Jeffrey Epstein assistant Lesley Groff set to testify before House panel

Lesley Groff, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime executive assistant, is testifying on Tuesday before the House oversight and reform committee as lawmakers on the panel continue their investigation into the late convicted sex offender. Groff worked for Epstein for almost 20 years, beginning in 2001 and ending in July 2019 when he was arrested. Notes from a 2021 FBI interview with Groff, which was included in the millions of documents related to Epstein released by the Department of Justice earlier this year, state that she told agents that she began working for Epstein after she was contacted by a headhunter, who found her resume and told her that there “was a job to organize one man’s life”.The man turned out to be Epstein, and Groff told agents that she had not previously heard of him. She said that she interviewed with several people for the position, including Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking crimes. According to the FBI document, Groff said that she signed a non-disclosure agreement.The document states that Groff told agents her responsibilities included scheduling meetings, making phone calls, coordinating with Epstein’s driver and chef and other people, and managing much of his daily schedule and appointments.According to the FBI notes, Groff told investigators that “from the beginning, massage was a part of Epstein’s day; they were normal appointments” .“Groff’s job was to make appointments” the FBI notes say. “To Groff, making massage appointments was just another appointment she had to make for Epstein” adding that Epstein would call Groff “in the morning and say something like, ‘Call and see if she can do a massage at 4.’”In recent years, Groff has faced public scrutiny after it emerged that she was among four women identified as possible “co-conspirators” and granted immunity from prosecution under Epstein’s controversial 2007 plea deal with federal prosecutors in Florida. Groff, through lawyers, has always maintained that she had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, and that she never engaged in any misconduct. No criminal charges have ever been brought against her.When asked last month about Groff’s knowledge of details surrounding Epstein’s 2008 conviction, her attorney Michael Bachner told The Guardian that “after Epstein’s arrest in 2008, he continuously lied to Lesley and other members of the staff, insisting that he had been blackmailed and set up.”Bachner added that Epstein “angrily said that the allegations against him were simply false, and he had no idea that the ‘prostitute’ he had contact with was a minor” adding that “in Lesley’s mind, that was the reason that he was treated so leniently by law-enforcement before and after he was sentenced.”The Epstein files released by the justice department also include an internal FBI document from 2019, that lists eight people as possible co-conspirators, including Groff. In a statement to NBC News earlier this year, Groff’s lawyer said that she had never seen the document and “was unaware of it”.“In fact, neither Lesley nor her counsel were ever notified by law enforcement that she was considered an Epstein co-conspirator,” her lawyer said. “On the contrary, after Lesley voluntarily spoke with prosecutors, and answered each and every question asked of her, she was told that she was not being prosecuted.”Groff’s name also appeared in a 2020 FBI interview with a survivor of Epstein’s abuse, in which the person, whose name is redacted, said that they felt like Groff “knew what was going on” and “knew the massage appointments were sexual” but the person acknowledged that they “never said anything to Lelsey about the massages”.Following Epstein’s death, Groff, along with several other employees and associates of Epstein, was named in several civil lawsuits filed by survivors against Epstein and his estate. Some plaintiffs accused her of facilitating his abuse. Groff’s attorney has said that she never engaged “in any misconduct and never knowingly made travel arrangements for anyone under 18”. The civil claims against Groff were later dismissed.Her lawyer has also called the allegations against Groff in the civil suits “simply wrong, confused, and devoid of any facts establishing that she had any idea of Epstein’s horrible and nefarious conduct”.Groff was subpoenaed by the House committee in March to appear before the panel for an interview.“Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, and documents obtained by the Committee, the Committee believes you have information that will assist in its investigation” the letter from Representative James Comer, the Republican who chairs the committee, reads.Last month, another one of Epstein’s former assistants, Sarah Kellen also testified before the House committee as part of their investigation. In her testimony, Kellen denied she was an accomplice of Epstein, and said that she was “sexually and psychologically abused” by the late financier during her employment.