U.S. lawmakers recently grilled Jeffrey Epstein‘s longtime assistant Lesley Groff about Epstein’s use of American Express to book travel for multiple women or girls, according to a transcript of her hours-long testimony released this week by the House Oversight Committee.
CBS News was the first to report in February that the late convicted sex offender used Amex’s top-tier Centurion travel service and an Amex Black Card to arrange hundreds of travel itineraries for women or girls, predominantly from Eastern Europe. Groff, who worked for Epstein for nearly two decades, was a central point-person in arranging the bookings with Amex, documents released by the Justice Department earlier this year indicated.
CBS News cannot verify the number of women or girls who received travel bookings or their ages, due to the redaction of names in the files released by the Department of Justice.
In her sworn testimony to the House Oversight Committee on June 9, Groff said she did not believe she ever arranged travel for girls under the age of 18, according to the transcript released Tuesday. She said her understanding was the bookings were being arranged for “traveling assistants” employed by Epstein.
Groff denied being aware of any instance in which the purpose of the travel was for Epstein or anyone in Epstein’s network to engage in sexual activity with the women involved.
She was pressed by the House Oversight Committee about whether “decoy flights” had been arranged for the purpose of obtaining visas for women or girls involved. As CBS News reported last month, Amex had a dedicated relationship manager, Natalia Molotkova, assigned to Epstein’s account, and emails in the files released by the Justice Department appear to show she was arranging such flights, at Groff’s request, to obtain visas for the women or girls.
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In one 2016 email exchange, Groff wrote to Molotkova: “Natasha, we need to find a flight that departs Rome and goes to London on the 29th for [redacted]. This flight should depart around the same time. The flight we are holding for [redacted] Rome to Miami, 10:35 a.m. No return flights for this flight. This is a decoy flight. She will not really take it, but she needs to show an itinerary for this flight.”
When asked whether the purpose of the flight was to obtain a visa, Groff’s attorney Michael Bachner told the committee, “with all due respect, there is no indication that it was to obtain a visa.”
“This woman wanted to take a flight to visit Mr. Epstein. She did not want to tell her parents that she was going to take this flight. She wanted to keep a flight that was taking her to London and have a different flight, though, take her really to see Mr. Epstein,” Groff told lawmakers. “I don’t know why she didn’t want to tell her parents, but this was not for a visa.”
In a December 2012 email exchange, Groff wrote to Molotkova: “[redacted] has an interview with the consulate at 1030… she needs proof of hotel stay and air for this meeting.”
Molotkova asked Groff directly whether the woman needed a flight and accommodation reservation only for visa purposes.
“It is against AMEX policy, to be honest,” she wrote to Groff, “but here is the option, we can hold it till tonight.”
Groff directed Molotkova to cancel the fully refundable travel itinerary that was being held and signed off to Molotkova with, “you’ve been great,” a day after the alleged consulate appointment took place, the files released by Justice appear to show.
In an exchange with House Oversight Committee Senior Counsel Brittany Brignac, in which she was asked what the purpose of that particular booking was, Groff replied: “I don’t know. I think that this was an assistant of Mr. Epstein’s that wanted to get her visa.”
“The only thing I facilitated was getting her a ticket and a hotel room reservation,” Groff told the lawmakers. “It looks to me like she needed to get her visa, and she was requesting it, and that’s it. I was asked to get the ticket. I was dealing with Amex Centurian. That’s it.”
When challenged on whether this was an example of a decoy flight, Groff replied, “no.”
American Express declined to comment Friday on Groff’s testimony and whether the company had carried out enough due diligence on Epstein’s account.
In February, an American Express spokesperson told CBS News the company, “strongly condemns abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. We take our legal and regulatory responsibilities seriously, including reporting suspicious activity.”
“We terminated his account following federal charges against him, and we continuously update our processes and controls. We regret having him as a customer,” the spokesperson said.
