Epstein survivor Annie Farmer supports drive to remove Les Wexner’s name from OSU campus
NBC News · LC · trust 23/100
Annie Farmer, who says both she and her sister Maria were among the hundreds of women victimized by the now-dead financier, said she supports their push to have the name of Leslie Wexner, the Ohio billionaire who once bankrolled Epstein, removed from campus buildings.
Farmer also criticized OSU leaders for waging a prolonged legal battle, settled in June, with the hundreds of men who said the university did nothing to stop Dr. Richard Strauss from sexually assaulting them decades ago, often under the guise of doing physicals.
The Strauss survivors have noted repeatedly that Wexner served on the OSU Board of Trustees during the time period that the campus doctor preyed on them.
“Hundreds of students and alumni have made it clear that they do not want Wexner’s name on their buildings including many of the brave athletes who are survivors of Richard Strauss,” Farmer said in an emailed response to questions from NBC News. “If you are an OSU student who has been a victim of a sexual assault you are currently directed to go to the Wexner Medical Center for an exam. That is highly problematic.”
Farmer was in Columbus with the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room, a traveling public art installation that includes 3.5 million pages of partially redacted Department of Justice documents related to Epstein.
A spokesperson for Wexner declined to comment.
From left, Jeffrey Epstein, Leslie Wexner, and a person who has been redacted. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Meanwhile, OSU spokesperson Benjamin Johnson did not directly respond to Farmer’s remarks but said the university has an established process for considering renaming requests.
“We have received requests related to Les Wexner, and they remain under review,” Johnson said in an email.
The billionaire’s name is on the Les Wexner Football Complex, the Wexner Center for the Arts and the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
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Her testimony helped convict Maxwell in 2021 of sex trafficking and other charges. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Epstein, who was charged in 2019 with sex trafficking of minors, died in a New York City jail while awaiting trial and his death was ruled a suicide. President Donald Trump, who was once a close friend of Epstein’s, has never been accused by authorities of any wrongdoing connected to Epstein. He had also denied any wrongdoing.
Farmer said there are parallels between when happened to the hundreds of women Epstein groomed and preyed on and what happened to the young men Strauss targeted when…
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