Epstein's massage fixer says paedophile was ‘master manipulator’ as she’s dragged into congressional grilling
Lesley Groff's name shows up in the documents released by the Department of Justice more than 160,000 times
Jeffrey Epstein's personal assistant of 18 years has described the paedophile as "a master manipulator" and claimed she knew nothing of his crimes, as she faced lawmakers on Tuesday.
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Lesley Groff testified before the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door meeting about her time working for Epstein from 2001 up until his arrest in 2019 - sharing what she knew and what her day-to-day work looked like.
The 59-year-old's name shows up in the documents released by the Department of Justice more than 160,000 times.
The Epstein files show her setting up meetings between her boss and high-profile figures such as US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick.
Read more: 'I'll never speak to police', says woman who claims Epstein flew her to UK for sex with Andrew
In her opening remarks, Groff told the House: “I believe that my testimony will dispel the false notion that because of my employment with Epstein, I must have knowingly enabled or conspired with him to commit his evil acts.
“Nothing could be further from the truth.
“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 world did not collide.”
Multiple victims have told the FBI that Groff booked them to give Epstein massages, during which he sexually assaulted them.
One of Epstein's victims told a news conference in September that Groff would call her and tell her she needed to be at his house so often "that I ended up dropping out of high school before ninth grade".
A source familiar with the hearing told CNN that Groff said believed the massages were carried out by professionals.
She told lawmakers that Epstein would call her at 9am every morning with tasks to complete, adding that "almost daily" she made massage appointments for him.
“He provided me with the name and telephone number of a masseuse and I called her,” she said.
“These calls lasted literally a few seconds.
She added that to her knowledge “I never met any of the masseuses” and “none of these women or anyone else ever told me they were minors; or that they were sexually abused."
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor, he served 13 months in prison with work release.
As part of his plea deal, Epstein, four named co-conspirators and unnamed potential co-conspirators were granted immunity from all federal charges.
Groff was one of the people granted immunity under this plea deal, something she says she had no knowledge of and is her "scarlet letter".
He was then arrested again in 2019 and charged with sex trafficking of minors, accused of recruiting and abusing underage girls in New York and Florida.
She said in her hearing that said that it was not until “sometime after Mr Epstein’s conviction that I learned the government and Epstein’s lawyers had included me and others in the non-prosecution agreement as potential conspirators”.
“I am not a conspirator and I never would have agreed to this language.
“Their unilateral decision to label me as a potential conspirator remains my scarlet letter.”
Groff went on to say that she believed Epstein's claims that he had been "blackmailed and set-up" and that the allegations were false. He claimed that the woman he had contact with hadn't told him she was a minor.
“Although I considered resigning, Epstein convinced me to remain,” she said. “He played on my loyal nature. I actually believed that he had been set up.”
No criminal charges have ever been brought against Groff.
A transcript of her interview with the committee will be released at a later date.