Ohio State should have known about Wexner's Epstein problems by Sept. 18, 2009

Epstein files show that then-Ohio State Board of Trustees chairman Leslie Wexner was served in a Jane Doe lawsuit against the since-deceased sex trafficker in 2009.

Feb 12, 2026

From left to right: Leslie Wexner, Jeffrey Epstein, and John Zeiger. Middle: An undated draft from Epstein alleging Zeiger certainly acted as an intermediary between the former friends, business partners and rumored lovers. Bottom: Brutus Buckeye.

The New York Times recently reported on Jeffrey Epstein’s “draft” of a letter to Central Ohio billionaire Leslie Wexner dated “years” after their “acrimonious” severance in 2007.

In the memo, Epstein reminisced about doing 15 years of “gang stuff” with Wexner and the many “aggressive” and “false” allegations he faced from Wexner’s wife, Abigail, which he would have had to betray Wexner’s confidence to answer truthfully.

In retrospect, The New York Times surprisingly didn’t capture the creepy eeriness of the letter in its entirety, which you can view below:

Les, I am truly sorry to hear that you have been the target of an extortion attempt by the same girl that has tried to extort Ehud Barak , Alan dershowitz and prince Andrew. I guess that she is either using bottom feeder , or she is being used by them. I am certain that John Zeiger has transmitted my suggestion that you and I sit down together. I was tol that that family had no interest in a meeting. As I did not ask for meeting with family, I find that answer unsatisfactory. I have never once, not once, done anything , but protect your interests. I owe a great debt to you , as frankly you owe to me. I was not surprised by your reticence to sit with me when my bad judgement with women became a cause celebre. As Im sure you recall, you didn't sit with your mother or sister or sharon , when a conflict arose. as I did it for you. you didn't sit with Jack Kessler , Stanley or stanleys son. I did it for you. I never asked to see you , I never sent you a request Abigail and I sat, she asked many questions. She made many unfair, aggressive and false accusations. None of which could have been fully answered without violating a confidence with you. Many of which I did not answer. Some that I did. You and I had " gang stuff " for over 15 years. A great deal of it, that she was unaware of. I had no intention of divulging any confidence of ours , no matter what accusations she made. And she made quite a few. As Im sure she told you , I didn't argue with her , threaten her, or you, or in any way did not behave as I had always. Putting your interests first I always told you I would never under any circumstances give it up, or put you in harms way , no matter who , what or when. I would guess that if things have not changed much as I know you well that you will find a need to show this letter to Abigail. If so. I would ask that you not raise your shoulders purse your lips and tell her I have no idea what he means. Is Jeffrey asking for something, " there must be more to it" we don't know what we don't know. — Via the Department of Justice’s Epstein Library. The letter also references Jack Kessler, whose daughter, Elizabeth Kessler, currently serves as the No. 2 on the Ohio State Board of Trustees.

In the second paragraph, Epstein revealed that John Zeiger, Wexner’s longtime lawyer and current chairman of the Ohio State Board of Trustees, acted as an intermediary between the longtime friends, business partners, and, according to Epstein’s final cellmate, lovers.

Why did Epstein seem to think it was possible to rekindle his friendship with Wexner, despite Wexner’s claims that Epstein paid him $100 million after “misappropriating vast sums” of his fortune?

While we lack the date on the letter or knowledge of whether it was ever delivered to Wexner, The Rooster can reveal that Wexner was dealing with Epstein-related fallout in September 2009, when he chaired the Ohio State Board of Trustees.

We know this thanks to Epstein’s emails, which show that Wexner’s representation—likely Zeiger himself—accepted service of a subpoena in an Epstein-related “Jane Doe” lawsuit that also sought testimony from Donald Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell on or about Aug. 5, 2009:

An email chain, originally involving Epstein and Robert Critteron, a late lawyer in Florida, and several other redacted participants, discussing a lawyer representing Epstein “Jane Doe” seeking testimony from Leslie Wexner, Donald Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell.

This would have been headline news involving any trustee at the University of Ohio State, let alone the billionaire megadonor being served alongside another well-known billionaire in Donald Trump.

Curiously, Wexner immediately gaveled the Board of Trustees into executive session at their next meeting on Sept. 18, 2009:

Page 1,087 of 2,227: Minutes from the September 18, 2009, Ohio State Board of Trustees meeting in which Chairman Leslie Wexner immediately moved the body into executive session and reconvened the following day.

It’s impossible to say what they talked about during that session—perhaps lawyers representing Ohio State’s sexual abuse survivors in the Dr. Richard Strauss case can ask Wexner in the upcoming deposition that a federal judge ordered on Wednesday.

But we do know that Vice President E. Gordon Gee, who recently accused survivors of engaging in cancel culture by demanding answers from Epstein, served as Ohio State’s president on Sept. 2009 after Wexner personally recruited him from Vanderbilt.

We also know that, at another unknown date, Zeiger filed an official request for a copy of a settlement agreement between Epstein and “Jane Doe No. 102.”

John Zeiger filed for a copy of a settlement between Jeffrey Epstein and Jane Doe No. 3 [via the Department of Justice[

Only Wexner and Zeiger would know if Jane Doe No. 102 is the same Jane Doe referenced in the email thread about Wexner’s counsel accepting service in a lawsuit against Epstein.

Only Wexner would know if Epstein’s financial settlement to quash the lawsuit was part of the “great debt” that Epstein claimed Wexner owed him.

And only Epstein would know if the late Virginia Giuffre was the “bottom-feeder” that was attempting to “extort” Wexner.

We do, however, know that Giuffre claimed Epstein trafficked her to Wexner, who raped her several times.

We also know, thanks to a file mysteriously deleted by the Department of Justice after The Rooster cited the document on Feb. 2, that Zeiger’s junior business partner, Marion Little, and Zeiger’s son, Matthew, filed an amicus brief in defense of Ghislaine Maxwell in a case against Giuffre and Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown in July 2025:

You can view the full filing on The Wayback Machine. The “Defendant-Appellee is then-convicted sex trafficker Ghislane Maxwell, the only person ever convicted for aiding and abetting the world’s most infamous pedophile.

That filing, by the way, came roughly three years after a federal judge sentenced Maxwell to 20 years in prison for her crimes. That filing also came approximately three months after Giuffre died by suicide.

John Zeiger, meanwhile, has continued to serve as Ohio State’s ostensible leader through two of its darkest chapters, with Wexner only recently eclipsing Dr. Richard Strauss.

Both chapters remain unfinished, with The Rooster breaking the story on Monday about Epstein having Ohio State ob-gyn chairman Dr. Mark Landon on an annual retainer, and Wexner only forced to the deposition room on Wednesday.

We still don’t know what we don’t know.

But we do know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Zeiger was helping Wexner avoid Epstein-related fallout as soon as the Fall of 2009—a little over a year after Wexner told Epstein he had nobody to blame but himself for his upcoming sweetheart prison sentence because he violated his “No. 1 rule” to “be careful… always.”

We’re now at a point that Wexner and Zeiger never imagined in 2009: Their emails exposing their machinations almost 20 years later.

But here we are, with The Ohio State University being managed by the lawyer of a man the FBI considered an Epstein co-conspirator as recently as 2019.

And we still don’t know why that case evaporated under Trump’s Department of Justice, while we do know that at least one of Epstein’s victims thought Wexner and Trump had valuable insights into the crimes against her.

If Zeiger actually cared about Ohio State, rather than just as a proxy to protecting his longtime benefactor, he’d have already resigned from his sinecure and saved the university the embarrassment.

The Rooster vows to continue embarrassing Wexner, and by extension, Zeiger, until the chairman comes to his senses.