Longtime Epstein assistant paints late sex offender as master manipulator and denies knowing about his crimes

By Annie Grayer, MJ Lee, CNN

(CNN) — One of Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime assistants told members of the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday that she did not know about the late convicted sex offender’s crimes, describing him as a master manipulator who had every reason to keep them a secret from her, according to two sources familiar with the testimony.

As a way to try to demonstrate her ignorance about Epstein’s wrongdoing, Lesley Groff, Epstein’s former executive assistant, said she believed the massage appointments she made for Epstein with young women and girls were with massage therapists, the sources said.

“I want to say without any doubt that I have come to believe the man who employed me from February of 2001 through July of 2019 was a monster. For 18 years, I worked for Dr. Jekyll but was never permitted to see the true Mr. Hyde,” Groff said in her opening statement, later obtained by CNN.

“Mr. Epstein was, in hindsight, a master manipulator and deceiver who separated his legitimate life from his secret life as an abuser, and made sure, that as his secretary, those two worlds did not collide.”

Groff is one of the most notable members of the late financier’s inner orbit to speak to Congress as part of its Epstein investigation — a ubiquitous assistant who helped manage every aspect of Epstein’s life from appointments with women to meetings with powerful individuals, as evidenced in the Justice Department’s millions of Epstein files.

As part of her opening remarks, she recounted to the investigative panel how massage appointments were booked and claimed to have never met any of the women involved.

“These calls lasted literally a few seconds. ‘Hi, this is Lesley calling for Mr. Epstein. Are you available for a massage at 4:00?’” Groff told lawmakers. “None of these women or anyone else ever told me they were minors; or that they were sexually abused. Nothing I heard or saw led me to believe otherwise.”

She would have never remained silent, she said, if she knew of Epstein’s crimes.

Groff told lawmakers during the hour-long interview that she was not sexually abused by Epstein, one of the sources said. She said she did not need her job with Epstein and testified that both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell told her that she should not associate with their friends and colleagues, insisting their business was none of hers.

Since Epstein’s arrest, Groff, who has largely stayed out of the spotlight, told lawmakers she’s been shunned by friends, received death threats and her family has been harassed.

Groff discusses Epstein survivors

Groff addressed Epstein’s survivors in her opening statement, testifying that her “heart breaks for these women.”

“I believe them. Words cannot express how badly feel that I was employed by Mr. Epstein during the time he abused these women. I will live with this horrible feeling for the rest of my life,” she told lawmakers of the survivors.

But Groff’s denial that she had any knowledge about Epstein’s wrongdoing was immediately met with condemnation from survivors.

Sharlene Rochard expressed skepticism that Groff would not have been aware of Epstein’s crimes.

“One of the hardest parts for survivors is hearing the people who were closest to Epstein claim they saw nothing,” Rochard told CNN. “That doesn’t match my experience. Survivors deserve answers, not claims of ignorance.”

Rep. Stephen Lynch, a Democrat on the panel, was also skeptical of Groff’s efforts to distance herself from Epstein, telling reporters: “It is highly inconsistent what she’s maintaining, that she really didn’t know Jeffrey Epstein even though she worked for him for 18 years.”

While Groff said she saw nothing wrong with the massages she scheduled for Epstein, Lynch said he questioned “whether she can rightfully and truthfully maintain that she saw nothing improper in that.”

“He was a registered sex offender and had to report,” Lynch added of Epstein.

Addressing why she did not leave her job with Epstein sooner, particularly after he became a registered sex offender, Groff claimed in her opening statement that Epstein had “lied to [her] and insisted that he had been blackmailed and set up.”

Groff was a ‘very forthcoming’ witness, chairman says

The committee covered a range of topics during the interview that stretched into the late afternoon Tuesday as Republicans and Democrats traded rounds of questioning.

A source familiar with the matter told CNN that there was no previously agreed upon scope for Groff’s interview, meaning no questions or topics were off limits.

“I want to help you in any way I can,” Groff told lawmakers at the start of her appearance.

House Oversight Chair James Comer described Groff as “very forthcoming” and “compelling” in the way she answered questions throughout the closed-door interview.

“There are some things that she said that probably aren’t along the same lines as what some of the victims have said. So, we’re going to have to review that,” Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said Tuesday, adding that he hopes to hold a public hearing with victims of Epstein’s abuse in the future.

Democrats have sought to tie President Donald Trump to Epstein, though Trump has long denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein, as well as any allegations of sexual misconduct.

Lynch noted that Groff arranged “multiple phone calls” between Trump and Epstein before Trump was president, but didn’t specify when.

Groff said she didn’t know of any employees of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort going to Epstein’s residence, the source familiar said.

Groff began working for Epstein in 2001, according to a 2010 payroll document, managing his schedule, booking his travel and personal appointments and acting as the go-between with high-profile individuals. She was listed as a potential co-conspirator to Epstein as part of the controversial non-prosecution agreement struck with federal prosecutors in Florida in 2008.

Multiple victims who spoke with the FBI identified Groff as the person they’d first call to reach Epstein and schedule a massage for him. They said that he perpetuated his sexual abuse while receiving those massages.

In a 2021 interview with the FBI, Groff said booking massages was just “another appointment she had to make for Epstein,” according to notes from that interview.

Email correspondences in the Epstein files also reveal that the late financier relied on Groff to book domestic and international travel for him and scores of women.

Groff’s lawyers announced in late 2021 that she would not be charged by law enforcement and that she had “never witnessed anything improper or illegal” and remains “heartbroken” for all of the victims.

In a previous statement to CNN, Groff’s lawyer said she worked for Epstein as “part of a professional staff that included in-house attorneys, accountants, and other office staff” and that her job included making appointments for Epstein, “taking his messages, and setting up high-level meetings with CEOs, business executives, scientists, politicians, celebrities, charitable organizations, and universities.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

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CNN’s Dugald McConnell, Nicky Robertson, Em Steck, Isabelle Khurshudyan, Sylvie Kirsch and Austin Culpepper contributed to this report.