxes.”

“It's very diverse, it features different body types, it features different artists from different countries, it's super feminist in that none of the women really look good so you're avoiding the male gaze, [and] it has uncomfortable, weird poetry and art, which, you know, progressives love.”

What could go wrong?

Apparently a lot.

“The Tour” currently “has a 2.9 out of 10 rating on IMDb and a pitiful 1.7 stars on Amazon.”

Those numbers suggest that people “would still rather be entertained than have to sit through essentially an hour of virtue-signaling about how progressive Victoria's Secret as a brand is.”


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Victoria's Secret's new hire model has Down syndrome



Puerto Rican model 24-year-old Sofia Jirau is Victoria's Secret's first signed model with Down syndrome, making her debut in the lingerie and women's wear brand's latest inclusivity campaign.

In 2019, Jirau made headlines after launching her own online store, Alavett, which offers a range of affordable accessories.

What are the details?

Jirau made the announcement on Valentine's Day, following the debut of the brand's new Love Cloud Collection.

Victoria's Secret creative director Raúl Martinez told NBC News, "Love Cloud Collection is a major moment in the brand’s evolution. From the cast of incredible women that bring the collection to life, to the incredible inclusive spirit on set, this campaign is an important part of the new Victoria’s Secret standard we are creating."

Jirau shared the news on Instagram earlier this week.

Courtesy of Google Translate, Jirau captioned the Instagram post, "One day I dreamed of it, I worked on it and today it is a dream come true. I can finally tell you my big secret… I am the first Victoria's Secret model with Down syndrome! Thanks to all of you for always supporting me in my projects. Thanks to @victoriassecret for seeing me as a #NoLimits model and making me part of the Love Cloud Collection inclusion campaign. This is just the beginning, now it's formed! Inside and out there are no limits ... !"

What else?

Victoria's Secret announced in June that it would be leaving behind the traditional supermodel-style "Angels" and rebranding itself to be more inclusive.

At the time, the company said, "When the world was changing, we were too slow to respond. We needed to stop being about what men want and to be about what women want.”

Its campaign at the time also included outspoken soccer star and activist Megan Rapinoe, Chinese-American freestyle skier and Olympian Eileen Gu, and more.

Rapinoe at the time complained that the brand was "patriarchal, sexist, viewing not just what it meant to be sexy but what the clothes were trying to accomplish through a male lens and through what men desired."

"And it was very much marketed toward younger women,” she added, calling the company's former message "really harmful."

Rapinoe continued, "As a gay woman, I think a lot about what we think is sexy, and we are afforded the ability to do that, because I don’t have to wear the traditional sexy thing to be sexy and I don’t think the traditional thing is sexy when it comes to my partner or people I’ve dated. I think functionality is probably the sexiest thing we could possibly achieve in life. Sometimes just cool is sexy, too.”