After the Department of Justice released the latest round of Epstein files in January, a barrage of high-powered individuals named in the documents lost jobs, resigned from boards, and were otherwise ushered out of public life. And yet, one of the women most closely entwined with Jeffrey Epstein, his executive assistant, Lesley Groff, has faced limited scrutiny. In her latest Epstein investigation, Free Press reporter Tanya Lukyanova dives into the remarkably normal life of the woman Epstein once said he could not lose. This is a story about who has paid a price for their connections to Epstein, who hasn’t, and why. —The Editors
On March 2, Daniel LaGattuta rose to speak at a meeting of the New Canaan Republican Town Committee (RTC), a group dedicated to electing GOP candidates at both the local and national levels. He wanted to discuss what he called the “Lesley Groff problem.”
Groff, 59, is a longtime resident of New Canaan, Connecticut, an upscale suburb of some 20,000 people. She had also spent much of her career as Jeffrey Epstein’s executive assistant. She kept the convicted sex offender’s schedule; managed his day-to-day, overseeing everything from his haircuts to his daily massage appointments, many of which were code for “sex,” according to victims; and made the arrangements for the young women Epstein took to his Caribbean island and his ranch in New Mexico. Groff was so plugged into Epstein’s affairs that her name appears over 150,000 times in the recently released Department of Justice files. Only Epstein’s name appears more often.
In New Canaan, Groff and her husband, Ike, had a long history of donating to the RTC and Republican candidates, a fact that greatly troubled LaGattuta. The Groffs had paid $1,000 to attend a local fundraiser in October 2023, and another $1,000 for an RTC gala seven months later. And they made campaign contributions, as well. On several occasions, LaGattuta told the RTC that taking political donations from someone so close to Epstein was going to cause problems for the New Canaan Republican Town Committee.
Hoping to rally his fellow Republicans, LaGattuta laid it all out at the March 2 meeting. Groff, he pointed out, was listed as a suspected co-conspirator in the un-redacted FBI files that were released by the DOJ. She was a key member of Epstein’s inner circle, he said. She was even the reason New Canaan was mentioned more than a thousand times in the Epstein files. Associating with Groff, he concluded, was “morally abhorrent and a political catastrophe.” If they had any sense, he said, New Canaan Republicans would renounce her contributions and donate the money to an organization for victims of sexual abuse.
Groff was so plugged into Epstein’s affairs that her name appears over 150,000 times in the recently released Department of Justice files.
But once again, New Canaan Republicans, many of whom were friends of the Groffs, ignored LaGattuta.
Ever since the release of more than three million pages of Epstein emails and documents in January, many powerful people—figures like Larry Summers, Leon Black, Bill Gates, Peter Mandelson, and former Prince Andrew—have been ostracized and punished professionally because of their association with Epstein. (All of them have denied wrongdoing.) We’ve seen high-profile person after person issue the standard apology for ever being in Epstein’s life before taking the obligatory step back to reflect, whether or not they were complicit in unlawful or even just unsavory acts. For some, a mere email correspondence with Epstein cost them their job. Yet the woman who sat in the office next to his for nearly 20 years has somehow managed to resume her life in New Canaan as if Epstein had never been a part of it. In the sweeping Epstein reckoning, Groff is an anomaly. She doesn’t just make political donations—she goes to parties, hosts game nights, and dines at upscale restaurants with her friends and family.
Which makes one wonder: Does anyone in New Canaan even care?
Groff has long maintained her innocence. In a statement to The Free Press, her lawyer Michael Bachner insisted that throughout her tenure with Epstein, Groff “never witnessed or was told of anything illegal related to these massages.”
“Epstein lived in two worlds—one legitimate and the other not—and made sure they did not collide,” Bachner wrote in an email. “Indeed, it is our strong position that Epstein purposefully kept Lesley isolated from his criminal conduct since he had no reason to confide in her and every reason to lie.”
And while Groff has indeed been listed as a suspected co-conspirator, the government has never brought charges against her.
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But could she really have been entirely unaware of what was going on around her during her employment with Epstein? She began working with him in February 2001, seven years before he pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting prostitution with a minor, and stayed on until the day Epstein was arrested by the feds as he stepped off a plane at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey in July of 2019.
In 2021, Groff gave a long interview to the FBI in which she discussed how she landed the job, and how her relationship with her boss evolved over time. (The interview was part of Groff’s proffer agreement, which allowed her to explain her role in Epstein’s operations in exchange for limited protections.)
“Epstein lived in two worlds—one legitimate and the other not—and made sure they did not collide.” —Michael Bachner, lawyer for Lesley Groff
While working as a salesperson at Nordstrom, she was approached by a headhunter, who asked if she was interested in “a job to organize one man’s life.” She was interviewed by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who, of course, would later be convicted for her role in a conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal sex acts, transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking conspiracy, and sex trafficking of a minor. Groff said she had to sign a nondisclosure agreement that carried a potential $100,000 fine.
Years later, in a Thanksgiving email to Epstein, Groff would fondly recall their first meeting: “I am so thankful I walked into your office in Feb. of 2001 for the position of ‘Manhattan Socialite Assistant’. I had no idea what I was getting in to,” she wrote. “You asked me if I minded the word ‘fuck.’ I said ‘no I’ve heard the word lots before.’ ”
She started five days later.
From day one, Groff’s job was to manage Epstein’s time. Each morning, he would hand her pages of calls, meetings, and people he wanted to see, she told the FBI. That list included figures like then-Prince Andrew, former president Bill Clinton, Woody Allen, and scores of other elites.
She contacted drivers, pilots, chefs, maids, decorators, vendors, bodyguards, accountants, and personal assistants, often juggling multiple phones at once. Socializing with Epstein or his contacts was strictly off-limits. “You’re here to work,” Groff recalled Maxwell telling her early on. Even small talk was discouraged: If Groff purchased movie tickets for Epstein, she was not to ask afterward how he liked the film.
That strict professional distance was by design, Groff’s lawyer, Bachner, told The Free Press. Epstein “publicly and privately lambasted Lesley when he believed that she might be crossing the line by becoming friendly with his political or celebrity friends,” he added. When Epstein found out that Groff attended a “particular social function” early in her tenure, he threatened to fire her before putting her on “probation” instead.
“Not surprisingly, Lesley never socialized with Epstein,” Bachner said. “Lesley now realizes that Epstein made her a face of his legitimate world. It is no wonder she was included on so many emails.”
Mistakes were not tolerated, and at times the pressure reduced her to tears. In one instance, Groff recalled during her FBI interview, Epstein berated her for moving one of his appointments and forgetting to inform the other party. She had “ruined his whole day,” he told her.
Still, she was awestruck by the world she had entered—a world of wealth, private planes, and high-profile connections. “Groff felt it was pretty incredible to see all the people Epstein dealt with in politics, television, etcetera,” one of the FBI interviewers noted. “Groff felt ‘wow.’ ”
Groff told the FBI that she understood Epstein to be a money manager whose clients included the retail billionaire behind Victoria’s Secret, Leslie Wexner. She also understood that Epstein was something of a control freak, especially when it came to one recurring item on his calendar: his daily massage.
According to Groff, his massages were treated as “normal appointments.” He would call her in the morning, ask Groff to contact specific women, then follow up “every 15 minutes” until the appointment was secured. If one woman was unavailable, he would ask Groff to call another. One victim, Marina Lacerda, has alleged Groff called her so often to schedule massages that Lacerda ended up dropping out of high school before ninth grade.
A lawsuit filed by Jane Doe 43, later identified as Sarah Ransome, claimed Groff was the person who “coordinated schedules between Defendant Epstein and the various young females used for sex; made travel arrangements for the girls; tended to their living needs; and communicated with them in order to maintain their compliance with the rules of behavior imposed upon them.”
In her lawsuit, Ransome also said Maxwell and Epstein pressured her “to lose excessive amounts of body weight.” Groff appeared to have been familiar with that demand: In one 2007 email to Groff, Ransome asked her to let Epstein know “that I am now 57kg [approximately 125 pounds] and that everything is going well.”
In a separate complaint, Jennifer Araoz, who accused Epstein of raping her as a teenager in the early 2000s, claimed she often waited in Groff’s office before appointments, that Groff knew she was underage, and that Groff often was the one who paid her in cash afterward.
Groff’s lawyer, Bachner, strongly disputed these claims. “The allegations made against Lesley in a few civil lawsuits are simply wrong, confused, and devoid of any facts establishing that she had any idea of Epstein’s horrible and nefarious conduct,” he said. He noted that all civil cases naming Groff were ultimately dismissed, and that “she never paid a cent towards a settlement.” (The claims were settled through the victims’ compensation fund, which bars recipients from suing Epstein employees.)
What is undisputed is that Groff’s role centered on logistics rather than direct participation. Unlike some of Epstein’s other assistants, Groff did not travel with him. She told the FBI that scheduling massages accounted for “around 1 [percent]” of her job.
By 2005, Groff had become indispensable. Her salary was more than $200,000 a year, not including bonuses. When she moved to Connecticut in 2003, Epstein bought her a Mercedes-Benz E320 for her commute to Manhattan; when she became pregnant, he paid for her full-time nanny. “There is no way that I could lose Lesley to motherhood,” Epstein told The New York Times at the time.
In August 2007, when the FBI arrived at her home to serve her with a grand jury subpoena tied to Epstein’s Florida case, Groff quickly excused herself to go upstairs to check on her sleeping child. From there, according to the FBI, she called Epstein and alerted him to the visit. He ordered her not to cooperate, and reprimanded her for letting the agents inside.
In 2008, after Epstein had agreed to plead guilty but before he was sentenced, Groff penned a letter of support meant to persuade the judge to give him a lighter sentence. In it, she portrayed Epstein as a generous, caring, and accommodating boss, and excitedly described the countless perks of working for him, including hair appointments at Frédéric Fekkai, “one of the most prestigious salons in New York City.”
She concluded, “From day one of my employment I have been witness to, and receiver of, Jeffrey’s outrageous generosity.” She added, “I truly hope I work for Jeffrey forever.”
After Epstein had served his sentence, Groff’s duties included sending him at least one reminder to update his photograph on the sex-offender registry.
“I truly hope I work for Jeffrey forever.” —Lesley Groff
Groff’s lawyer insisted Epstein misled her and others about his Florida case. “After Epstein’s arrest in 2008, he continuously lied to Lesley and other members of the staff, insisting that he had been blackmailed and set up,” Bachner said. “He angrily said that the allegations against him were simply false, and he had no idea that the ‘prostitute’ he had contact with was a minor. In Lesley’s mind, that was the reason that he was treated so leniently by law-enforcement before and after he was sentenced. Although Lesley considered resigning, Epstein was manipulative in persuading her to remain.”
After Epstein’s death, it emerged that under a trust agreement he wrote shortly before his 2019 arrest, he planned to give Groff $2 million upon his death, with loans, if any, forgiven. It’s unclear if she’s ever received the money, as the trust has been significantly depleted, with millions going toward compensating the victims. (Groff’s lawyer, Bachner, claimed that the trust agreement was later amended “by a second trust document in which Lesley received no bequest.” He added: “The bottom line is the $2 million reflected in that original trust was never paid or received by her.”)
Groff told the FBI in 2021 that she was retired. It appears she never took another job after Epstein’s arrest.
The most striking thing about Lesley Groff’s life in New Canaan today is that, unlike so many whose lives have been damaged by their association with Epstein, hers doesn’t seem to have changed much.
She and her also retired husband, Ike, a co-founder at trading firm Tourmaline Partners, live in a $3 million home—a sprawling, stone-clad colonial on a shady one-acre lot on one of New Canaan’s most prestigious streets. People told me they regularly see her at Pilates classes, high-end restaurants, and social events.
Before 2019 Epstein’s arrest, the Groffs used to host annual Texas-themed parties. Photos from the 2018 event, posted publicly by Groff’s stepfather, show her in a black sleeveless top, fitted leather pants, and matching cowboy boots, smiling into the camera as she half-hugs family and friends, with a glass of white wine in hand.
The Groffs threw their 2019 party three months after Epstein died in his prison cell. By then, The New Canaan Advertiser had published a story about Groff with the headline, “New Canaan Resident Was Assistant to Jeffrey Epstein.” The story noted that Groff had been described in one victim lawsuit as “as a scheduler and travel coordinator for her boss’s abusive activities.” (The story also included her lawyer’s denial that she knew about Epstein’s crimes.)
Nonetheless, dozens of family and friends attended the party and, as Groff’s stepfather wrote on Flickr, “A great time was had by all.”
The most striking thing about Leslie Groff’s life today is that, unlike so many whose lives have been damaged by their association with Epstein, hers doesn’t seem to have changed much.
When I visited New Canaan earlier this month, I did find some people who were offended by Groff’s role as Epstein’s executive assistant. One woman said she would leave an event if Groff walked in. Another gave up her weekly tennis game after learning her regular partner was friendly with Groff; the association left her “creeped out.” A restaurant manager compared Groff’s position to that of a clerk in Nazi Germany: highly competent, narrowly focused, and willfully blind. He still politely serves her when she dines at his establishment. But he would not, he said, go for coffee with her on his day off.
More typical, though, was the response I got from the bartender at Elm, a downtown fixture where well-heeled regulars linger over oysters and $32 burgers. He’s known “Miss Lesley” for years, he told me, and sees her about three times a month, when she comes in for lunch or dinner. He described her as kind, attentive, and generous with conversation.
“I don’t think she had any idea about what happened behind closed doors,” he said. “She was just doing her job.”
A number of Groff’s friends belong to Encore, a New Canaan women’s club, whose roughly 400 members fill their calendars with book clubs and bridge nights and pickleball and theater outings. Over the past year, Groff has hosted at least two game nights of bunco—a social dice game—at her house, and has shown up at other gatherings, as well, including a “pottery painting girls night out,” a group luncheon, and Encore Club’s fashion show. At the bottom of one of the bunco invites read the message, “Thank you Lesley for hosting again.”
Mary Liz Lewis, a club board member who was listed as a point person for the events Groff hosted, did not respond to The Free Press’s request for comment. Neither did the club’s president. However, another Encore board member told me that “it’s not my role to ostracize her. But I wouldn’t go out of my way to be best friends with her either.”
“Lesley Groff could be the only thing New Canaan is talking about very soon.” —Daniel LaGattuta, New Canaan resident
“Some of the people who do know about her and Epstein believe her story that she was not involved with anything criminal,” a self-described local blogger, who goes by the alias “William Harford” on X, told me in an email. “And they point to the fact that she was not prosecuted and lawsuits were dropped.”
Harford, however, is not one of those people. He said he is “disgusted by her acceptance into the local community and how a lot of people look the other way.” In December, he started a blog, Lesley Groff Watch, to “find out as much as possible about Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime assistant” who “is living comfortably in New Canaan, CT, enjoying her life.” In effect, he is trying to force the townspeople to face the fact that their friend was an Epstein enabler, even if she didn’t know what Epstein was doing with those young women and girls. The sense I got, however, is that Harford’s unlikely to change many minds.
“I don’t think people in the community think of her as a monster. Because people know her,” a woman, whose child went to school with Groff’s son, told me. “People who have their kids raised together, they don’t feel that way.”
“But you do wonder what she knew, given that she’s worked for him for 18 years,” she added. “That makes you wonder.”
Residents might soon have to wonder less. On March 3, one day after LaGattuta addressed the New Canaan Republicans, the House Oversight Committee sent Groff a letter requesting that she appear for “an in-person transcribed interview” as part of its own Epstein investigation. The date is set for June 9 at 10 a.m.
In noting that Congress was interested in taking Groff’s testimony, LaGattuta told his fellow Republicans in one of his emails that “you can’t sit on this and hope it goes away. Lesley Groff could be the only thing New Canaan is talking about very soon.”
The town’s already abuzz. A resident I met told me that last month the New Canaan Moms Facebook group had dozens of comments debating whether a post about the upcoming testimony should be allowed on the group’s page: Some moms said it was just gossip. Others said it was time for Groff to stop “rolling around gallavanting all over. People should know who she is and what she has done and the community should not accept her.” A common refrain was about protecting the community, and members needing to stop being so concerned with the optics of being polite. As one mother wrote: “If you aren’t calling out a known child predator and at the very least helping to make them uncomfortable, you don’t care about protecting New Canaan children.”
We now have a new crime. Guilt by association. 😳
It's like THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. A society built on the Ten Commandments has been systematically replaced with demon-infested lizards.