California model claims Jeffrey Epstein groped her while posing as Victoria’s Secret scout in 1997: 'His weapons were his hands'
New details regarding the allegedly heinous actions of math-teacher-turned-wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein has come to light after The New York Times reviewed police records of one of the earliest known allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
According to the report, in a 1997 encounter, Epstein pretended to be a Victoria’s Secret talent scout to lure a California model to a hotel room in Santa Monica and tried to 'manhandle' her. The model, Alicia Arden, who was 27 at the time, mentioned in the report that his “weapons were his hands.”
Arden, who was worried that Epstein could be using his connections with the fashion brand to hurt other women, went to the cops a day after the incident. She could still not stop thinking about the attack and went back a week later to put the report on record. The report states how he attempted to grope her while in a hotel room under the pretext of interviewing her for a job at VS and his actions made her extremely uncomfortable.
Italian model Elisabetta Tai has also made similar allegations against Epstein, claiming he had posed to be a VS recruiter and tried to grope her. Both allegation raiser further questions regarding the supposed control that he had over billionaire businessman and CEO of L Brands, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret, Leslie H Wexner.
Two of the former executives of L Brands had revealed that all alarms went off in the 1990s when they learned that Epstein is billionaire businessman and CEO of L Brands, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret. Even though people alerted Wexner about this and he had claimed to take care of the situation, he did not cut ties with the alleged sex trafficker until many years later.
In fact, in 1991, Wexner signed a power of attorney that allowed Epstein to act on his behalf – be it hiring people, signing checks, buying and selling of properties or even borrowing money. For about 16 years, Epstein enjoyed these luxuries, and the ties between them were only cut off in 2008, 18 months after Florida authorities charged Epstein with multiple counts of molestation and unlawful sexual activity with a minor.
After learning from media reports of the charges against Epstein since then, Arden voices the same question most people have regarding Wexner. “Why would someone that powerful and successful befriend someone like Jeffrey Epstein? I don’t get it.”
