Epstein's assistant grilled by lawmakers over Amex travel booked for women or girls

U.S. lawmakers recently grilled Jeffrey Epstein 's longtime assistant Lesley Groff about Epstein's use of American Express to book travel for multiple women or girls, according to a transcript of her hours-long testimony released this week by the House Oversight Committee. CBS News was the first to report in February that the late convicted sex offender used Amex's top-tier Centurion travel service and an Amex Black Card to arrange hundreds of travel itineraries for women or girls, predominantly from Eastern Europe. Groff, who worked for Epstein for nearly two decades, was a central point-person in arranging the bookings with Amex, documents released by the Justice Department earlier this year indicated. CBS News cannot verify the number of women or girls who received travel bookings or their ages, due to the redaction of names in the files released by the Department of Justice. In her sworn testimony to the House Oversight Committee on June 9, Groff said she did not believe she ever arranged travel for girls under the age of 18, according to the transcript released Tuesday. She said her understanding was the bookings were being arranged for "traveling assistants" employed by Epstein. Groff denied being aware of any instance in which the purpose of the travel was for Epstein or anyone in Epstein's network to engage in sexual activity with the women involved. …