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Lese-Ansicht

‘Seriously the best boss ever’: inside the world of Jeffrey Epstein’s assistant

No one’s name appears in the Epstein files more than that of Lesley Groff, his assistant. Reading through the thousands of emails, a troubling question arises: what did she know?

Jonathan Whitcomb, attorney for Lesley Groff, 5 June 2020

“She did not know.”

FBI interview with Lesley Groff, 24 September 2021

Groff met with a headhunter, and he told her that “there was a job to organize one man’s life. This man was EPSTEIN, a Manhattan socialite. GROFF had never heard of EPSTEIN before this.”

Interview with Lesley Groff in the New York Times, 5 February 2005

“It comes down to the bond. I know what he is thinking and I know when I need to be fast. It’s a nice roll we are on.”

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© Illustration: Guardian Design/Getty

© Illustration: Guardian Design/Getty

© Illustration: Guardian Design/Getty

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Harvey Weinstein’s New York retrial ends in mistrial with jury deadlocked

Weinstein has been convicted of other crimes in the US and is already behind bars but move leaves rape charge in limbo

Harvey Weinstein’s retrial in New York on a rape charge ended in a mistrial on Friday after the jury deadlocked in the closely watched criminal case that another jury had already failed to decide last year.

The disgraced former Hollywood mogul has been convicted of other sex crimes on the US east and west coasts and is already in jail. But Friday’s declaration of another mistrial leaves the New York rape charge in limbo after three trials.

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© Photograph: Spencer Platt/EPA

© Photograph: Spencer Platt/EPA

© Photograph: Spencer Platt/EPA

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How to find a career you love – for gen Z and everyone else: ‘You don’t want your life’s compass to be dread’

In her new book, New York Times investigative journalist Jodi Kantor has set her mind to helping young people find their life’s work. What should they, or anyone else who feels lost and overwhelmed right now, do to get started?

Early last year, the investigative journalist Jodi Kantor was asked to give the commencement address to students at Columbia University in New York. The place was in chaos – amid continuing pro-Palestinian protests students were expelled, or arrested and detained by immigration officials, while President Trump had ordered a $400m withdrawal of federal funding (which was later reinstated as part of a settlement with the administration). Kantor was “horrified” to see what had happened at Columbia – her alma mater, where she was sacked from her first journalism job at the student paper– “a place and campus I loved, a place that stands for discussion and ideas and progress. I said: ‘I’ll do it if I can speak to the students first.’”

She spoke to several. They didn’t want to talk about Israel or Gaza, or Trump, or what was happening at the university and its implications for free speech. “They said: ‘Our class, despite all of its political differences, is united in anxiety over one question. When everything feels so broken, how do we start? How do we find our life’s work in this environment?’”

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© Photograph: Maria Spann/The Guardian

© Photograph: Maria Spann/The Guardian

© Photograph: Maria Spann/The Guardian

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Weinstein on trial again for 2013 rape charge after previous jury deadlocked

Weinstein switched legal teams for this retrial, but his new attorneys are echoing their predecessors’ themes

Prosecutors once again portrayed Harvey Weinstein as a one-time Hollywood power player who used his sway as a tool of sexual assault, painting a now-familiar picture on Tuesday at a rape retrial nearly eight years after the former movie tycoon’s arrest.

“This case will come down to power, to control and to manipulation,” said Candace White, a Manhattan assistant district attorney, to jurors as opening statements began in the bellwether #MeToo case, with Alvin Bragg, the district attorney, watching from the audience.

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© Photograph: Jeenah Moon/Reuters

© Photograph: Jeenah Moon/Reuters

© Photograph: Jeenah Moon/Reuters

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Lisa Bloom on the fight for Epstein’s victims: ‘So many powerful men were enablers’

The US lawyer on her fearsome reputation, the criticism she faced for advising Harvey Weinstein, and how 40 years of legal experience did not prepare her for the Epstein files

If Lisa Bloom had been advising Peter Mandelson or the then Prince Andrew before their calamitous attempts at reputation-salvaging television interviews, she would have encouraged them to listen beforehand to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims – or, at the very least, to their lawyers – to understand something of what the women endured.

“Or even just watch some of the powerful documentaries that have been made, centering the victims, telling their stories,” Bloom says, pausing for a moment, closing her eyes and shaking her head to convey silent incredulity. “I’d have wanted them to become really enlightened about it. But you really can’t instil compassion in someone if they don’t have compassion. It’s hard to implant it in there.”

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© Photograph: Jessica Pons/The Guardian

© Photograph: Jessica Pons/The Guardian

© Photograph: Jessica Pons/The Guardian

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Mordfall Rob Reiner: Die Reiner-Morde haben einen dunklen Schatten über Los Angeles gelegt

Nick Reiner soll seine Eltern Rob und Michele ermordet haben. Im Gefängnis steht er nun unter 24-Stunden-Beobachtung, ihm könnte die Todesstrafe drohen. Für seine Verteidigung hat er einen prominenten Anwalt engagiert.

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