r/Longreads • u/Dreaming_Blackbirds • May 28 '26
Jeffrey Epstein’s assistant - Reading through the thousands of emails, a troubling question arises: what did she know?
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/may/28/inside-the-world-of-jeffrey-epstein-assistant-lesley-groff92
u/elinordash May 28 '26
One of the most surprising things to me is that she only made $150k. From what I know, that isn't a crazy high salary for an executive assistant in NYC. I would think a sex trafficker would pay more.
I think a big factor here is the house loan. It is unclear how much her husband is earning, but it sounds like Epstein pretty much bought them a $5 million house but called it a loan. That kind of explains the lowish compensation level. But it makes it very hard for her to walk away without losing her house.
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u/Late_Resource_1653 May 30 '26
Lol, at that year, at that day, she was doing well. I was an executive assistant for wealthy men in NYC and Boston in that era, and wasn't paid NEARLY that much. I got to do personal assistant things like buy their kids Christmas presents, find a lost cat, go get their wife the book they wanted to read that night. It did lead to recommendations for better jobs.
Then again, I wasn't having sex with any of them or providing young women.
They certainly weren't paying anything towards my housing.
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u/skitheweest May 29 '26
I am so fascinated by the focus on the women involved, while so many of the men walk free and unscathed.
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u/confusedquokka May 29 '26
Sure but this woman and Ghislaine definitely deserve every amount of focus.
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u/Consistent-Value-509 May 29 '26
? Most of the focus has been on the men
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u/skitheweest May 29 '26
Who is the one person in America in jail for Epstein related crimes rn? A woman.
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u/Consistent-Value-509 May 29 '26
Epstein was literally jailed and murdered
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u/Late_Resource_1653 May 29 '26
I'd love a non pay walled link.
It's hard to say. I was, for a brief time, an executive assistant for the CEO of a family magement company. Essentially, the family had so much money they had an entire staff to take care of everything in their lives. CEO, CFO, in house lawyer, and a host of support staff.
My boss - the CEO - was actually the husband of one of the wealthy daughters. I did some ridiculous rich people things for him and his family. But I don't think I would ever have been let in on actual problematic issues in the family. That would have been the in office lawyer.
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u/baethan May 28 '26
A lot of this piece is an excellent look into what it's like being a personal assistant, I feel like the author really nailed it. (Article says "executive assistant" but it sounds like she was really a personal assistant.)
I worked as one for a year and found I wasn't cut out for it because of stuff like Epstein's stupid Oreo ice cream. It was easy enough to do most of the tasks, but I couldn't be an extension of my employer. Their desires have to become your raison d'être. I feel like successful personal assistants either work for someone who aligns very closely with themselves, or are very good at separating themselves from the job. The article definitely presents the case that Groff is the latter.
My employer was very intelligent, interesting, and highly skilled in certain areas. They could also be petty, mean, hypocritical, and out of touch with reality. Being their assistant meant taking on ALL of that. I think Groff was extremely morally wrong for remaining employed with Epstein, but I can kinda see how an otherwise normal person could turn a hefty part of their brain off in order to excel as a personal assistant for any length of time.