In May 1997, Alicia Arden, a model in California, was introduced to a man who identified himself as a talent scout for Victoria’s Secret. He invited her to his Santa Monica hotel room to audition for the brand’s catalog. 

When she arrived, Ms. Arden said, the man grabbed her, tried to undress her and said he wanted to “manhandle” her. Ms. Arden, then 27, fled in tears. It was the type of crisis that should not have come as a complete surprise to leaders at L Brands, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret. 

In the mid-1990s, two senior executives had discovered that the same man, a close adviser to the company’s chief executive, Leslie H. Wexner, was trying to pitch himself as a recruiter for Victoria’s Secret models. Mr. Wexner was alerted, according to the two executives. 

It is unclear what if any action Mr. Wexner took in response. But the man — Jeffrey E. Epstein, a New York financier — had developed an unusually strong hold on Mr. Wexner, one of the country’s most influential corporate titans.

GRTWT.