Epstein's 20-Year Assistant Claims She Saw Nothing During Congressional Testimony

After two decades working inside Jeffrey Epstein’s inner circle, Lesley Groff walked into a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on Tuesday with a seemingly simple message: she noticed nothing amiss.

Groff’s testimony marks another chapter in an ongoing Congressional investigation into Epstein’s crimes, and her appearance is raising eyebrows given the scale of her access to one of the most notorious figures in recent history. She worked as his assistant for nearly 20 years—long enough for her name to appear 160,000 times in files related to his operations. Her job included arranging his meetings with prominent figures and, according to reporting, setting up his massages with women. Yet when questioned by the House Committee, Groff told investigators she“never saw anything improper.”

The disconnect between her proximity to Epstein’s operations and her claims of ignorance underscores a central challenge in understanding how his network functioned. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, has pointed out the obvious tension: anyone tasked with scheduling Epstein’s appointments would have insight into who he was meeting with, who occupied his orbit, and what his calendar reveals about his patterns. That granular knowledge is exactly what investigators are after. Groff’s responses sometimes shifted to“I don’t know”or“I don’t remember,”suggesting either genuine gaps in recall or careful boundaries around what she’s willing to discuss.

What makes her testimony particularly notable is the support system that appeared alongside her. House Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben attended the first 90 minutes of the hearing—a first for this series of Epstein-related Congressional proceedings. When asked why she showed up, Kibben invoked confidentiality, saying“Pastoral care is confidential.”The presence of clergy during testimony about a case involving the exploitation of minors signals something beyond routine legal representation.

Groff herself isn’t facing criminal charges, and her legal team has previously stated she finds Epstein’s crimes“disgusting”and feels“heartbroken”about his victims. Yet survivors have a different recollection of her role. In September, Epstein survivor Marina Lacerda described how Groff called her so frequently to come to Epstein’s house that she dropped out of school before the 9th grade. That account paints a picture of an assistant deeply embedded in the mechanics of recruitment and access—whether she characterized her actions that way or not.

The timing of Groff’s testimony is significant. It follows recent revelations from another former Epstein assistant, Sarah Kellen, who detailed how Epstein groomed and abused her. On Wednesday, billionaire Bill Gates is scheduled to testify. Each session peels back another layer of who knew what, when they knew it, and what they chose to do about it.