Lesley Groff, Assistant and Co Conspirator To Jeffrey Epstein
Lesley Groff ran the nerve center of Jeffrey Epstein’s trafficking operation and she has never been charged for a thing.
Lesley Groff, far right photo courtesy of her personal Flickr
She is mentioned in the Epstein files more than 150,000 times. Second only to Epstein himself. For eighteen years, Lesley Groff — executive assistant, gatekeeper, travel coordinator, and, federal investigators concluded, a central figure in the operation that trafficked children — kept Jeffrey Epstein’s world running. She answered the phones and she booked the flights for Lolita Express. She sent the passports. And when a victim needed to schedule a ‘massage,’ she was the first person to call.
SDNY Prosecution Memorandum, June 11, 2019 Names Lesley Groff as the New York scheduling contact for underage victims. Released via DOJ Epstein Files Transparency Act, 2026. Document No. EFTA02731039.
Despite being named as a co-conspirator in federal documents and identified by multiple victims as the person who set up their abuse, Groff has never been criminally charged. Her attorney’s position: she was just a professional making appointments as directed. The documents tell a different story.
This piece follows the Lesley Groff trail, all of it.
WHO IS SHE
Lesley Groff, 58, is a resident of New Canaan, Connecticut, where she has owned a home appraised at approximately $4.2 million for more than a decade. A 1990 liberal arts graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, she built a prior career in business — running Village Office Supply in Bridgewater, New Jersey, which she grew from its earliest stage to over $24 million in revenue. She found her way into Epstein’s orbit the way many professionals do: she posted her resume on Monster.com. Her interview, she later told FBI agents, was conducted by both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. She has since changed her name to Katherine Taylor Cooper.
She was hired in February 2001 and stayed until Epstein’s death in August 2019. Eighteen long years. Through his 2008 guilty plea, through his 13 month sentence, served mostly on work release, and through his continued operation of the network. Until the day he died, Lesley was there.
Epstein described his assistants, including Groff, as ‘an extension of my brain.’ He paid top dollar to ensure that. Salaries reportedly reached $200,000 a year. When Groff considered leaving after having a child, Epstein negotiated her back: he would pay for full-time childcare and buy her a Mercedes Benz. ‘There is no way that I could lose Lesley to motherhood,’ Epstein told the New York Times in 2005.
Her resume, recovered in the document releases, describes her role managing ‘all day to day affairs’ for a ‘Manhattan Billionaire Fund Manager/Socialite.’ It lists ‘heavy calendaring,’ coordinating complex domestic and international travel, and supervising staff across Epstein’s properties in Manhattan, Palm Beach, Santa Fe, Paris, and his private island in the Caribbean. It also describes ‘heavy interaction with high level associates, financiers, government officials.’ It describes her role as ‘gatekeeper.’
That word appears in her own resume: Gatekeeper.
THE NERVE CENTER
The EFTA document releases — over 200,000 files, including email records, flight logs, internal FBI communications, and financial records — place Groff at the center of nearly every operational thread. She was not a peripheral figure. She was the hub.
Based on the disclosed records, Groff’s documented responsibilities included:
Booking flights for Epstein, his staff, and women and girls who traveled to and from his properties. She appears on 92 or more Epstein flight logs.
Coordinating travel through Epstein’s American Express Black Card — an invitation-only card. A 2012 email exchange shows a dedicated ‘travel team’ was established under this card, with Groff listed as an authorized booking agent.
Managing apartment door codes, overseeing property logistics at his multiple residences.
Handling financial transactions. On at least two occasions, according to the DOJ’s own internal documents, victims believed it was Groff who paid them at Epstein’s Madison Avenue office.
Coordinating with Epstein’s inner circle: accountant Bella Klein, financial advisors, pilots including Larry Visoski, household managers, and personal associates including contacts connected to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Arranging medical appointments, including bloodwork. Maintaining confidential office and personal files.
Sending passport copies for young female ‘assistants’ to facilitate visits. A 2013 EFTA email shows Groff writing: ‘I have now sent you a copy of all 3 girls passports’ in connection with a SpaceX visit.
Email chain, August 31, 2018. Lesley Groff coordinates "Paris Girls Trips" — a multi-woman travel schedule to Paris — and requests passport details for each traveler. This email was sent a decade after Epstein's 2008 guilty plea. Released via DOJ Epstein Files Transparency Act, 2026. Document No. EFTA02256337.
A review of just three days of her emails — December 1 through December 3, 2010, released through the EFTA process — gives a precise cross-section of the operation. Those three days show her in communication with world leaders, CEOs, and redacted names. They show late-night exchanges: ‘(Redacted) is here,’ she wrote in the subject line of an otherwise blank email at 9:45 p.m. on December 3. She asked Epstein: ‘Shall I cancel (redacted) at 11:30 today?’ — a late-night meeting. Meanwhile, emails in the same period reference Epstein’s Palm Beach house manager picking up ‘kids,’ including from school.
This was not an office administrator managing spreadsheets in a vacuum. This was a woman who worked inside a trafficking operation and processed its logistics for nearly two decades.
THE MASSAGE APPOINTMENTS
The phrase ‘massage appointment’ is now understood, through years of testimony, civil litigation, and criminal proceedings against Ghislaine Maxwell, as the operational code for Epstein’s abuse sessions. Groff was, according to multiple victims and confirmed by FBI internal documents, the person who scheduled them.
The DOJ’s own unredacted August 2019 internal document states plainly: ‘multiple victims’ identified Groff as ‘the main point of phone contact for NYC-based massage appointments.’ The same document states that Groff ‘would coordinate with the main NYC victim listed in the Indictment, to schedule appointments and relay the information to Epstein.’
One victim who spoke to FBI investigators in 2019 said she was 14 years old when she first encountered Epstein’s network. She identified Groff as the person she called to schedule massages for herself and other girls. According to the FBI 302 memo of that interview, Groff ‘never discussed about what was really going on with the massages’ but did ask the victim: ‘Was this her first time?’
A 2021 FBI 302 memo documents another victim who told investigators she would occasionally ask Groff for money — which required Epstein’s approval — and that she ‘would mention different girls’ names to’ Groff. That victim, according to the memo, ‘felt it was pretty obvious LESLEY knew what was going on.’
The same victim told the FBI that when she was 17 or 18, she called Groff in crisis — she needed $400 for an abortion. According to the FBI memo, Groff connected her to Epstein on the phone immediately. Epstein gave her $1,000 in an envelope.
“She felt it was pretty obvious LESLEY knew what was going on.” — FBI 302 memo, 2021 victim interview
THE AMEX PAPER TRAIL
One of the most direct evidentiary threads in the EFTA documents involves American Express. A 2012 email exchange involving Groff and Epstein’s accountant Bella Klein shows how Epstein’s travel operation was structured around his Black Card — an invitation-only product reserved for the wealthiest Amex clients.
The email, from an individual whose name is redacted, states: ‘Hey guys... so since JE is insisting we use Amex for booking travel now, have set up a designated travel team with my black card. They basically try and keep track of all our preferences, etc... I have added you both as authorized people to book travel with it.’
Groff and Klein were the authorized agents. What followed, documented in multiple EFTA email chains, was a pattern of bookings for women and girls tied to Epstein’s properties and travel.
In a 2014 exchange, Epstein forwarded an email to Groff in which he’d told a redacted name: ‘coordinate with Jane Doe 3, she needs to change her ticket to Friday from Thursday, Lesley booked it through Amex.’
In another 2014 exchange, Epstein emailed Groff directly: ‘lets see if we can change [redacted] ticket so that she flies to New York tomorrow and straight to Poland.’ Groff’s reply details her call with Amex and LOT airlines, offering to reroute the unnamed woman from JFK to Poland that evening.
A 2017 email from Groff to a redacted recipient reads: ‘Hi... Jeffrey has asked me to get a ticket for [redacted] from Moscow to Paris and on to Miami this Friday June 2nd return on Tues. June 6th... He wants her to meet up at the airport in Paris where they will both take the same flight to Miami... Our Amex rep says should check with the French consulate in Russia to see if she needs a transit visa.’
CBS News, which reviewed these documents and sought comment from American Express, reported that the company stated it ‘regrets’ having Epstein as a client. American Express’s own public commitments include steps to ‘monitor for, investigate, and report potentially suspicious matters globally’ regarding client transactions — a standard the Epstein account apparently never triggered.
Groff was the operational hand moving these pieces. The tickets. The routing. The visa questions. The logistics of moving women across international borders at Epstein’s instruction.
THE 2008 DEAL: IMMUNITY BY NAME
In 2007, in a negotiation now widely considered one of the most egregious prosecutorial failures in modern American legal history, then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta struck a Non-Prosecution Agreement with Jeffrey Epstein. The deal allowed Epstein to plead guilty to state-level solicitation charges in Florida — avoiding federal sex trafficking charges that could have resulted in up to 45 years in prison. He served 13 months, largely on work release, six days per week.
The NPA did something else. It named names. The agreement extended federal immunity to ‘any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to’ a list of individuals. Lesley Groff was on that list. So were Sarah Kellen, Nadia Marcinkova, and Adriana Ross.
Court filing referencing Epstein victims' legal challenge to the NPA, 2008–2013. Names Lesley Groff among Epstein's alleged co-conspirators whose involvement was detailed in hundreds of press reports. Released via DOJ Epstein Files Transparency Act, 2026. EFTA00162121
She had, months before the deal was signed, been served with a federal grand jury subpoena in January 2008. That grand jury investigation was suspended by the NPA.
The agreement’s language was sweeping: it promised the United States would not ‘institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein.’ Federal courts would later wrestle with how far that language reached, including in Maxwell’s case — where U.S. District Judge Allison Nathan rejected Maxwell’s argument that the NPA shielded her from prosecution entirely.
The NPA was negotiated without notifying Epstein’s victims — a violation of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act, as a federal judge found in 2019. That ruling could not, however, undo the NPA’s protective provisions for the named co-conspirators.
Groff, by name, was immunized from federal prosecution for the Florida conduct. She was served a subpoena when Epstein was arrested again in 2019. She spoke with prosecutors. Charges were declined in December 2021.
Her attorney Michael Bachner: ‘The fact that the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not prosecute Lesley demonstrates clearly that she had no criminal involvement with Epstein. We also know that every civil lawsuit filed against Lesley was dismissed against her.’
What Bachner did not address: the DOJ’s own 2019 internal document naming Groff as a co-conspirator and describing her contact with victims. Or the FBI 302s documenting victim testimony about her role. Groff’s attorney confirmed she was unaware she had been investigated as a co-conspirator — and that neither she nor her counsel were ever notified.
CO-CONSPIRATOR IN WRITING
An internal DOJ document from August 2019, released in the most recent EFTA disclosure tranche, is among the most significant pieces of documentary evidence in the public record on Groff. The document lists Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators. Groff’s name appears — though misspelled as ‘Leslie’ — alongside Ghislaine Maxwell, Jean-Luc Brunel, and Leslie Wexner. Four additional co-conspirators remain redacted.
The document was part of an internal FBI email exchange from the FBI’s New York office. It describes a Connecticut resident — Groff, based on her New Canaan home — who was ‘deciding whether to cooperate with the investigation.’ The document states:
‘Multiple victims and cooperating co-conspirators advised [name redacted] worked out of Epstein’s NYC residence as his personal assistant and was in charge of making phone calls to set up massage appointments... [Name redacted] would coordinate with the main NYC victim listed in the Indictment, to schedule appointments and relay the information to Epstein.’
The document also states that ‘on at least 2 occasions, victims believed that Groff was the one to pay them at Epstein’s Madison Avenue office building.’
This is not a civil complaint from an adversarial plaintiff — This is the FBI’s own internal assessment, based on victim statements and cooperating witnesses, describing Lesley Groff’s role in the trafficking operation. It was written by federal agents, for federal agents, in the context of an active criminal investigation.
And then, in December 2021, the Southern District of New York declined to prosecute.
WHAT VICTIMS ALLEGED
Multiple civil lawsuits named Groff as a defendant. All were ultimately dropped. But the allegations they contained — filed under penalty of perjury — are part of the record.
In 2019, victim Jennifer Araoz filed a civil lawsuit naming Groff as a facilitator of Epstein’s abuse, specifically alleging that Groff scheduled ‘massages’ for her at Epstein’s New York City home. The case was resolved after Araoz received compensation from the Epstein Victims Compensation Program as a condition of dismissal. Her attorney has stated that Araoz maintains her account of Groff’s role.
Another ‘Jane Doe’ filed a civil suit in 2021 alleging that Groff participated in Epstein’s trafficking of women. That case was dismissed after Maxwell’s conviction and the plaintiff’s receipt of compensation from the estate.
A third case, filed by two additional victims, was dropped after they received compensation from Epstein’s estate fund.
The pattern is consistent with how the Epstein estate administered its compensation program: payments conditioned, in practice, on withdrawal of civil claims against named individuals including Groff. The lawsuits did not fail on the merits. They were resolved through settlement and compensation structures before any evidentiary findings.
HIGH-PROFILE CONNECTIONS SHE MANAGED
The email releases document Groff’s role as the logistical bridge between Epstein and a roster of world prominent figures — a role that speaks directly to the scope of access she maintained. Here are just a few examples:
Howard Lutnick: EFTA documents show that Lutnick’s wife Allison emailed with Groff to coordinate family travel. Lutnick has publicly claimed he cut ties with Epstein in 2005. The emails in the DOJ releases post date that claimed cutoff.
Steve Bannon and his son Sean: Emails from November and December 2018 show Groff coordinating the delivery of Hermes Apple Watches — valued at $1,499 apiece — as gifts from Epstein. Groff wrote: ‘Jeffrey will give to Steve when he sees him next.’ A subsequent email in January 2019 confirmed delivery.
Elon Musk: In October 2014, Groff sent a schedule reminder to Epstein noting that Musk ‘is to go to the island on Dec. 6th.’ A follow-up email the next day referenced the same schedule. CBS News has noted it has not independently confirmed attendance.
Thorbjorn Jagland (former Secretary General of the Council of Europe): Groff personally contacted Jagland to help plan his family’s trip to Epstein’s private island in 2014. Emails show the trip was booked for April 8. An investigation into potential ethics violations related to Jagland’s gifts, travel, and loans from Epstein is pending.
This was her purpose — the operational coordinator who made high value access to Jeffrey Epstein possible — for the powerful and, by the same logistical apparatus, for the trafficked.
HE KNEW SHE KNEW
The emails are useful not only for what they document about Groff’s tasks with the Epstein Operation, but also for what they reveal about Epstein’s expectation that she understood the operation, and kept quiet.
After his 2008 guilty plea, Epstein forwarded Groff multiple news articles about his conviction — including stories explicitly detailing that he had pleaded guilty to soliciting a child prostitute. The decision to send those articles to his executive assistant, who managed his travel and appointments, has no benign interpretation — it is documentation that she was informed regularly.
She remained employed until his death. She continued scheduling his appointments, booking tickets, and co-ordinating travel for victims. She remained loyal until the very end.
THE REMAINING QUESTION
Lesley Groff has never been convicted of any crimes and she has never been indicted. She maintains — through her attorney — that she witnessed nothing improper or illegal and is ‘heartbroken’ for all of Epstein’s victims. Her attorney argues that non-prosecution equals non-culpability.
The documents do not support that reading. They support a picture of a woman who was, by the FBI’s own assessment, ‘in charge of making phone calls to set up massage appointments.’ Who paid victims at Epstein’s office, who was asked by a girl whether it was her first time, and who kept booking flights for women Epstein directed her to move across international borders. Lesley stayed — through conviction, through guilty plea, through public exposure — for eighteen long years.
The question is not whether Lesley Groff was ‘just’ an assistant. The question is: what does it mean to be indispensable to a trafficking operation for two decades, and to walk away because prosecutors in 2007 wrote your name into an immunity clause?
That question has no satisfying answer, but what it does have is a paper trail. And the paper trail does not end with ‘as directed’.
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SOURCES
U.S. Department of Justice — Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA) document releases, January 2026. Over 200,000 records including email archives, FBI memos, and internal communications. Public release via DOJ.gov.
https://www.justice.gov/epstein-files-transparency-act
2007 Non-Prosecution Agreement (NPA), Southern District of Florida. Signed by then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta. Named co-conspirators: Sarah Kellen, Nadia Marcinkova, Lesley Groff, Adriana Ross. Full text available in EFTA release.
https://www.justice.gov/epstein-files-transparency-act
FBI 302 Memo, 2019 victim interview. Victim identified as 14 at first contact with Epstein’s network. Identifies Groff as scheduling contact for ‘massage’ appointments. Reported by CNN, March 10, 2026.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/10/politics/lesley-groff-epstein-fbi-302/index.html
FBI 302 Memo, 2021 victim interview. Documents payment requests through Groff, victim’s account of Groff’s knowledge, and $1,000 cash payment facilitated by Epstein following call routed through Groff. Reported by CNN, March 10, 2026.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/10/politics/lesley-groff-epstein-fbi-302/index.html
DOJ Internal FBI Email Exchange, August 16, 2019 — ‘co-conspirator web’ document. Names Groff alongside Maxwell, Brunel, and Wexner. Describes her role in scheduling massage appointments and paying victims. Released in 2026 EFTA tranche; reported by CT Insider / Yahoo News, February 2026.
https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/lesley-groff-epstein-files-ct-20171760.php
EFTA Email Records — American Express Black Card travel coordination. 2012 email establishing Groff and Klein as authorized travel agents; 2014 and 2017 email chains booking international travel for women at Epstein’s direction. Reported by CBS News, February 2026.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epstein-files-documents-released-doj-lesley-groff/
EFTA Email Records — Passport transmittal, 2013. Groff to Epstein’s travel coordinator: ‘I have now sent you a copy of all 3 girls passports.’ Context: SpaceX facility visit.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epstein-files-documents-released-doj-lesley-groff/
EFTA Email Records — Steve Bannon / Hermes Apple Watch delivery, Nov-Dec 2018. Groff: ‘Jeffrey will give to Steve when he sees him next.’ Follow-up confirmation email January 2019. Reported by CBS News, March 2026.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epstein-files-steve-bannon-hermes-apple-watch-lesley-groff/
EFTA Email Records — Elon Musk island schedule, October 2014. Groff schedule reminder to Epstein noting Musk ‘is to go to the island on Dec. 6th.’
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epstein-files-elon-musk-island-visit-lesley-groff/
EFTA Email Records — Thorbjorn Jagland family trip coordination, 2014. Groff contacted Jagland directly; trip booked April 8. Pending ethics investigation into gifts and travel from Epstein. Reported by CBS News, March 2026.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epstein-files-thorbjorn-jagland-lesley-groff/
EFTA Email Records — Howard Lutnick family travel coordination. Allison Lutnick emailed with Groff to arrange family visit to Epstein island. Conflicts with Lutnick’s October 2024 New York Post claim of severing ties in 2005.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epstein-files-howard-lutnick-lesley-groff/
Jennifer Araoz civil lawsuit, 2019. Alleges Groff scheduled ‘massage’ appointments at Epstein’s NYC home. Dismissed after victim received compensation from Epstein Victims Compensation Program.
https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/EpsteinAraozComplaint.pdf
Jane Doe civil lawsuit, 2021 (anonymous plaintiff). Alleges Groff participated in trafficking. Dismissed following Maxwell conviction and estate compensation.
https://www.courthousenews.com/jeffrey-epstein-jane-doe-lawsuit/
Attorney statement, Michael Bachner (Groff’s attorney): ‘The fact that the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not prosecute Lesley demonstrates clearly that she had no criminal involvement with Epstein.’ Statement to CT Insider, February 2026.
https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/lesley-groff-epstein-files-ct-20171760.php
Groff resume, recovered in EFTA document release. Describes role as ‘gatekeeper,’ ‘screening routing and handling all telephone calls, emails, and texts,’ and maintaining ‘confidential office and personal files’ for a ‘Manhattan Billionaire Fund Manager/Socialite.’
https://www.justice.gov/epstein-files-transparency-act
New York Times, 2005. Epstein quote: ‘There is no way that I could lose Lesley to motherhood.’ Context: negotiation over childcare and Mercedes-Benz to retain Groff.
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/nyregion/jeffrey-epsteins-empire-of-wealth-and-influence.html
FBI interview, Lesley Groff, 2008. Groff states she began working for Epstein February 2001, found position via Monster.com, interviewed with Epstein and Maxwell.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/10/politics/lesley-groff-epstein-fbi-302/index.html
Federal judge ruling, 2019. Found prosecutors violated Crime Victims’ Rights Act by failing to notify victims before signing NPA. Could not undo NPA provisions protecting named co-conspirators.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/nyregion/epstein-case-judge.html
SDNY announcement, December 2021. Prosecutors decline to charge Groff. Statement released by Bachner: Groff ‘never witnessed anything improper or illegal’ and is ‘heartbroken’ for victims.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/statement-united-states-attorney-southern-district-new-york-regarding-epstein-matter
CNN Politics investigation: ‘Inside Jeffrey Epstein’s inner circle,’ March 10, 2026. Comprehensive review of inner circle roles, EFTA documents, and FBI interview records.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/10/politics/jeffrey-epstein-inner-circle-lesley-groff/index.html
CBS News EFTA live coverage, ‘Massive trove of Epstein files released by DOJ, including 3 million documents and photos,’ March 2026.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epstein-files-doj-release-documents-march-2026/
Yahoo News / CT Insider: ‘Who is Lesley Groff? CT woman was mentioned 150,000 times — the second most — in the Epstein files,’ February 2026.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/lesley-groff-ct-woman-mentioned-150000-times-epstein-files-185922615.html
WFSB Connecticut: ‘Connecticut woman identified as longtime Jeffrey Epstein assistant,’ February 13, 2026.
https://www.wfsb.com/2026/02/13/connecticut-woman-identified-longtime-jeffrey-epstein-assistant/
EpsteinExposed.com dossier on Lesley Groff, citing EFTA documents, 92 flight logs, 77 emails. Generated from court filings and government document releases.
https://www.epsteinexposed.com/lesley-groff
The Retrograde (UTD campus publication): ‘Personal assistants, sexy robots, Ghislaine: the UTD-Epstein connection,’ February 16, 2026. Notes Groff as 1990 UTD liberal arts graduate.
https://www.utdretrograde.com/personal-assistants-sexy-robots-ghislaine-the-utd-epstein-connection/