Hermes CEO Axel Dumas said he resisted multiple attempts by Jeffrey Epstein to meet with him, saying he believed he was targeting him, a "financial predator" who approached the company in the middle of a takeover battle.
"I think we were a target. I was a young CEO, and we were in the middle of the LVMH affair. He was a financial predator," Dumas said on a call with journalists on Thursday. "He already had a hateful reputation."
Files released by the US Department of Justice show that Epstein emailed Dumas' assistant multiple times in 2013 and 2014 to request meetings with him, and contacted the luxury brand to request that they design the interior of his private jet. Hermes refused.
Dumas said he only met Epstein once, in March 2013, during an event at a Hermes atelier. Epstein had not been on the list of attendees but joined a group with movie director Woody Allen and his wife, he added.
"After that, he tried three times to meet with me, and I refused every time," Dumas said. "I can't tell you exactly what we knew about him or not, because I can't remember 13 years ago, but he already had a loathsome reputation."
Epstein guilty to prostitution charges
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges, including soliciting an underage girl. He was arrested again in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors. His 2019 death in a Manhattan jail cell was ruled a suicide.
Emails released in the files show Epstein tried to organize a meeting with Dumas and Ariane de Rothschild, head of the family-owned Edmond de Rothschild private bank, in January 2014.
The emails show Elodie Brisebarre, Dumas' assistant, politely refusing Epstein's invitations to meet him in November 2013 and January 2014, citing a "prior engagement" and "a very tight agenda."
One email sent by Epstein to a redacted email address reads: "Track down Axel Dumas in hermes headquarters paris."