Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime executive assistant Lesley Groff was interviewed by the House Oversight Committee about her association with the late sex offender . Groff, who worked for Epstein from 2001 to 2019, has denied wrongdoing or knowing about his activities.

Here are some edited excerpts from a transcript, released this week by Congress, of her appearance before the committee on June 9.

Lesley Groff, longtime executive assistant to Jeffrey Epstein arrives with her entourage for a behind closed doors transcribed interview before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., June 9, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Groff scheduled Epstein’s massage appointments for years. When asked whether it was odd that Epstein had more than 75 different people listed as masseuses in his book of contacts, she said:

“He had so many people in his realm and knew so many people. It doesn’t strike me as odd that he has a lot of different people in his black book, in his directory. It’s not surprising that he—it just—the width and the depth of the people he knew, this is one category, but I believe he had the same amount of people in other categories as well.”

Groff said that she never met the individuals Epstein selected for these appointments, and that she rarely saw who entered or exited his New York City townhouse.

“ He provided me the name and telephone number of a masseuse, and I called her. These calls lasted literally a few seconds. “Hi, this is Lesley calling for Mr. Epstein; are you available for a massage at 4:00?…to my knowledge, I never met any of these masseuses. None of these women or anyone else ever told me they were minors or that they were sexually abused.”

Groff was also responsible for booking travel, arranging housing and even hair appointments for women whom Epstein called his “assistants.” These women later said they were ensnared in Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation. Here’s what Groff said when asked what she thought about these individuals at the time:

“I believed them to be traveling assistants, and none of them ever looked unhappy or under duress. They were—would travel with him and do errands and source things. They were not all together all the time with him…It was a demanding job to travel with him, it would appear to me…it would become grueling to ask one person to do that all the time. I think they would get burnout.”

Some of those women came to the U.S. without visas. When asked about arranging housing for them, Groff said:

“It’s possible that I was directed to provide them an apartment or a hotel room, but I—it’s possible.”

Groff said she arranged travel for Epstein, some of his assistants and women who met with him in New York and elsewhere. She called one trip that appears in the Federal Bureau of Investigation files a “decoy flight.”

“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. I don’t know why she didn’t want to tell her parents, but this was not for a visa.”

Chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer (R-KY) speaks to press, as he arrives for a behind closed doors transcribed interview with Lesley Groff before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., June 9, 2026. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon

Groff disagreed with survivors’ statements that she knew about Epstein’s sex crimes. In one FBI file, a victim told the FBI that she started giving Epstein massages at age 15 and told Groff that she was a minor.

“I feel terrible for this survivor. I’m not saying that what she’s thinking that she told someone, but she did not tell me. I think she is mistaken. I know she is mistaken.”

And when asked whether she saw or heard things which, in hindsight, should have given her pause, Groff said:

“I wish that someone had come to me and said something. I would have helped them. I would have gone to the authorities. As said, everyone seemed happy to be in his orbit. I actually thought of them as fortunate. I was happy for them that it seemed to me like their lives were going to be better than possibly the direction they were heading.”

The FBI files show that Groff received some emails with photographs of young women that she forwarded to Epstein. Two such emails included “winky faces” from the sender. When asked about these emails, Groff said to one: 

“I don’t recall this—this email. The date seems to suggest that it’s possible he was looking for new traveling assistants…”

And to another: 

“To me, it sounds like she’s a model.”

Groff maintained that she didn’t know about Epstein’s predatory activities or make massage appointments for any of the powerful men in his orbit.

“He was a master manipulator and kept me on the outside, and it was—I can see— completely on purpose. He lied to me, and I think he lied to everyone, and I think he was an absolute professional at keeping people separated.”

Write to Celia Bernhardt at celia.bernhardt@wsj.com