'Seriously the best boss ever': inside the world of Jeffrey Epstein's assistant [View all]

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/may/28/inside-the-world-of-jeffrey-epstein-assistant-lesley-groff

‘Seriously the best boss ever’: inside the world of Jeffrey Epstein’s assistant

No one’s name appears in the Epstein files more than that of Lesley Groff, his assistant. Reading through the thousands of emails, a troubling question arises: what did she know?

By Sophie Elmhirst
Thu 28 May 2026 00.00 EDT

Jonathan Whitcomb, attorney for Lesley Groff, 5 June 2020
“She did not know.”

Lesley Groff, longtime executive assistant to Jeffrey Epstein, has always claimed she knew nothing of his crimes. Complicity requires knowledge. To be legally complicit in a crime, you have to know you are helping to commit it. To be morally complicit, the bar is lower. You don’t even have to play an active part. To have knowledge of the crime and do nothing is enough.

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5 May, 2015, DOJ Epstein Library
From: Lesley Groff
Hello …might you and/or your new friend be available to come see Jeffrey tomorrow at 2pm? Please let me know as soon as you can! thanks, Lesley
Groff’s emails inviting girls – her word – to “see” Epstein all followed a particular pattern. Often the arrangement involved a negotiation around the timing of their job or classes in college: “Tuesday I’m at school till 10pm – we have orchestra rehearsal for the concert on Friday”. Groff would also receive emails from intermediaries on behalf of other girls: “She can skip some classes and leave school at 1pm. If Jeffrey wants her at 3.30pm she can make it”. Groff replied: “ok, all good to know…we will let JE decide. thanks!”

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