Lesley Groff: No case against Epstein's assistant who allegedly 'facilitated' trafficking
Jeffrey Epstein's assistant of 20 years will not face prosecution, lawyers have said after a civil case was dropped against her. Lesley Groff, 53, had a bond so tight with the disgraced pedophile that she once said, "I know what he's thinking." Epstein's executive assistant in New York is accused of being one of Ghislaine Maxwell's minions.
The woman managed the teenage girls coming and going out of Epstein's houses, including collecting contact information, taking messages, and arranging the girls' travel, according to lawsuits, court testimony, and police reports. After she was named along with three other female employees of Epstein, Sarah Kellen, Nadia Marcinkova, and Adriana Ross, federal prosecutors in Manhattan have no plans to bring charges against Groff, her lawyers announced in a statement on Thursday. "After a more than two-year investigation by the Department of Justice into Jeffrey Epstein's conduct, which included lengthy interviews of witnesses and a thorough review of relevant communications, we have been informed that no criminal charges will be brought against Lesley Groff," attorneys Michael Bachner and Jon Whitcomb told Insider. They added that Groff "never witnessed anything improper or illegal."
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Did Groff play a role in Epstein's sex trafficking operation?
A lawsuit filed by Jane Doe against Groff, claiming that the latter played an integral role in arranging Epstein's sex trafficking operation, was voluntarily dropped on Thursday, December 30. "Groff, Epstein's longtime New York-based right hand, facilitated Epstein's trafficking and sexual abuse of Jane, including by purchasing plane tickets, sending money, making appointments, and sending various communications from New York," the complaint stated. "Groff knew or recklessly disregarded the facts and information that made clear that Epstein was trafficking Jane to Paris for commercial sex purposes, and that Epstein was doing so by means of force, threats of force, fraud, coercion, and/or a combination of such means."
According to Groff's lawyers, Epstein's assistant's duties included making appointments, taking messages, and "setting up high-level meetings with CEOs, business executives, scientists, politicians, celebrities, charitable organizations, and universities." Groff told The New York Times in 2005 that she answered Epstein's telephone and managed his schedule. In the process of her employment, she had formed a special bond with the financier so much so that Epstein was "an extension of my brain."
Groff allegedly emailed Epstein accuser Sarah Ransomesaying that the financier had demanded she lose 11 pounds to maintain her slim figure. "Please could you also let him know that I am now 57 kg and that everything is going well," Ransome emailed Groff in 2007. Another accuser Jennifer Araoz was told to wait in "Ms. Groff's office" when she went to see him. In a separate 2017 lawsuit, filed by an anonymous Jane Doe, it was claimed that Groff was part of a circle of female "recruiters" close to Epstein. "Groff coordinated schedules between Epstein and the various young females used for sex; made travel arrangements for the girls; tended to their living needs; and communicated with them in order to maintain their compliance with the rules of behavior imposed upon them by the enterprise," the lawsuit said.