Ro Khanna, the US congressman, publicly revealed the names of six men whose identities were redacted from the Jeffrey Epstein files, including Leslie Wexner, a billionaire retail magnate, whom the FBI appeared to have labeled as a co-conspirator.
Four of the six men had no connection to Epstein whatsoever and were simply part of a photo lineup assembled by law enforcement, according to reporting from the Guardian. Two of the men who spoke to the Guardian strongly denied knowing Epstein and said they had been arrested by NYPD for unrelated crimes in the past, which likely explains how their photos ended up in the array.
Khanna, a Democratic representative of California, disclosed the names during a floor speech on Tuesday, following a visit to the Department of Justice, where he and Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky, spent two hours reviewing unredacted documents.
The six men named by Khanna are Wexner, the Victoria’s Secret founder; Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, CEO of DP World and an Emirati billionaire businessperson; and four others named as Nicola Caputo, Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze and Leonic Leonov.
Khanna did not provide evidence of wrongdoing against any of them nor have they been charged with a crime in connection with Epstein.
“If we found six men that they were hiding in two hours, imagine how many men they are covering up for in those 3m files,” Khanna said during his floor speech.
Khanna said that when he and Massie identified the redactions for justice department officials, “they acknowledged their mistake” and revealed the identities. He said that the majority of the files remain redacted.
Epstein admitted guilt in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution and completed a 13-month sentence. He died in an apparent suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while facing trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Being named in the Epstein files does not establish guilt, as individuals may appear simply through email correspondence, contact information or other documentation referencing the disgraced sex offender financier.
Here are the six now unredacted names:
Leslie ‘Les’ Wexner
The 88-year-old Wexner, who established a retail empire that includes Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch and Bath & Body Works, maintained a lengthy financial relationship with Epstein, who handled his investments for many years.
In a lengthy investigation from the New York Times in November, Wexner is credited as the person who launched Epstein’s financial status from millionaire to plutocrat. Aside from the money, his “greatest value to Epstein was that he imbued him with new credibility and credentials”, the reporters wrote.