Les Wexner | $1B+
Get in touch with Les Wexner | Leslie Wexner, founder of L Brands, is one of the most influential figures in American retail, having built Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, and a portfolio of iconic mall brands that helped define modern specialty retail. Starting with a single apparel store in 1963, Wexner created a multi-billion-dollar empire through sharp merchandising instincts, aggressive expansion, and a deep understanding of consumer psychology. For decades, he set the pace in fashion and retail strategy, while also becoming a major philanthropist supporting education, healthcare, and the arts. Though he has stepped back from the company, Wexner remains a towering figure in the retail industry’s evolution.
Leslie Herbert Wexner (born September 8, 1937) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist best known as the founder of L Brands, a retail conglomerate he established in Columbus, Ohio, in 1963 with a single store that evolved into a global empire including Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works. [1][2][3]
Wexner served as chairman and CEO of L Brands for over five decades, growing it into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise before stepping down in 2020 and assuming the role of chairman emeritus. [4][3]
As of October 2025, his net worth stands at approximately $9.8 billion, making him Ohio's richest resident. [3]
Through the Wexner Foundation and direct contributions, he has donated nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to Ohio institutions, notably funding the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University and leadership development programs. [3][2]
Early Life and Education
Formative Years and Family Influence
Leslie Herbert Wexner was born on September 8, 1937, in Dayton, Ohio, to Harry and Bella Wexner, Russian-Jewish immigrants who had settled in the United States and pursued modest livelihoods in the retail sector.[4] His parents, after gaining experience in major department stores, opened a small clothing store named Leslie's in downtown Columbus, Ohio, naming it after their son, which provided the family with a basic but precarious income amid slim profit margins and limited luxuries.[4] The family's working-class circumstances instilled an early appreciation for resourcefulness, as evidenced by the parents' first vacation—a simple outing during a Columbus blizzard—highlighting their frugal approach to life.[4]
Wexner's upbringing emphasized self-reliance and involvement in family matters from a young age, with his parents treating him as an adult by including him in business discussions at the store.[4] He credited his father with imparting lessons in hard work and meticulous attention to detail, core values shaped by the demands of operating a small retail enterprise.[5] Early entrepreneurial inclinations emerged through informal ventures like lawn mowing, reflecting an innate drive to generate value independently amid the family's economic constraints.[4]
This immersion in the family's retail operations exposed Wexner to the inefficiencies of traditional small-store models, fostering a mindset oriented toward practical improvements in efficiency and turnover, though he initially chafed against his parents' established methods.[4] The modest Jewish immigrant household environment, marked by parental perseverance in a competitive field, cultivated a resilient, hands-on approach that prioritized tangible results over complacency.[4]
Academic Background and Initial Ambitions
Leslie Wexner attended The Ohio State University, graduating in 1959 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and honors.[5][6]
Following graduation, Wexner enrolled in the Ohio State University College of Law but departed after two years, opting instead for hands-on business involvement amid constrained financial means that emphasized pragmatic outcomes over extended academic study.[5][6][7]
In the immediate post-law school period, Wexner assisted at his parents' modest clothing store, Leslie's, in Columbus, Ohio, where exposure to daily operations instilled critical insights into cash flow demands and market responsiveness, though a fundamental disagreement with his father over management approaches prompted his exit.[8][9]
Undeterred by family reservations about retail's risks, Wexner secured a $5,000 loan from his aunt in 1963 to launch an independent venture targeting apparel distribution flaws he had observed, such as fragmented supply chains and inventory mismatches, prioritizing operational efficiency to mitigate bankruptcy risks that defined his core early ambition of sustainable viability.[10][11]
Business Career
Founding and Growth of The Limited
Leslie Wexner founded The Limited in 1963 at the age of 26, opening the first store in the Kingsdale Shopping Center in Columbus, Ohio, with a $5,000 loan from his aunt and an additional $5,000 bank loan.[12][3] The store targeted affordable women's sportswear separates, such as shirts, pants, and blouses, aimed at young professional women seeking fast-moving, basic items rather than expansive fashion lines.[4][10] This limited assortment strategy minimized inventory risk by focusing on high-turnover staples, enabling quicker adaptation to sales data over speculative trend-following.[3][13]
The company's early growth capitalized on the rising popularity of enclosed shopping malls in the 1960s and 1970s, allowing Wexner to open additional stores rapidly with low overhead costs compared to standalone locations.[14] By emphasizing a narrow selection of proven sellers, The Limited achieved superior inventory turnover rates, which supported efficient merchandising decisions based on empirical sales performance rather than broad assortments prone to markdowns.[13] This approach defied conventional retail wisdom favoring variety, instead prioritizing speed and data-driven replenishment to maintain fresh stock and reduce holding costs.[5]
Expansion accelerated in the 1980s, culminating in the acquisition of 798 Lerner Stores—a chain of moderate-priced women's apparel outlets—for approximately $297 million in cash and notes in 1985, which bolstered The Limited's national footprint and sales volume.[15] Lerner contributed around $700 million in annual sales but carried operational inefficiencies that The Limited addressed through its established supply chain controls and merchandising discipline, turning the acquisition profitable within the year.[16][17] By the mid-1980s, these strategies had scaled The Limited from a single store to a multi-hundred-store operation, emphasizing centralized distribution and real-time sales analytics for sustained growth.[18]
Development of Key Brands and L Brands Empire
In 1982, Wexner acquired Victoria's Secret, a struggling five-store chain and catalog business from founder Roy Raymond, for $1 million.[4][19] Under his direction, the brand shifted from a niche Victorian-themed retailer aimed at men to an aspirational powerhouse targeting female consumers through glamorous catalog photography featuring supermodels, expanded retail footprints, and innovative merchandising that emphasized fantasy and sensuality over functionality.[20][21] This repositioning drove rapid expansion, with the catalog becoming a key sales channel and the brand growing to over 300 stores by the late 1980s, capitalizing on direct consumer feedback to refine offerings.[22]
Wexner extended The Limited's portfolio with complementary brands, launching Bath & Body Works in 1990 with its first store in Boston, Massachusetts, focusing on affordable personal care products like scented lotions and soaps to diversify beyond apparel into beauty.[4][19] In 1988, the company acquired the 25-store Abercrombie & Fitch chain for $47 million, revitalizing it as a youth-oriented outfitter before spinning it off as an independent public entity in 1996 to streamline focus on higher-margin intimates and beauty segments.[23][12] Express formats, introduced as smaller-footprint outlets, served as testing grounds for merchandise, allowing real-time sales data to inform scaling decisions rather than relying on market projections, which supported consistent profitability through rapid iteration.[24]
Vertical integration underpinned the empire's resilience, with L Brands (rebranded from The Limited, Inc. in 2013) controlling design, sourcing, and distribution to minimize costs and adapt to retail shifts like e-commerce encroachment.[14][25] Private labels and in-house manufacturing enabled customized inventory responsive to consumer trends, yielding margins superior to competitors dependent on external suppliers. By the 2010s, these tactics propelled annual revenues beyond $12 billion, with Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works comprising the core, demonstrating the efficacy of data-driven expansion over speculative diversification.[26][27]
Leadership Challenges and Transition from CEO
During the 2008 financial crisis, L Brands faced significant operational pressures, with net sales declining 11% to $9.043 billion amid reduced consumer spending and a broader retail downturn.[28] The company, heavily reliant on mall-based stores, navigated these challenges by maintaining its quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share across all four payments in 2008 (February, May, August, and November), providing stability to shareholders while peers encountered severe distress.[29] Unlike retailers such as Sharper Image and Levitz, which filed for bankruptcy in 2008 owing millions to suppliers, L Brands avoided restructuring or liquidation, preserving its core operations including Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works.[30]
Subsequent challenges arose from the accelerating shift to e-commerce and changing consumer preferences away from traditional mall retail, which eroded L Brands' market position in the 2010s. Sales growth stagnated as online competitors captured market share, contributing to a prolonged decline in comparable store sales for Victoria's Secret, which fell from peak dominance to prompting activist investor scrutiny by 2019.[31] Despite these headwinds, Wexner prioritized operational efficiency, including inventory management and store optimizations, which sustained profitability relative to industry averages during periods of mall vacancy spikes and e-commerce disruption.
On February 20, 2020, Wexner announced his resignation as CEO of L Brands, effective upon the completion of Victoria's Secret's sale to Sycamore Partners, amid shareholder pressure over declining performance and strategic direction.[32] [31] He retained the role of executive chairman until January 2021, when he stepped down from the board entirely, marking the end of his direct executive involvement after over five decades.[33] The transition facilitated corporate restructuring, including the 2021 spin-off of Bath & Body Works as a separate entity, which unlocked shareholder value by allowing focused management; Bath & Body Works shares subsequently demonstrated resilience, with the company reporting consistent dividend payments and outperforming broader retail benchmarks in cash flow generation post-separation.[29] This evolution counters attributions of inherent decline to leadership alone, highlighting instead adaptive separations that preserved long-term enterprise value amid exogenous retail transformations.[34]
Post-Retail Ventures and Recent Financial Successes
Following his 2021 exit from L Brands, where he sold shares for over $2 billion between 2020 and 2021, Wexner shifted focus to high-growth sectors beyond retail.[35] A pivotal move occurred in 2019 when a trust for his children invested $1 million in seed funding for CoreWeave, initially a cryptocurrency mining firm that pivoted to providing GPU-based cloud infrastructure for AI workloads.[35] [36] Wexner later added $600,000 in shares during a secondary round, positioning his holdings for substantial appreciation as demand for AI computing surged.[37]
CoreWeave's March 2025 initial public offering marked a turning point, with its market capitalization nearly tripling to $73 billion by July 2025 amid explosive growth in AI data center needs.[35] Wexner's stake, valued at approximately $1.6 million initially, reached $2.8 billion by mid-2025, delivering a paper gain exceeding $2 billion within three months.[35] [38] This outcome underscored the returns from early bets on scalable AI infrastructure, contrasting with retail's slower adaptation to digital shifts.
In parallel, Wexner expanded into premium real estate, acquiring Blue Heron Farm—a 28.5-acre waterfront compound on Martha's Vineyard—for $37 million in July 2025 via a linked trust.[39] [40] The property, featuring a 7,800-square-foot main residence designed by architect Norman Foster and previously rented by the Obama family, represented a strategic entry into undervalued luxury coastal assets amid market volatility.[41] [42]
These ventures contributed to a net worth rebound, reaching $9.8 billion as of October 25, 2025, per real-time estimates driven by diversified holdings in tech and property rather than legacy retail exposure.[3] This recovery followed a post-2020 dip tied to L Brands challenges, highlighting effective capital reallocation to sectors with structural tailwinds like AI compute demand.[1]
Philanthropic Endeavors
Establishment of the Wexner Foundation
The Wexner Foundation was established by Leslie Wexner in 1983 as his primary philanthropic vehicle to cultivate leadership skills among Jewish professionals and volunteers in North America, emphasizing practical training for communal roles over generalized social initiatives.[43] The organization's early programs, such as the Wexner Heritage Program launched in the mid-1980s, targeted mid-career individuals with intensive seminars on Jewish texts, ethics, and organizational management, aiming to equip participants for influential positions in federations, synagogues, and advocacy groups.[44] By prioritizing selection of high-potential candidates and tracking outcomes like alumni promotions to executive roles, the foundation sought measurable returns on investment rather than diffuse charitable distribution.[45]
In 1989, the foundation extended its scope to Israeli public servants through the Wexner Israel Fellowship, which funds up to 10 mid-career professionals annually for master's degrees in public administration, typically at institutions like the Harvard Kennedy School, with a curriculum focused on policy analysis, ethics, and governance.[46] This initiative addressed a perceived need for strengthened civil service leadership in Israel, fostering skills in strategic decision-making and institutional reform through experiential learning and peer networks.[47] Since inception, the foundation's programs have trained over 3,000 fellows across North America and Israel, with empirical evidence of impact including alumni occupying senior posts in government ministries, nonprofit executives, and community boards, demonstrating a causal link between targeted education and elevated communal efficacy.[45]
Wexner's approach underscored self-reliant models of Jewish advancement, exemplified by his 1991 co-founding of the Mega Group alongside Charles Bronfman—a private network of about 20 wealthy Jewish philanthropists coordinating high-impact grants for education, Birthright Israel, and campus outreach, while avoiding welfare-style dependency that could undermine long-term institutional resilience.[48] Overall investments through the foundation have surpassed hundreds of millions of dollars, directed toward these leadership pipelines with rigorous evaluation of placement rates and policy influence as key metrics of success.[43]
Major Contributions to Jewish Causes and Leadership Programs
The Wexner Foundation, founded by Leslie Wexner in 1983, has prioritized leadership development programs to strengthen Jewish communal institutions in North America and Israel, emphasizing rigorous Jewish textual study, ethical reasoning, and practical governance skills as bulwarks against assimilation and external threats.[45] These initiatives target both volunteer lay leaders and professionals, with cohorts selected through competitive processes that yield participants who advance to influential roles in federations, synagogues, and advocacy organizations.[44]
In North America, the Wexner Heritage Program, launched in 1991, delivers a two-year curriculum of immersive seminars on Jewish history, philosophy, and leadership to cohorts of approximately 20-25 emerging volunteer leaders annually, fostering skills in community mobilization and decision-making under uncertainty.[49] Complementing this, the Wexner Field Fellowship, established for mid-career Jewish communal professionals, provides executive coaching, peer networks, and strategic training to enhance organizational resilience, with alumni reporting measurable improvements in program outcomes and donor engagement in their institutions.[50] Collectively, these efforts have equipped hundreds of participants with tools to sustain Jewish continuity amid declining affiliation rates, as evidenced by longitudinal tracking of fellows' promotions to executive positions.[51]
For Israel, the Wexner Israel Fellowship sponsored up to 10 public sector officials per year from 1991 through 2023 for a one-year Master in Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School, training over 300 fellows—including mayors, senior military officers, and policy experts—in advanced administration and crisis management.[47][52] The program, funded with commitments exceeding $25 million over three decades, produced leaders who implemented reforms in security and governance, contributing to Israel's institutional capacity against persistent threats.[53] Similarly, the Wexner Senior Leaders initiative offered Harvard-based executive education to established Israeli figures, emphasizing evidence-based policy to bolster national resilience.[54]
Following the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, which killed over 1,200 civilians and triggered widespread institutional equivocation on antisemitism, the Foundation terminated its Harvard partnerships, redirecting resources to alternatives that align with unequivocal condemnation of terrorism and prioritize Jewish safety over academic prestige.[55][56] Wexner Foundation leaders cited Harvard's "dismal failure" to clearly denounce Hamas atrocities—initial statements omitted direct blame on the group and equivocated on contextualizing violence—as eroding trust in partners unwilling to affirm basic causal accountability for sponsored terror.[57] This shift underscores a commitment to programs demonstrably advancing Jewish leadership efficacy, as prior fellows' track records in countering security challenges validate the model's impact on real-world communal fortitude.[58]
Other Charitable Initiatives and Art Patronage
Wexner initiated his art collecting in the mid-1970s, emphasizing works by Abstract Expressionists associated with the New York School, including significant pieces by Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning.[59] [4] [60] This approach reflected a disciplined strategy of acquiring high-quality examples from established postwar artists, with many holdings demonstrating substantial appreciation in market value over decades due to their historical significance and scarcity.[4] Portions of the collection have been displayed publicly, such as in the 2014 exhibition at the Wexner Center for the Arts, underscoring his role in promoting modern American art through patronage rather than transient trends.[60]
Beyond art, Wexner's giving extended to education and health initiatives, including a $100 million commitment in 2011 to Ohio State University, comprising $65 million from personal funds and $35 million from the Limited Brands Foundation, primarily supporting the Wexner Medical Center for advancements in patient care and research.[61] [62] Additional contributions to Ohio State incorporated arts elements, such as endowments benefiting the Wexner Center, fostering long-term institutional growth through named facilities and programmatic stability.[63] He also provided $2 million to the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus in 2016, enabling a partnership with the American Museum of Natural History for educational exhibits on paleontology and science.[64] These efforts prioritized measurable outcomes, such as expanded research capacity and public access to cultural resources, while steering clear of ideologically charged areas.[4]
Political Involvement
Campaign Donations and Republican Support
Leslie Wexner has made substantial political contributions primarily to Republican candidates and organizations, often favoring those associated with fiscal conservatism and business-friendly policies such as deregulation, which have historically supported retail sector growth. During the 2016 election cycle, Wexner donated $500,000 to the Right to Rise super PAC backing Jeb Bush's presidential campaign, emphasizing support for establishment Republicans promoting economic reforms aligned with corporate interests.[65] He also contributed to other GOP figures, including multiple $2,700 donations to candidates like Pat Toomey, Steve Stivers, Ed Royce, Kevin Brady, and Kevin McCarthy, reflecting a pattern of funding pro-business lawmakers.[66]
Wexner's giving extended to Ohio Republicans, with contributions to governors and senators such as John Kasich (including earlier support via state-level channels) and Mike DeWine, underscoring a focus on regional leaders advocating governance efficiency and tax policies favorable to enterprise expansion.[66] Aggregate donations in the 2016 cycle, including super PAC and candidate support, exceeded several million dollars to Republican-aligned entities, positioning him as one of Ohio's largest GOP benefactors at the time.[67]
In 2022, following his 2020 resignation from L Brands amid scrutiny over Jeffrey Epstein ties and a 2018 public disavowal of the national Republican Party due to Donald Trump's influence, Wexner donated $250,000 to the Republican Governors Association, signaling sustained backing for state-level Republican reforms and leadership continuity.[68][69] This contribution, his first major six-figure political gift post-resignation, prioritized organizations advancing policy outcomes like streamlined regulations over strict partisan allegiance.[67]
Positions on Israel, Antisemitism, and Institutional Accountability
Les Wexner has long advocated for Israel's security and development through the Wexner Foundation, which he founded in the early 1980s to cultivate leadership in the North American Jewish community and the State of Israel. The foundation's Wexner Israel Fellowship program, launched in 1982, selects mid-career Israeli public servants for graduate study at Harvard's Kennedy School, requiring participants to commit to at least three years of post-fellowship service in Israel's public sector upon return; over 200 fellows have been trained, including high-ranking officials such as former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi.[47] [70]
In October 2023, following Hamas's terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7—which killed approximately 1,200 people and involved widespread atrocities—the Wexner Foundation suspended its longstanding partnership with Harvard University. The foundation cited Harvard's initial response as a "dismal failure" to unequivocally condemn the attacks, accusing the university of "tiptoeing" in its statements and inadequately addressing the resulting surge in antisemitic incidents on campus, where Jewish students reported harassment and threats. This decision halted the Israel Fellows program at Harvard, which had operated for over four decades, signaling Wexner's prioritization of institutional actions that clearly denounce threats to Israel over ambiguous rhetoric that critics argue enables antisemitic tolerance in elite academia.[56] [71] [72]
Wexner's stance reflects a broader emphasis on accountability from institutions that receive philanthropic support tied to Jewish and Israeli causes, particularly amid patterns of equivocation on Islamist terrorism that diverge from empirical assessments of security risks, such as Hamas's charter calling for Israel's destruction and its history of rocket attacks and incursions. By withdrawing engagement, the foundation aimed to enforce consequences for leadership failures that link permissive campus environments to real-world violence against Jews, countering normalized dilutions in elite discourse where threats to Israel are often framed through moral equivalence rather than causal distinctions between aggressor and defender.[73] [74]
Personal Life
Family and Relationships
Les Wexner married Abigail S. Koppel, a corporate lawyer, on January 23, 1993, in a private ceremony attended by close associates.[75][4] Wexner was 55 at the time, while Koppel was 31; the union marked his first marriage after remaining single through the early decades of building his retail empire.[4]
The couple has four children—Harry, Hannah, David, and Sarah—born between the mid-1990s and early 2000s.[4][76] Public details about their upbringing are scarce, reflecting the family's deliberate emphasis on privacy and insulation from media scrutiny, with Wexner himself describing family as a core stabilizing influence amid professional demands.[4]
Wexner and Koppel's partnership has extended to shared philanthropic interests, including support for Jewish community programs and educational initiatives, though Koppel has maintained no formal role in Wexner's commercial enterprises such as L Brands.[4] This separation underscores a consistent boundary between personal life and business operations, contributing to the enduring stability of their 30-plus-year marriage as of 2025.[4]
Residences and Lifestyle
Les Wexner has maintained his primary residence in New Albany, Ohio, a planned community he co-founded in the early 1990s to integrate high-end residential areas with commercial and industrial zones, enabling direct oversight of business operations from a centralized location.[77] In December 1989, Wexner acquired over 340 acres of land in the area, which formed the basis for his expansive personal estate spanning approximately 336 acres and featuring a 45,000-square-foot main residence completed around 1990.[78][79] This development prioritized functional infrastructure, including proximity to corporate facilities, over isolated luxury, reflecting a strategic approach to resource allocation that supported L Brands' logistics and executive functions in the Columbus region.[80]
In July 2025, Wexner expanded his property holdings with the $37 million purchase of Blue Heron Farm, a 28-acre estate in Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, previously designed by architect Norman Foster and rented by the Obama family during Barack Obama's presidency.[40][81] The acquisition, completed below the $39 million asking price, includes a main house, guesthouse, pool house, private dock, and beach access, but aligns with Wexner's pattern of selecting properties that enhance operational flexibility rather than mere ostentation.[82]
Wexner's lifestyle emphasizes disciplined efficiency and a low public profile, consistent with his self-described Midwestern roots and long hours devoted to retail innovation, as evidenced by his early career managing family stores and scaling operations without reliance on external extravagance.[4] This approach counters assumptions of unchecked opulence among billionaires, focusing instead on sustained productivity and proximity to core business assets in Ohio.[11]
Controversies and Investigations
Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein: Details, Allegations, and Wexner's Response
Leslie Wexner first encountered Jeffrey Epstein in the mid-1980s through social connections in New York, after which Epstein was hired to assist with Wexner's financial and philanthropic affairs.[83] By the early 1990s, Wexner had granted Epstein broad power of attorney, enabling him to sign checks, borrow money, buy and sell properties, and manage aspects of Wexner's personal and business finances on his behalf.[84] This arrangement persisted until 2007, when Wexner terminated Epstein's role as his money manager, citing discovery of financial irregularities; during this period, Epstein had access to significant portions of Wexner's wealth, though exact figures handled remain unquantified in public records beyond the misappropriation claims.[85]
In 2019, Wexner publicly accused Epstein of misappropriating over $46 million from him and his family, stating that the funds were discovered missing after the 2007 severance and that Epstein had used them without authorization, including a $46 million donation to Wexner's foundation in 2008 that was later reversed upon realization it derived from these funds.[86] [87] Wexner emphasized in his statement that he had been unaware of Epstein's criminal activities related to sex trafficking, which came to light in Epstein's 2008 plea deal, and that ties were cut prior to that plea; he described himself as "embarrassed" by the misplaced trust and provided federal prosecutors with documents substantiating the theft allegations.[88] [89] No criminal charges have been filed against Wexner in connection with Epstein's activities, despite investigations into their financial ties, and an independent review of the Wexner Foundation found Epstein played no meaningful role in its operations.[90]
Allegations linking Wexner more directly to Epstein's sex crimes have centered on claims of facilitated abuse or knowledge, but these lack corroborating evidence beyond association; for instance, Epstein's patterns of financial fraud, including against other clients and entities, suggest independent exploitation rather than collaborative criminality with Wexner.[91] Recent 2025 releases, including Ghislaine Maxwell's DOJ interview transcripts, reference Epstein's influence over Wexner's New Albany community and their personal friendship, with Maxwell claiming Epstein "ran" aspects of it, though her testimony as a convicted accomplice carries credibility limitations and does not implicate Wexner in illicit acts.[92] Similarly, Epstein victim Annie Farmer stated in September 2025 congressional testimony that Wexner provided "enormous" wealth enabling Epstein's operations, attributing indirect responsibility, but this remains an unsubstantiated assertion without forensic ties to abuse facilitation.[93] A resurfaced friendly letter from Wexner in Epstein's 2003 birthday book underscores prior rapport but predates known severances and offers no evidentiary link to crimes.[94]
Arthur Shapiro Murder Case and Related Probes
Arthur L. Shapiro, a partner at the Columbus law firm Schwartz, Shapiro, Kelm & Warren and attorney for Leslie Wexner's The Limited, Inc., was murdered on March 6, 1985, in a mob-style execution.[95] [96] Shapiro, aged 43, was shot twice in the head at close range after fleeing a red BMW that had pulled alongside his vehicle on Dublin Road; he managed to exit his car and knock on a nearby door before collapsing.[95] [96] The execution bore hallmarks of La Cosa Nostra (LCN) organized crime tactics, including the use of a silenced weapon and rapid getaway, consistent with professional hits tied to gambling debts or financial disputes.[97] [98]
At the time of his death, Shapiro faced personal financial vulnerabilities that aligned with mafia-enforcement motives. He was under IRS scrutiny for tax evasion, including failure to file returns and structuring schemes to conceal income from unreported legal fees and gambling winnings.[99] [100] These issues stemmed from high-stakes gambling activities, reportedly involving debts to underworld figures, which IRS probes linked to broader organized crime patterns in Ohio.[97] [101] No direct evidence tied these risks to his professional representation of Wexner, whose business interactions with Shapiro were routine corporate matters.[101]
Columbus Police Department and FBI investigations, initiated immediately after the homicide, prioritized mafia connections over corporate intrigue. A 1991 analytical report by Columbus Organized Crime Bureau analyst Elizabeth A. Leupp reviewed extensive leads, including Shapiro's business ties to Wexner entities like The Limited, but identified no causal links implicating Wexner or his operations in the killing.[97] [101] The report, titled "Shapiro Homicide Investigation: Analyzes and Hypotheses," detailed hypotheses centered on LCN enforcement for Shapiro's debts and tax maneuvers, while pursuing suspects independent of Wexner's circle.[97] [98]
Prime investigative focus fell on Berry L. Kessler, Shapiro's accounting business partner, who possessed motive from disputed finances and a documented history of violence. Kessler, convicted in 1997 for two unrelated murder-for-hire schemes and linked to a 1970 double homicide of associates, was seen by detectives as having a "direct connection" to Shapiro's death, though insufficient evidence led to no charges.[96] [102] [103] Kessler died in prison in 2015 without confessing or being prosecuted for Shapiro's murder.[104]
The case remains unsolved as a cold file, with periodic revivals yielding no breakthroughs beyond Shapiro's individual exposures to organized crime.[96] Renewed media interest in 2021 reiterated mafia-style elements and Kessler's primacy but uncovered no empirical support for alternative theories diverging from Shapiro's gambling and IRS entanglements.[95] [98] Official probes consistently attributed the homicide to Shapiro's personal liabilities rather than orchestrated interference from clients like Wexner.
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