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# 'Keep the report confidential': Emails reveal Wexner draft months before OSU halted review
- URL: https://www.urgentmatter.press/keep-the-report-confidential-emails-reveal-wexner-draft-months-before-osu-halted-review/
- Published: 2026-11-09T05:16:48.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-09T05:16:48.000Z
- Description: The committee called for a full review of allegations about Les Wexner.
- Author: Adam Schrader
- Tags: Law and Crime, #public-access

Ohio State University's naming committee circulated a confidential draft report on billionaire Les Wexner in July and was told to keep it quiet as over 500 people demanded the Wexner name be removed from campus buildings, records obtained by Urgent Matter show.

Four months later, Interim Provost Trevor Brown shut the review down. He wrote Friday that "further review should not proceed at this time."

His letter [rejected the committee's recommendation](https://oaa.osu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/Wexner-review-report-11-2026.pdf?ref=urgentmatter.press) from October 7 for a full review of allegations about Wexner's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in 2019, his alleged personal sexual misconduct and alleged abusive employment practices at his businesses.

The recommendation "is not and should not be viewed as a conclusion on the allegations' merit or lack thereof," the memo says.

"Following our discussion at last week's meeting, I have now placed a draft of the LW report in the OneDrive folder for review and will give you all edit access," committee chair Brandon Lester wrote to members July 7\. "Importantly, please keep the report confidential as we continue to work toward finalizing it."

***Paid subscribers can*** [***read the documents***](https://www.urgentmatter.press/public-records-ohio-state-wexner-naming-committee/) ***provided to Urgent Matter.***

[Public Records: Ohio State's Wexner naming committee filesRecords OSU released to Urgent Matter under public records requests 26-1026, 26-1238, 27-0454 and 27-0455 from March to November 2026.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3c/26/3c26cf7a-2384-4a8d-82e1-f44702177698/content/images/icon/urgent-matter-icon-6d1e0471-1ad9-46a3-99d3-82e272e82a25.jpg)Urgent MatterAdam Schrader![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3c/26/3c26cf7a-2384-4a8d-82e1-f44702177698/content/images/thumbnail/urgent-matter-icon-2-024a5bfa-b183-4c6b-b1ec-a91e8373c6ac.jpg)](https://www.urgentmatter.press/public-records-ohio-state-wexner-naming-committee/)

Members praised the draft. Brian Mittendorf, an accounting professor, asked them July 9 to coordinate checking every citation and "ensuring they support what we say they do.”

"Given the scrutiny this report will get, it will help to get ahead of any questions that come our way," Mittendorf wrote.

Lester wrote August 6 that he highlighted each source in yellow for members to check.

"I think all the cites have now been checked," Mittendorf wrote August 10.

"Great, thanks!" Lester replied August 11.

The committee emails released Friday stop there. The release excludes drafts and any later committee emails from the 57 days before the memo date. It does not show whether the August draft changed.

Ben Johnson, the university's chief communications officer, told Urgent Matter on September 23 that the naming requests "remain under review." His reply did not say if the committee had issued a recommendation. The committee dated its memo two weeks later.

Ohio State posted Brown's letter and the memo online the same day it answered part of Urgent Matter's September 22 public records request for the committee's "agendas, minutes, memoranda and recommendations."

Urgent Matter has sought records on the Wexner name since March. It took the university 200 days from the original request to say it had no responsive records under a narrowed request.

Chris Booker, Ohio State's senior director of media and public relations, listed the university's redactions in a Friday email but did not mention the draft or give a legal basis for excluding it.

Ohio law requires a public office that denies any part of a records request to explain why and give its legal authority. Ohio State has not said if it considers the draft covered by the request or is withholding it.

### 'Nearly impossible'

"Mr. Wexner has faced allegations of misconduct but has never been charged with or convicted of a crime," Brown wrote. He wrote that Wexner has denied the allegations, including under oath.

More review would put the committee in "the nearly impossible position of searching for substantial evidence of misconduct where law enforcement entities, Congressional committees and international media outlets have not discovered such evidence," he wrote.

The committee was "never intended to become an investigatory body," he wrote. It cannot subpoena witnesses or access private records and exists "to provide faculty, staff and student perspectives on otherwise available information," he wrote.

The memo says requesters did not have to show definitively that misconduct occurred at this stage. They needed evidence "substantial enough to justify a full review of all potentially available information,” which the committee found they provided in the three categories.

A full review would have let the committee examine "any evidence that it deems appropriate," the memo says. Until then, it could use only the requesters' submissions and did not review the federal Epstein files database.

Brown wrote that "substantial evidence is not available." He said he could "consider the broader context and availability of additional evidence," but his letter does not identify specific evidence he reviewed.

He wrote that "the university could return the matter to the committee to make an updated recommendation" if "substantive evidence does become publicly available."

The [university's notice](https://news.osu.edu/notice-of-meetings-ohio-state-university-trustees-to-meet-sept-1-3/?ref=urgentmatter.press) for the September 1 meeting of the Wexner Medical Center Board lists Brown as an ex officio voting member and Wexner as chair. Brown's letter does not mention the board.

Requesters noted that Wexner, former chief executive of L Brands, and his wife, Abigail, have given Ohio State more than $200 million, the memo says. It says he retained Epstein as his financial advisor from the late 1980s into the mid-2000s.

The personal misconduct category rests mainly on a 2016 deposition in which Virginia Giuffre, who died in 2025, alleged she was trafficked to Wexner, the memo says. A lawyer for Wexner wrote in 2020 that he never met Giuffre, it says.

The committee's review is the first of five steps, [the university's procedure](https://oaa.osu.edu/resources/committees-and-task-forces/university-naming-review-procedure?ref=urgentmatter.press) shows. The provost has 30 days after receiving a recommendation to decide on a full review. Brown's letter is dated 30 days after the memo.

Ohio State posted the same committee's [final memo on the Thompson Library name](https://oaa.osu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/Final-Report-2026-Thompson.pdf?ref=urgentmatter.press) with a January 2023 initial report, which recommended a full review by a 12-1 vote and listed the 13 members. Then-Provost Melissa Gilliam concurred, and the final memo recommends keeping the name.

Seven of those 13, including Lester, were on the Wexner committee in July, emails in the release show. The Wexner memo does not report a vote or list members.

Lester's assistant suggested April 6 attaching member lists for the committee's two pending reviews to a meeting invite "so everyone has it."

"I don't think we need to do that, as the people on just one of the two don't need to know who's on the other one, and they should all know who is on theirs; probably just better for internal use," Lester replied.

Lester is a [senior associate general counsel](https://legal.osu.edu/user-profile/52?ref=urgentmatter.press) who also serves as associate secretary for the Board of Trustees, the body with final authority to remove a name.

"Given the number and similarity of the requests we can consider them as a collective whole rather than individually to facilitate that review," he told members February 23.

"Each request was reviewed individually, but the Committee considered the requests collectively for efficiency purposes," the memo says.

Of the 512 naming requests in the fullest log, 348 came from people who identified as alumni and 105 from current students.

### The $2.5 million check

The first naming request targeted the Les Wexner Football Complex over a 2007 gift. Lester told committee members January 22 it was denied because the requester "did not provide any documentation about the specific individual at issue."

He wrote that "this matter is likely to receive some media attention." The requester resubmitted January 29.

Ohio State agreed in 2005 to accept a $5 million gift from an anonymous donor for an addition to the football complex, records in the committee's file show. The agreement says the university would name the complex "in honor" of an individual of the donor's choice.

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Half the money came on a May 22, 2007, check from the C.O.U.Q. Foundation, drawn on JPMorgan Private Bank. The foundation's tax returns for 2001, 2003 and 2007, also in the file, list Epstein as president. The other half came from the Leslie H. Wexner Charitable Fund.

An Ohio State employee asked the university's gift processing office by email September 13, 2007, to "assign the gift recognition credit to Abigail Wexner."

"These gifts named the Les Wexner Football Complex," the email says.

Ohio State said in an [April 9, 2020, statement](https://news.osu.edu/statement-from-the-ohio-state-university-regarding-completion-of-jeffrey-epstein-review/?ref=urgentmatter.press), after a review by the accounting firm EY, that the money behind the C.O.U.Q. check came from the Wexner Children's Trust and the Leslie H. Wexner Charitable Fund, not from Epstein.

Fifteen naming requests cite the foundation. The committee's allegation summary gave the gift its own category, 1C, citing one request that accused Wexner of "allowing an Epstein Foundation gift to help underwrite the naming of the Les Wexner Football Complex."

Lester told members May 28 that all sources had been "entered and double-coded" in the committee's database. It logs the gift papers twice, from two submitted files, coding one set "Maybe 1C" and the other "None; Maybe 1A." It does not define "None."

The October 7 memo says the allegations "do not specify any misconduct by Mr. Wexner, and merely document the larger contribution itself."

It lists the foundation's tax forms and calls C.O.U.Q. "tied to Mr. Epstein." It does not say the returns name him president or mention Ohio State's 2020 statement.

The committee's file also holds a 2023 shareholder lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase executives and directors. It quotes the U.S. Virgin Islands' allegation that Epstein or his representatives "used the C.O.U.Q. Foundation account to pay $29,464.66 to three young women, including two known victims."

That allegation does not mention Wexner. The memo does not mention the lawsuit.

Wexner's lawyers told federal prosecutors in July 2019 that he had "no knowledge of any inappropriate or unlawful activity with young women by Epstein," a December 2019 prosecutors' memo [released by the Justice Department](https://www.justice.gov/epstein?ref=urgentmatter.press) shows.

The committee's memo says the lawyers told prosecutors Wexner cut off contact with Epstein after January 2008\. It also cites a June 26, 2008, email in which Wexner wrote: "Abigail told me the result … all I can say is I feel sorry. You violated your own number 1 rule … always be careful."

The memo says that email came "shortly after" Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida. He pleaded guilty four days later on June 30, [Justice Department records](https://justice.gov/archives/opa/press-release/file/1336416/dl?inline=&ref=urgentmatter.press) show.

The memo cites an August 15, 2019, FBI email that called Wexner a "secondary co-conspirator" and said "\[t\]here is limited evidence regarding his involvement." A spokesperson for Wexner has said an assistant U.S. attorney told his lawyers in 2019 that he was "neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect."

### 'I don't think a week goes by'

Wexner appeared at the medical center board's September 1 meeting, [streamed online by Ohio State](https://trustees.osu.edu/meeting/2026/9/wmcb-sept-2026?ref=urgentmatter.press), as he prepared to become chair emeritus.

"If this institution can tolerate their chair of this board being effectively absent for roughly a year, it can stop treating a bedside nurse with a migraine like they are running an elaborate criminal conspiracy because they called off one shift," Amy Pompeii, a nurse speaking for the Ohio Nurses Association, told the board.

"So I apologize for missing a few meetings," Wexner said later.

"I don't think a week goes by that Cindy, Bobby, myself, Steve, Dr. Warner aren't together on the phone or in person, at least every other week in person," he said, naming three fellow board members and John J. Warner, the Wexner Medical Center CEO.

"We're also glad, Les, that you've agreed to remain on the board as Chair Emeritus," President Ravi Bellamkonda told him.

[Robert Strati cancels OSU exhibit to protest Les Wexner tiesWexner recently sat for a nearly five-hour deposition with lawmakers about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3c/26/3c26cf7a-2384-4a8d-82e1-f44702177698/content/images/icon/urgent-matter-icon-4808f231-2b3a-428a-9761-1da3d0dad5ca.jpg)Urgent MatterAdam Schrader![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3c/26/3c26cf7a-2384-4a8d-82e1-f44702177698/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-03-05-at-1.55.57---AM-1-9762914b-39e7-414d-8511-5ee22dfe5025.png)](https://www.urgentmatter.press/artist-robert-strati-cancels-osu-exhibit-protest-les-wexner/)

Board member Robert Schottenstein said the relocated Cannon Drive "should be called Les Wexner Drive, because it wouldn't exist without him."

Wexner said he has suggested trustee candidates to Ohio governors and that "virtually every governor will listen." He said "the last one" was John Zeiger, who [chaired the Board of Trustees](https://trustees.osu.edu/media/1279?ref=urgentmatter.press) when the naming requests came in this year.

"I recruited John to think about coming on the board," Wexner said.

Ohio State said October 2 that it had no correspondence between Warner and Wexner from January 1 to September 22 about Epstein, the Wexner name or Wexner's role on the medical center board. It released one calendar entry, scheduling a 30-minute call April 24.

"Dr. Warner to call Mr. Wexner's cell," the entry's location line reads. It lists an optional attendee named Maureen Mitchell. Ohio State has not answered Urgent Matter's questions about who she is or what the call was about.

Johnson wrote October 8 that the university had no call logs for calls between Warner and Wexner.

Ohio State closed Urgent Matter's first request filed March 6 as "overbroad and improperly voluminous."

Urgent Matter narrowed it April 7 to six officials including Bellamkonda, Brown and Warner. The request focused on the exhibition Robert Strati canceled at the James Cancer Center gallery in protest of the Wexner name and on programming there and at the Wexner Center for the Arts, including records referencing the Wexner name.

Booker wrote on September 21 and 22 that the university had "no responsive records" from any of the six. The request did not identify committee members as custodians.

[Les Wexner testifies on Epstein before House panelWexner denied knowledge of Epstein's crimes and admitted to visiting his infamous private island Little St. James “only once.”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3c/26/3c26cf7a-2384-4a8d-82e1-f44702177698/content/images/icon/urgent-matter-icon-d17f82f1-bf8b-4755-a397-2afabe110593.jpg)Urgent MatterAdam Schrader![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3c/26/3c26cf7a-2384-4a8d-82e1-f44702177698/content/images/thumbnail/Leslie_Wexner_receives_woodrow_wilson_award_-cropped-_-2--1-d8a6c838-bf74-4965-9877-719ccdbb454e.jpg)](https://www.urgentmatter.press/les-wexner-testifies-house-panel-epstein-deposition/)

Bellamkonda, Brown and the trustees were among the recipients of a May 20 letter from AFSCME Ohio Council 8 Local 322, the union representing Wexner Center for the Arts workers, asking the university to rename the center.

"Artists are choosing not to work with us because of Wexner's close association with Epstein," the union wrote.

Johnson provided the letter October 7 after Urgent Matter asked if it had been searched. "Regarding your earlier request, note that this document does not pertain to the Robert Strati exhibition," he wrote.

Booker wrote Friday that the university is still processing other parts of the September 22 request, including correspondence on the Wexner name.

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