Lesley Groff, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime executive assistant, told the House oversight and reform committee on Tuesday that she had no knowledge of the convicted sex trafficker’s crimes while working for him. In her prepared opening remarks, Groff said: “I believe that my testimony will dispel the false notion that because of my employment with Epstein, I must have knowingly enabled or conspired with him to commit his evil acts. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Groff, who worked for Epstein from 2001 until his arrest in July 2019, described him as “a master manipulator and deceiver who separated his legitimate life from his secret life as an abuser”. She told the committee that she never socialised with Epstein, never flew on his private plane, never visited him in jail, and never attended his parties or accompanied him to his private island, New Mexico ranch or Palm Beach residence.
According to FBI notes from a 2021 interview, Groff said her duties included scheduling meetings, making phone calls, and managing Epstein’s daily schedule. She stated that “from the beginning, massage was a part of Epstein’s day” and that she made massage appointments for him almost daily. “He provided me with the name and telephone number of a masseuse and I called her,” she said. “These calls lasted literally a few seconds.”
Groff maintained that she never met any of the masseuses and that no one told her they were minors or had been sexually abused. “Nothing I heard or saw led me to believe otherwise,” she added. Groff was among four women granted immunity under Epstein’s 2007 plea deal, but no criminal charges have ever been filed against her.
