Law&Crime Sidebar - Jeffrey Epstein, Retail Magnet Les Wexner and Victoria’s Secret

Episode Date: July 15, 2022

A new documentary looks at the rise and fall of Victoria’s Secret, its owner Leslie Wexner and his ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Kevin Spacey pleads not guilty to sex crimes charges in the UK. Solicitor Lisette Aguilar was outside the courthouse and tells us what she saw and what’s ahead in the case. And new reports say WWE founder Vince McMahon paid hush money to women accusing him of sexual misconduct. Luke Owen talks about whether McMahon has really stepped away from WWE or whether it’s just for show.GUESTS:Shahrina Ankhi-Krol, Owner & Attorney at Ankhi-Krol LawLisette Aguilar, Solicitor at Keystone LawLuke Owen, Host of WrestleTalkLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. A lot of people have heard of Victoria's Secret, but very few people have heard of the billionaire behind it, Les Wexner. Les Wexner owns some of the most popular stores you've seen at the mall, but as ties to sex offensive. Jeffrey Epstein have raised a lot of questions in recent years. I'm Janette Levy, and welcome to this latest edition of Law and Crime's Sidebar Podcast. This new documentary has just come out on Hulu, and it looks really interesting.

Les Wexner is from Columbus, Ohio. He is a billionaire, and he owns a lot of. big brands. He owns Victoria's Secret. He used to own the limited Abercrombie and Fitch. A lot of these stores that we've all done some shopping at over the years. And there have been a lot of questions about him and Jeffrey Epstein. So joining me to talk about this is Sharina Anki Kroll. She is a business attorney and a frequent guest on law and crime. So Sharina, thank you so much for coming on. We appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. It's always a pleasure to speak with you. You too. So this new documentary on Hulu is called Victoria's Secret, Angels and Demons. And it looks really at the downfall of Victoria's Secret. It's still at the mall. I walk past it all the time, but I can tell you, I never go in there. I don't know why. I just don't. You know, it's just not appealing to me for some reason anymore. What is the deal with Les Wexner and Jeffrey Epstein? And how could that have impacted that relationship he had with him? How could that have impacted his business?

Sure. So from my understanding, Jeffrey Epstein was very close with Wexler. Waxler allowed him to manage, from what I understand, a lot, if not all of his finances, and he gifted him a couple of houses, allowed him to allow Epstein to live within a mile of his estate. So a lot was going on. And what was really striking to me is that Wexler gave power of attorney to Jeffrey Epstein, which is very strange and very unusual because we don't really see that happening with anyone outside of someone's family, for example. It's someone usually that's very close to you. So that relationship, just by the fact, if we even ignore everything else, the fact that

the fact that Wexler gave Epstein power of attorney is very questionable. You know, we want to know more about what that relationship entailed, why that was done, just to see, you know, what else was happening. Epstein took a lot of secrets to the grave with him. And there were a lot of, there were a lot of reports out there that Jeffrey Epstein was involved in blackmailing, very famous people. And there were even some people concerned that he might have been blackmailing Les Wexner. And when all of these ties to these famous people started coming out in 2018 and 2019, Sharina, you know, he stepped back from his role at his company in 2020. Do you think that that's not a coincidence? I mean,

How could that be a coincidence? You know, I don't think it's a coincidence because, as you know, a lot of the companies, especially Victoria's Secret, has been on its way down. It's kind of spiraling on its way down for years now, mainly because I think, you know, the company has lost its touch with the new age consumers. But I think, you know, it's not a coincidence because the company just cannot handle any more bad press right now on top of what's already happening. So by kind of removing Wexner from the scene, maybe the company is trying to just re-merge, rebrand in a certain level. Yeah, it seems like that

that would be a good thing to do is to maybe take him out of the mix, get somebody else involved. And I do want to mention that there were some allegations that Jeffrey Epstein had actually sexually assaulted somebody at one of Les Wexner's properties years and years ago. And Les Wexner apparently said he cut ties with Jeffrey Epstein in 2007. This alleged sexual assault happened in 1996 at Wexner's estate in the Columbus, Ohio area. So he still was with the, he was still working with Jeffrey Epstein for some time. That could just be absolutely poisonous to a business empire, wouldn't you say? Absolutely.

I mean, you know, if that is true, currently is just an. allegation, right? Nothing has been proven. If that's true, I mean, it's, you know, I feel like the entire empire is going to be coming down, right? For Wexner. So, you know, the question now is, was that actually the truth? I know from doing a little bit of research that the woman that's making these allegations stated that she tried to make a complaint with the sheriff at Wexner as a state where she was saying. But the conflict is that the sheriff's office was apparently also hired by Wexner to watch his estate at that time where she was staying. So there's a lot of stuff going on that we don't really know the very fine

details of, which will definitely impact the outcome. Most certainly. It's an interesting story. The docu-series looks very interesting. And I think we'd all like to hear more from Les Wexner about this. So Sharina Anki-Krawl, a business attorney, thank you so much as always for coming on. We appreciate it. Thank you. Actor Kevin Spacey appeared in court this week. You probably know him from a number of movies. I know I loved him in House of Cards on Netflix, but he is charged with some sex crimes over in the UK. And joining us to talk about that is UK solicitor Lizette Aguilar. She is with Keystone Law over there in London. Lizette, welcome back to Sidebar. Thanks so much for coming on. Hello, Angelette. It's great to be back

with you. Let's talk about the very latest. Kevin Spacey was in court on Thursday. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. So take us to the scene. I know you were actually there. So tell us what it was like outside of the courthouse. There were a lot of media outside the courthouse, which is the central criminal court in London called the Old Bailey, which is an extremely historic criminal court, the oldest and a lot of very famous indeed notorious trials have taken place there and i think he was moved there because it's such a high profile case there were um reporters and photographers waiting outside the door for him to come out and indeed when he went in there was a little barrier but when he did come out you could actually get really close to him so everybody was taking photographs a car

had been brought round there were police there a car had been brought around to collect him so he only had to walk a short way, but even in that short distance, there was a scrum and one man fell over. At one point, I actually thought it was Kevin Spacey who was wearing a blue suit. And this man was also wearing a blue suit. It wasn't Kevin Spacey. He managed to get into the car unharmed, but it is an indication of how desperate people were to see him. The hearing itself was actually only very short, about 15 minutes. And he pled, as you said, not guilty to all five counts. What you're describing sounds very intense, obviously. Why is this case so important in the UK? I know that he ran a theater company there for quite some time and it was quite successful. But is there more to this? Because it seems like Kevin Spacey is, you know, he's been over in London for quite some time now. You know, he has ties there. Is that part of this? Yes, I think in some ways he's considered to be sort of a Londoner because he was artistic director.

of the Old Vic Theatre for many years, and as you say, he made it really a success. Also, because the nature of the crimes is quite shocking, given that he's a celebrity, and one of them is a serious sexual offence. So I think all of that put together really generates a lot of interest in the case, and will continue to do so. The trial will be in June, 23,

starting early June, for three or four weeks. and I can imagine that the attention then will be absolutely intense and that the courtroom will be packed. Is that typical for there to be such a long period of time in the UK from an arraignment per se to the trial? Is that common? Yes, yes, that's quite common. It usually takes, well, several months, if not a year, to actually get to trial. So that's not a surprise in itself. There may be some pretrial motions before that. And this will be a jury trial. We've talked about that before. And the jurors, there's no jury selection, you know, as we would have it over here in the United States. I think you told us the last time that they're just summoned. And basically that's who you get. Anyone can be summoned. It's completely random. And you actually have to have a good excuse not to do your jury duty. So whoever gets this summons will be in for a very, very interesting case. You know, what's interesting to me, too. Kevin Spacey, he walks out, obviously, you know, he's a performer. And he is coming out of the courthouse, you know, when I've seen him at least, he appears to not, he looks not too worried. And I, maybe some of that is for the cameras. But, you know, these are very serious charges over there in the UK. So, so what do you think of this? Do you think that he thinks this is maybe something he will win? Because over here in the U.S., in Massachusetts,

the case was later dropped. So do you think that he actually believes that? Or what's your take on that as an attorney? I think that the fact that he voluntarily came to the UK to be formally charged in the first place and that he has again appeared in person really speaks to his confidence that these charges will be dismissed. Having said that, they are very serious charges and he will have to go, of course, through the whole trial process. When he came out of the court, I wouldn't say, he was interacting in any way with anybody who was outside, he seemed to want to get to the car as quickly as possible, which is understandable. Oh, very understandable. And I'm assuming he had people with him, security, things like that. It was a small entourage, actually. He seemed to have

one, maybe two lawyers with him and a security person. But there were also City of London police officers around, obviously to make sure, you know, that the crowd didn't pressure him or hassle him in any way. Let's just go over those charges again. Just briefly, Lizette, just in case our viewers don't recall. Where are the charges that he's facing? What is he accused of? He's accused of four counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent. And that's the serious offense, which is why it has gone to the Crown Court and in back to the most famous Crown Court, which is the old Bailey. And in terms of those offences, in terms of how they kind of play out,

there are two which date back to 2005 in London. Those are two counts of sexual assault against one man. Then there is a count of sexual assault and the serious sexual offence against another man a bit later, I believe it was 2008. and then finally, a count of sexual assault in 2013. So these are three men, you know, with whom he has committed these alleged defenses, and the men are now in their 30s or 40s. Yeah.

It's interesting that some of these allegations are so old. But that often happens in sex cases where people are reluctant to come forward. And maybe once things started trickling out about him, then they felt more comfortable doing something. so I'm assuming. Yes, it's possible. And the two earlier offenses allegedly took place in London and then the later offense took place in Gloucestershire, which is a county outside London. Well, is that Aguilar? We appreciate you coming by to talk with us about this and your insight and you're on the scene description of what was going on outside the courthouse. Appreciate your time,

as always. Thank you so much for having me, Anjanet. I've got an insatiable appetite for life. And I'm on a lot. Nor, nor, nor. That is Vince McMahon, and he is the head of WWE, and he has been surrounded by controversy lately. The Wall Street Journal reported that over 16 years, he paid out $12 million in hush money over sexual misconduct claims against him and claims of infidelity. His wife, of course, is heavily involved in WWE, and now even Netflix has pulled a documentary that has been in production about him.

So joining me to talk about this is Luke Owen. He's the general manager of Russell Talk and host of the Russell Talk podcast on YouTube. Luke, welcome to Sidebar. Thanks for coming on. Thank you for having me again. It's a real pleasure to be here. Luke, tell us about the latest on Vince McMahon. I kind of summarized it there, but there's a lot going on with these allegations and the information

that keeps trickling out around him. Yeah, so the story that came out a couple of weeks ago was that just the one case that had been brought against him and the board of directors, so they were going to investigate things and he stepped down as the CEO, his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, took over as the interim CEO while Vince remained in charge of creative, which basically what that means if not a wrestling fan is that he books the shows. He decides what happens on all of the TV shows. He is the one who decides all the storylines, all of the matches and the match finishes. So he is still very much kind of in control of that aspect of things. The new stories that have come out against him are

slightly more, I think from a sort of a public perspective, a certainly more damaging to his character than the other ones. Like going by our own audience, you know, we kind of sort of being split into two camps. Some people were like, well, this is very bad. And then other people being like, well, it was just an affair. That's nothing really illegal.

Maybe we shouldn't be so harsh on them. But however, these ones are a lot more damaging to the Vince McMahon character, I feel. And what has his character been, you know, out there? I mean, I've seen him. He's kind of an over-the-top character, right? I mean, he's out there, he's the head of this, like, kind of outrageous show. I mean, let's face it, WWE is, there's, it's show business, right?

There's a show business aspect to this. So he's a showman. So what is his character in this whole, you know, business, this industry? I mean, he is the ringmaster. He is the guy that's going out there and is controlling the circus. And, you know, like on TV, he hasn't been much of a focal point for a number of years. However, like last November, all of a sudden he became a weekly character on TV again with a character named Austin Theory and he was sort of like mentoring this new and upcoming bad guy. He then had a match at WrestleMania against Pat McAfee and was sort of quite praised for his performance in the match considering how old he is.

And since then he's sort of been off TV. However, since all these allegations have come out against him, he has sort of brought himself back onto TV, but not in a storyline perspective. He now just comes out on TV, he's done a handful of times, just to come out and say things to the crowd. Like, welcome the crowd to the show, very much show that sort of like the kind of reading of it is to show that he is not bothered by these allegations. He is not fazed by these allegations that fightful select reported that his attitude is defiance in terms of these allegations. And the Mike Johnson of PW Insider said that on Friday Smackdown, which aired on Fox, it was business as usual. was not talking about the Wall Street Journal article. If anything, it was the, I believe the quote was, it was the elephant in the room that wasn't being discussed. I'm certain of that. It was

the elephant in the room. It seems like this probably was not that big of a secret. Yes, it's in the media right now. But typically when things like this happen, I feel like people have always known or it's been kind of an open secret in that particular industry or in those circles. So is there a little bit of that going on here, too? Within the wrestling world, sort of about 10, 15, maybe 20 years ago, there was a very popular form of media for wrestling fans called shoot interviews. And that was essentially wrestlers from the 80s and 90s and sometimes the 70s sat in hotel rooms being asked by a guy with a camcorder, tell me some stories.

You know, here's what happened on this show. What were your memories of that? And it became this very popular thing. And within those shoot interview series, numerous stories were told about, various people. And it's always been this kind of like wrestling has been, it's always been sort of seen as a seedy underbelly of things. And last couple of years ago, it had its own Me Too movement, which was called Speaking Out, where a lot of names came forwards that were, had very bad things against them, said against them, a lot of which was proven to be true. And a lot of them

found themselves without jobs. And they were fired from companies, have not been able to be booked anywhere since. But there were some names that kind of escaped out of that. There were some people who assumed that Vince would be one of those, but he wasn't. And I think it was just sort of presumed, hey, maybe there isn't actually that anything bad against him. It's just maybe all we've ever heard is rumor and innuendo and there's nothing actually true. But now there's these allegations come out against them that he's allegedly done. That's, you know, maybe, maybe there's more to it. But we obviously, we don't know until the board and finishes their investigation. And it says that the board of WWE is also investigating the head of talent relations

for similar inappropriate relationships with the same staffers as McMahon? That sounds a little wild. Yeah, I mean, John Laurinitis or Johnny Ace, as he's sort of more commonly known amongst wrestling fans, he has been ousted from the company. He has not been at TV. Sort of the scuttle butts is kind of, he's going to be seen as the scapegoats to this. When Laurenizers was brought in, there were reports, particularly from Five Four Select that said that female talent weren't happy that he was back in the company because

he has a, reportedly has a view of what women's wrestling should be, which is they should be out there to be eye candy, to be sex symbols and this and the other, where as opposed to more recently within the last five, seven years, that attitude has changed within WWE to show their female wrestlers as performers, as actual athletes. So there was a concern that they may go back to what was called the divas era of WWE, which were short matches, wrestling in gravy, wrestling in pools. and that and the other. And yeah, John Laurenitis has always had very bad things said about him in those two interviews I referenced earlier and within sort of wrestling media and stuff. So yeah, John Lauren is one of those again, like when the stories came out, was like, that's kind of unsurprising that it's Johnny Ace. But yeah, reportedly he is out of the company and has been sent home with Bruce Pritchard taking over his role. And Stephanie McMahon, Vince McMahon's daughter, I guess, is currently serving as the interim CEO and sharewoman of WWE.

And she stepped, her dad stepped down, I should say, while there was an internal investigation being conducted. So I feel like sometimes these companies hire law firms or what have you to conduct these internal investigations and they already know what they want the outcome of the investigation to be. So how do you see this ending? Personally, from my personal viewpoint, I don't see him going out of the company at any point. the word among wrestling fans has always been also like the thought amongst wrestling fans is that he will be the one to go down with the ship he'll be doing this until his dying day he is a man that reportedly only sleep for two hours a day because he's so busy working and working on the company working on various different things and you know I think if this was something that he was taking seriously he would have stepped down completely he would have completely stepped down as CEO and also as head of creative and he wouldn't be at any of the shows. I think the fact that he is still at shows, I think the fact that he's still going out on TV every now and again shows that this is not facing him whatsoever and he is

pretty confident that nothing will happen to him. And I think he will remain in charge of this company until he either unfortunately passes away or he hands it off to someone else of his own choosing. He will he will go when he is ready to go. He will not be pushed. I think I could see that too. I mean he's 76 years old and he's still in charge. So it seems to me he's sending a very clear message that this is my thing. I'm not going anywhere. This is his empire. Yeah, definitely. Well, Luke Owen, general manager of Russell Talk and host of the Russell Talk podcast found on YouTube. Thanks again for coming on Sidebar to talk about the latest with Vince McMahon. Thank you for having me. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. It is produced by Sam Goldberg and

Michael Dininger. Bobby Zoki is our YouTube manager. Kiera Bronson handles our social media and Alyssa Fisher is our booking producer. You can find Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, YouTube, of course, and wherever else you get your podcasts. I'm Janette Levy, and we will see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this Law and Crime series, ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app.

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