[Market Watch] Leslie Wexner, the billionaire behind Victoria’s Secret, said his former money manager Jeffrey Epstein misappropriated more than $46 million of his fortune, revealing for the first time some of the financial fallout from his relationship with the disgraced financier.In a letter Wednesday, the founder and chief executive of L Brands Inc. LB, -0.46% wrote to members of his Wexner Foundation that the missing funds were uncovered after Wexner decided in 2007 to sever ties with Epstein. Wexner began the separation process after allegations against Epstein surfaced involving sexual abuse of underage girls.
"We discovered that he had misappropriated vast sums of money from me and my family," Wexner wrote in the letter, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. "This was, frankly, a tremendous shock, even though it clearly pales in comparison to the unthinkable allegations against him now."
Shocked I tell you, SHOCKED !
In January 2008, Epstein transferred $46 million worth of investments to a Wexner charitable fund, tax records show. Wexner said the transfer was only a portion of the funds that his money manager had allegedly misappropriated. "All of that money ‐ every dollar of it ‐ was originally Wexner family money," he wrote. Last month, Epstein pleaded not guilty to sex-trafficking charges stemming from what federal prosecutors alleged was a yearslong scheme to procure and sexually abuse dozens of girls. He faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted. Epstein has been denied bail and is in federal custody.