Leslie Wexner & John Zeiger have buried Ohio State scandals for nearly 30 years
Ohio State announced an investigation into Dr. Mark Landon's Epstein ties a week after The Rooster broke the news. But how can Wexner's lawyer be trusted to oversee a second Epstein investigation?
The Ohio State University announced another investigation into its long-standing connections to dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein on Saturday.
The investigation will look into a recent, nationwide revelation that its first Epstein investigation failed to uncover that The Rooster first reported: Epstein having Ohio State ob-gyn chairman Dr. Mark Landon, being on a $75K annual retainer.
That’s the last kind of international infamy the university wanted ahead of its grand opening of the opulent University Hospital set to open on Feb. 22.
It’s hard to take the second investigation seriously for the same reason the first missed Dr. Landon’s Epstein connections: John Zeiger, the longtime lawyer of Wexner and current chairman of the Board of Trustees, still plays a pivotal role in university leadership as he did in 2020 when the Ohio State investigated its Epstein ties.
Zeiger’s years-long conflict of interest strikes at the heart of why Ohio State has issued Epstein guidelines to unfortunate university employees tasked with handling callers angry about the ongoing crisis:
Zeiger’s law firm, which he rules with an iron fist, filed an amicus brief in defense of convicted sex trafficker Ghislane Maxwell in 2025—three years after a federal judge sentenced that British demon to 20 years in prison for her aiding and abetting of Epstein’s crimes.
Zeiger’s junior law partner, Marion Little, filed a 128-page defense of Wexner in federal court two weeks ago.
That brief, which cried about The Rooster “ambushing” Zeiger’s former business partner, Ohio State lawyer, the Burberry-clad Michael Carpenter, was unsuccessful in keeping federal judge Michael Watson from ordering the notorious thong salesman deposed in the Dr. Richard Strauss class-action lawsuit against the university.
Ohio State, led by Chairman Zeiger, had long taken the position that Wexner was being unfairly maligned in a “multi-faceted media campaign.” Attorney General Dave Yost echoed that sentiment.
In an exclusive interview with The Rooster, Yost deferred to local authorities, claiming himself powerless to investigate Wexner if that were something he were interested in doing, which he isn’t.
The plaintiffs’ interests in Wexner’s involvement were organic. Dr. Strauss’ reign of terror lasted 20 years until Ohio State failed to renew his contracts with the Athletics Department and Student Health in 1996.
Wexner was not only a trustee at that time, but the chairman of the trustees’ personnel committee, according to Ohio State’s independent investigation into the scandal.
The Perkins Coi LLP report also cited then-university president E. Gordon Gee a total of 33 times, ultimately laying the blame at his doorstep for allowing Strauss to retire with prestigious “emeritus” status, which he used to continue his sadistic abuse until his death by suicide in 2005.
Multiple high-level employees with direct knowledge confirmed to The Rooster that Zeiger, then only a lowly trustee, vehemently fought the idea of an independent investigation into how, exactly, Dr. Strauss abused students in broad daylight for nearly 20 years.
That continued mentality into the present day, which runs contrary to every public relations tactic in existence, can only be explained by his ultimate commitment to his longtime client in Wexner.
Despite overseeing Dr. Strauss’ shambolic exit from Ohio State, Wexner personally recruited Gee to return for a second rodeo as president on Aug. 1, 2007.
A month later—days after Epstein resigned from the Wexner Foundation seat previously held by Wexner’s mother—Ohio State christened the Leslie Wexner Football Facility at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Abigail Wexner and Epstein’s foundation secured those naming rights as a birthday gift to the billionaire with matching $2.5 million donations.
Abigail Wexner, for her part, would label further communication with Epstein “fine” and “not a problem” in Nov. 20007 when seeking financial advice that her husband’s wealth apparently couldn’t buy anywhere else, days before the Great Recession.
The facility used to include a wall dedicated to Wexner’s life, with a photograph and a splashing biography.
However, Ohio State mysteriously removed that mural during COVID restrictions in 2020—a little less than a year the world learned about Wexner’s troubling Epstein connections.
We now know, thanks to Epstein’s emails, that Wexner was served in a Jane Doe lawsuit against Epstein in or around August 2008.
Wexner, then chairman of the Board of Trustees, immediately gaveled the body into executive session at the next board meeting on Sept. 18, 2008. That executive session lasted the entire day, with the trustees not returning to the public domain until the following morning.
We now know, thanks to the Epstein files, that Zeiger later personally requested a settlement between Epstein and Jane Doe #102, meaning that Zeiger, and by extension Wexner, had every reason to believe there were at least 101 other Jane Does with litigious claims against Wexner’s friend and business partner.
Gee served as the university president at that time.
In Feb. 2012, a little over three years after Ohio State had every right to know about Wexner’s troubling knowledge of a longtime friend and seven-figure donor, President Gee announced the naming of the Wexner Medical Center after a $100 million donation.
“Les has been among Ohio State’s most dedicated leaders and most passionate supporters for many decades, and someone who continues to make an indelible impact on our community,” Gee said in a statement.
“His generous contributions, both in time and resources, have been wholly transformational, but his most valuable gift has been his extraordinary leadership. He has a firm and unequivocal vision for our academic Medical Center, and that is to be a world-class institution, period.”
Wexner would resign from the Board of Trustees on June 9, 2012, with eight years left on his term. He did not provide a comment to The Columbus Dispatch.
Was that about the time he received a passive-aggressive letter from Epstein, looking to rekindle their relationship after mentioning doing “15 years of gang stuff” and saying Wexner owed “a great debt” to him? Only Wexner would know.
“Les Wexner has provided extraordinary leadership to the university during times of significant change and progress, and we are grateful for his service,” Gee told The Dispatch. “We are also fortunate to continue to have Alex Shumate’s wisdom and guidance.”
Shumate, it should be noted, also served as trustee in that now-infamous executive session ordered by then-chairman Wexner on Sept. 18, 2009. He currently serves as a senior partner at “the globally connected” Columbus-based law firm of Squire, Patton and Boggs.
Wexner and Zeiger’s egomaniacal meddling didn’t stop there when then-Governor John Kasich appointed Wexner’s handler to the Board of Trustees on May 15, 2017.
As Owen Daughtery of The Lantern noted, the move appeared to be a payoff for Zeiger’s firm successfully keeping a Libertarian candidate off the ballot during Kasich’s romp to re-election in 2014.
Kasich appointed Abigail Wexner as trustee in 2014, a post she left in 2019.
Zeiger would become chairman of the board in July 2024.
His Vice Chair is Elizabeth Kessler, the daughter of Jack Kessler, Wexner’s longtime business partner of the New Albany Company, based in the Columbus suburb that Ghislaine Maxwell claimed Epstein “ran.”
Epstein’s ghost lingers over Wexner’s crowning achievement, set to debut later this week
United States Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) went on Sunday’s episode of This Week with George Stephonopolous and called for Donald Trump’s Department of Justice to open an investigation into Leslie Wexner.
The timing couldn’t have been worse for Ohio State, which is set to open its new University Hospital on Feb. 22.
“Reaching 26 stories into the sky, the new University Hospital reflects our land-grant mission of serving the community by providing the very best care for every person, every time,” Ohio State declared.
The new hospital was set to serve as a capstone to Wexner’s legacy. But given the brewing scandals in Columbus and Washington, D.C., it’s unclear whether Wexner will muster the courage to attend the public event.
But recent revelations about Epstein’s ties to Dr. Mark Landon, who delivered Wexner’s children and will have a maternity waiting room at the new hospital named in his honor, already had University Nurses calling for supporters to submit a request that Ohio State review Wexner and Landon’s naming rights:
The revelations about Dr. Landon, who has claimed he only offered consulting services to the dead pedophile’s company, have put new light on Wexner’s struggle to oust former Ohio State President Kristina Johnson midway through her contract.
From The Columbus Dispatch in Feb., 2023:
Johnson realized she could no longer run the university the way she wanted.
There was too much pressure from the man whose name sits on the campus buildings and those on the board who are loyal to him.
“Les Wexner wanted things done his way, and there is a faction of the board that makes sure he gets what he wants,” said one source close to Johnson. “Kristina decided it would be nearly impossible to finish the amazing work she had started with that kind of pressure. That’s why she made the painful decision to resign, not because of some exaggerated complaints from her staff.”
Multiple sources at Ohio State and within the State Legislature confirmed to The Rooster in the past week that the struggle centered on Wexner’s desire to take the land-grant university hospital private.
Johnson lost the battle, but she may have ultimately won that war. The Wexner Center is still a public institution.
Did Wexner want to take the university private, and thus out of the realm of public records requests, due to his longtime friendship and business partnership with Epstein, and what that might unearth—especially when the university is no longer controlled by the aging billionaire’s allies?
The Rooster hopes to put the question to Wexner on Sunday, should he muster the courage to attend the event that was supposed to serve as a capstone of his life’s philanthropic efforts.
If Wexner isn’t there or unavailable, Chairman Zeiger will serve as an adequate replacement.
Thanks for mentioning President Johnson's sudden resignation. I always
smelled a rat there and you have uncovered the source of the stink. She
was unfairly criticized by the power brokers of Cowtown.
Any other public university would be in free fall with the revelation that its Board, its medical staff including maternity and sports, even sitting members of Congress, are all connected to an international PDF trafficking ring for decades.
Where TF is Governor DeWine? What do they have on HIM? What’s the state doing in Youngstown, still running K-12, when you can’t manage the flagship Uni, how can anyone trust that students and kids are safe in this state with this total cowardice in the face of these heinous crimes?