Leslie Wexner, the retail billionaire who helped Jeffrey Epstein build his wealth, did not refuse to answer questions during a closed-door deposition on Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee.
But he may as well have, Democrats said after spending the day in his hometown of New Albany, Ohio, questioning him as part of the committee’s investigation into Mr. Epstein.
House Democrats said that Mr. Wexner, the former chief executive of Victoria’s Secret and a prolific donor to Republican candidates, repeatedly denied having any personal relationship with Mr. Epstein and said he had been “conned” by the financier and sex offender, but had done nothing wrong.
In an opening statement he provided to the committee, Mr. Wexner, 88, described himself as “naïve, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein.”
He added: “He was a con man. And while I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide.”
But Democrats emerged skeptical of anything that Mr. Wexner shared with them, calling him a lucid, competent witness who was simply not telling the truth.
“He’s claiming there was no friendship with Jeffrey Epstein,” Representative Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the oversight panel, said at a news conference during a break in the deposition, a claim he dismissed as “bogus.”
Mr. Wexner also told them that he had not been questioned by the F.B.I. or the Justice Department, Democrats said.
“He is someone who has been named by survivors, someone who is in the files more than most people, someone who is clearly the financial benefactor to Jeffrey Epstein,” Mr. Garcia said. “What the hell is going on?”
Mr. Wexner said in his statement that he had hired Mr. Epstein to manage his personal finances and granted him power of attorney. He said that “Epstein lived a double life” and revealed to him only the “sophisticated financial guru” side while hiding the one that committed “unthinkable crimes.”
He said that after discovering in 2007 that Mr. Epstein stole “vast sums from our family,” Mr. Wexner cut him off and never spoke to him again.
House Republicans did not attend the deposition on Wednesday. Representative James E. Comer of Kentucky, the chairman of the committee, could not attend because of a major oral surgery that had been previously scheduled, a spokeswoman said.
The depositions were led by staff.
“He claims to want to provide information be helpful in the investigation, but then quickly follows up by saying that he does not recall details around a relationship with somebody that he had for decades,” said Representative Yassamin Ansari, Democrat of Arizona.
Mr. Wexner explained his presence on Mr. Epstein’s private island, she said, by saying that he had been there once, for one hour, and walked around with his family.
Representative David Min, Democrat of California, summed up Mr. Wexner’s testimony by saying that “he has basically alleged that he saw no evil, heard no evil — despite being in the room with Jeffrey Epstein over and over.”
He added: “It’s really just not credible. To give that much trust to Jeffrey Epstein and then to say, ‘I don’t remember seeing any young girls, I didn’t hear anything about Jeffrey Epstein,’ it really is just not plausible.”
Annie Karni is a congressional correspondent for The Times.
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