Eleven Jeffrey Epstein survivors voluntarily dismissed their lawsuit against Leslie Wexner, the Wexner Foundation and Nine East 71st Street Corporation after a prolonged fight over whether the case belonged in state or federal court. The lawsuit was originally filed in New York Supreme Court under the city’s Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, accusing Wexner and related entities of helping enable Epstein through financial support, control over his finances and access to the Manhattan townhouse later associated with his abuse. Wexner and the foundation moved the case into federal court, where the dispute quickly became centered on jurisdiction rather than the substance of the allegations. The key fight involved whether complete diversity existed between the parties, particularly because plaintiff Andrea Sterling said she had been living in Tulum, Mexico, while defense lawyers pointed to public material suggesting she still had ties to Miami. After Nine East sought discovery into Sterling’s domicile and opposed sending the case back to state court, the plaintiffs moved to dismiss the action.
The dismissal was without prejudice, which means the survivors did not lose on the merits and are not necessarily barred from bringing the claims again. That distinction is important because the allegations against Wexner were never adjudicated; the case ended, for now, because of the jurisdictional battle rather than because a judge found the claims insufficient after a full merits review. Wexner has denied knowing about Epstein’s abuse, has not been criminally charged, and his representatives have argued that the complaint failed to provide a factual basis for holding him responsible. But the filing window created by New York City law remains open into 2027, leaving the possibility that the survivors could refile under a different procedural posture. So the immediate result is not an exoneration of Wexner or a defeat of the underlying allegations, but a tactical withdrawal after the case became bogged down in a fight over where it should be heard.
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