Jeffrey Epstein’s personal assistant of 18 years has said their relationship was ‘strictly business’ despite booking his daily massages with young women who were raped by the pedophile financier.

Lesley Groff appeared anguished, held by a man and woman on either side as she made her way into the closed-door interview by the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. 

The 59-year-old remains a mysterious figure despite her name appearing more than 160,000 times in the Epstein files, second only to Epstein himself.

But her intimate knowledge of the financier’s private life has fueled speculation over what she knew, and she was summoned to testify by the committee investigating the government’s handling of the Epstein case.

Groff told lawmakers she was not aware Epstein was abusing women at his Manhattan townhouse, despite working for him from 2001 until her resignation in 2019 after his arrest on sex trafficking charges. 

Multiple victims told the FBI that Groff was their point of contact when they were booked to massage Epstein, during which he sexually assaulted them.

Groff said she believed the massages were carried out by professional massage therapists, a source familiar with the congressional grilling told CNN. She testified that the ‘scarlet letter’ she bears over her links to Epstein has driven friends away and exposed her family to harassment.

Democratic Representative Stephen Lynch expressed skepticism at Groff’s account, telling reporters: ‘It is highly inconsistent what she’s maintaining, that she really didn’t know Jeffrey Epstein even though she worked for him for 18 years.’

Lesley Groff appeared anguished as she was held by a man and woman on either side as she made her way into the closed-door interview by the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on Tuesday 

Lesley Groff is supported by a man and a woman as she arrives for the interview on Capitol Hill

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend de Grisogono Sponsors The 2005 Wall Street Concert Series Benefitting Wall Street Rising, with a Performance by Rod Stewart at Cipriani Wall Street on March 15, 2005 in New York City

Lynch said he grilled Groff on the massages, asking ‘whether she can rightfully and truthfully maintain that she saw nothing improper in that.’

The lawmaker added that Epstein was a registered sex offender and had to report to authorities at the time.

Groff told lawmakers that she believed Epstein’s claim that he was being ‘blackmailed’ over charges that he solicited prostitution from a minor in Florida, leading to his infamous 2008 plea deal. 

The former assistant said she ‘never had a romantic or sexual relationship’ with the financier, sources told the New York Post.

Emails released by the Justice Department show that Groff arranged meetings with prominent businessmen and politicians, managed his schedule and booked his travel.

Marina Lacerda, who says she was abused by Epstein as a child, told a news conference in September that Groff ‘would call me and tell me that I needed to be at the house so often that I ended up dropping out of high school before ninth grade.’

It was Groff who emailed now-Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick inviting his family for lunch on Epstein’s Caribbean island in 2012, the emails show.

Lutnick has already testified before the Oversight Committee over his relationship with Epstein after giving conflicting statements about cutting him off following his 2008 conviction. 

Groff confirmed that she had visited the infamous island where much of Epstein’s abuse took place, but said that most of her work was carried out in New York.

She told lawmakers that Epstein and his madame Ghislaine Maxwell instructed her that she should not socialize with their friends and colleagues, insisting their affairs were not her business.

Democrats have sought to show links to Donald Trump throughout the bipartisan investigation which has included interviews with Bill and Hillary Clinton, financier Leslie Wexner and ousted attorney general Pam Bondi.

Lynch said Groff arranged ‘multiple phone calls’ between Trump and Epstein before he was president, but didn’t specify dates. 

Lesley Groff (C), a former assistant to Jeffrey Epstein, arrives to testify at a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on June 9

Lesley Groff (C), a former assistant to Jeffrey Epstein, arrives to testify at a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on June 9

Lesley Groff, longtime executive assistant to Jeffrey Epstein arrives for a behind closed doors transcribed interview before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington

Lesley Groff (C), a former assistant to Jeffrey Epstein, arrives to testify at a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on June 9

Trump said he cut ties with Epstein in the mid-2000s over his ‘creepy’ behavior to female staff at his Mar-a-Lago club. He has called efforts to link him to the Epstein files a ‘Democrat hoax.’

A June 2019 memo from the US Southern District Court of New York, released in the Epstein files, laid bare the pyramid scheme Epstein used to perpetrate his abuse, with massages as cover. 

The girls ranged from around 14 to 17 years old when the abuse took place, ‘with the majority having been approximately 15 or 16 when they were recruited to perform sex acts with Epstein,’ the document says.

‘Epstein essentially operated a pyramid scheme of sexual exploitation, victimizing minor girls who were brought to his homes to give Epstein erotic “massages,” in exchange for hundreds of dollars, and then paying those individuals to recruit additional minor victims. Once the victims were alone with Epstein, the “massages” became increasingly sexual,’ the memo says.

In a January 2014 email Groff wrote to a redacted individual, ‘Is [redacted] set for [redacted] arrival today? I think this girl is on important list. :)’

In a December 2015 email she called another redacted female a ‘busy girl’ after she told Groff that she wouldn’t be able to make an appointment because she had school commitments. Groff replied that she would let Epstein know.

Groff, of New Canaan, Connecticut, has never been charged with any crime.

Her lawyer Michael Brachner previously said in a statement: ‘The fact that the US Attorney’s Office did not prosecute Lesley, after she voluntarily spoke with them, answering every question posed of her, demonstrates clearly that she had no criminal involvement with Epstein.

‘Indeed, at no time was my office ever told by prosecutors that she was considered to be a conspirator of Epstein. Lesley is simply disgusted by Epstein’s conduct and is heartbroken by what his victims endured.’

A transcript of Groff’s interview with the Oversight Committee is expected to be released at a future date.