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Leslie Wexner, the billionaire founder of L Brands<\/a> Inc., can\u2019t be held liable for once owning the Manhattan townhouse where a woman alleges she was raped as a teenager by Jeffrey Epstein, a federal judge ruled.\u00a0<\/p>\n US District Court Judge Ann Donnelly on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Jennifer Araoz against Wexner, who had employed Epstein as a financial adviser and previously rented the East 71st Street property to him. The judge also tossed Araoz\u2019s claims against Wexner\u2019s wife, charities and other defendants.<\/p>\n Donnelly concluded that Araoz was barred from filing the federal lawsuit because she made similar claims in a New York state court case that was dismissed with prejudice, which means it can no longer be pursued. She\u2019d sued Epstein\u2019s estate in 2019, claiming she was 15 when he raped her almost two decades earlier. Epstein killed himself in jail while facing sex-trafficking charges.<\/p>\n Last month, Araoz\u2019s lawyer argued newly-unsealed documents related to a separate case filed by another accuser against Epstein\u2019s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, showed \u201cWexner knew or should have known that Epstein was sexually trafficking underage girls.\u201d Maxwell was convicted in 2021.<\/p>\n But the Brooklyn-based federal judge found Araoz \u201chas not shown that new evidence was fraudulently concealed.\u201d Donnelly said the material she cited was publicly available at the time of the state court dismissal and couldn\u2019t be used to justify a \u201cnegligent supervision\u201d claim against Wexner.<\/p>\n In earlier court filings, Wexner\u2019s lawyers called the claims \u201cutterly devoid of merit.\u201d Wexner said in a sworn affidavit last year that he rented the townhouse to Epstein in the 1990s, but sold his shares in the corporation that owned title to the property in 1998, well before the alleged rape, which Araoz said occurred around 2001.<\/p>\n Robert Hantman, a lawyer for Araoz, said she is considering filing an appeal, \u201cWhile I have the highest regard for the judge we are disappointed our client won\u2019t have her day in court,\u201d Hantman said.<\/p>\n Epstein was a long-time money manager for Wexner. The billionaire cut ties with Epstein in 2007 and later accused the financier of deception and misappropriating \u201cvast sums of money from me and my family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Marion Little and Guy Petrillo, lawyers for Wexner, didn\u2019t immediately return messages seeking comment about the ruling.<\/p>\n The case is Araoz v. New Albany Company, 22-cv-0125, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to the CFO Daily newsletter to keep up with the trends, issues, and executives shaping corporate finance. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n