A super PAC backing Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy’s 2024 presidential campaign accepted $100,000 from Glenn Dubin, a billionaire hedge fund manager and longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate.
Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein accuser who said Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked her to powerful men for sex, testified under oath that Maxwell sent her to Dubin for sex.
The super PAC never returned Dubin’s $100,000.
Federal Election Commission records show American Exceptionalism PAC eventually spent every dollar it raised, terminated in December 2024 with $0 remaining and reported $0 in contribution refunds.
Cleveland.com later reported that the committee dissolved without either refunding or donating Dubin’s $100,000.
Ramaswamy, meanwhile, spent his presidential campaign repeatedly demanding that the government expose Epstein’s network, promising to publish what he called the “full Epstein client list” and declaring that government should not protect powerful people connected to Epstein.
Epstein accuser testified Maxwell sent her to Dubin for sex
Giuffre specifically named Dubin in sworn testimony about men she said Maxwell directed her to have sex with.
In a 2016 deposition later released in federal court, Giuffre explained that when Maxwell instructed her to give men a “massage,” the term meant sex.
“And I’m telling you that Ghislaine told me to go to Glenn Dubin and give him a massage, which means sex,” Giuffre testified.
Asked directly whether Maxwell told her to give Dubin a massage, Giuffre answered, “Correct.”
“That’s your testimony?” an attorney asked.
“That is my testimony,” Giuffre replied.
Giuffre also testified that Dubin was the first person she was sent to after completing what she described as her massage “training.”
“I know Glenn Dubin was first,” she testified.
Dubin has denied Giuffre’s allegation. He has not been charged with a crime in connection with Epstein.
Ramaswamy promised to expose Epstein’s network
During that same presidential campaign, Ramaswamy repeatedly promised voters he would expose Epstein’s network and force the government to disclose the powerful people connected to him.
“Jeffrey Epstein didn’t act alone. Where’s the client list? Release it now. I’ll do it as President,” Ramaswamy wrote in May 2023.
Days later, he wrote that the government had the list and promised: “We’re fighting corruption & no one will be spared.”
Publishing the Epstein list became one of Ramaswamy’s formal presidential campaign promises.
The policy platform preserved by American Exceptionalism PAC lists “Publish the Jeffrey Epstein client list” under Ramaswamy’s plan to end what he called the weaponization of government.
His stated justification was explicit: “government should not use police power to shield select elites.”
At an Iowa campaign event later that year, Ramaswamy again promised to disclose the list.
“We will publish the Jeffrey Epstein client list,” he said. “No doubt about it. No doubt about it.”
Then the Epstein-linked donor’s money became public
In January 2024, Fox News reported that Dubin had given $100,000 to American Exceptionalism PAC and another $6,600 directly to Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign.
Dubin’s wife, Eva Andersson-Dubin, who had also been associated with Epstein, gave another $6,600 directly to Ramaswamy’s campaign, bringing the couple’s direct contributions to $13,200.
Ramaswamy responded by emphasizing his own demands for Epstein transparency.
“I was the first and most vocal proponent of releasing ALL Epstein related documents & we will,” Ramaswamy wrote. “The people deserve to know the TRUTH. We’re donating the money to causes to fight trafficking.”
Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign later said the direct campaign money from Dubin was donated to Hope Ministries, a battered women’s shelter in Iowa.
American Exceptionalism PAC did not do the same with Dubin’s $100,000.
The super PAC reported no contribution refunds before terminating. Cleveland.com reported that it also did not donate Dubin’s money before shutting down.
Ramaswamy went silent after launching his Ohio campaign
After years of demanding the Epstein files, Ramaswamy went silent on the issue after President Donald Trump returned to the White House and Ramaswamy launched his campaign for Ohio governor with Trump’s endorsement.
WVXU reported in September 2025 that despite Ramaswamy’s years of public demands for the files, “there’s not been a peep out of Ramaswamy on the matter” since Trump returned to office and Ramaswamy entered the governor’s race.
The station said requests to Ramaswamy’s campaign staff and strategists for an interview went unanswered.
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Dr. Amy Acton publicly called on Ramaswamy to join her in demanding the files be released. His campaign did not respond to a reporter seeking comment at the time.
Ramaswamy did not publicly speak about the issue again until November 2025, after Trump reversed his opposition to releasing additional Epstein material and the U.S. House overwhelmingly voted to require disclosure of Justice Department files.
McColley took $5,000 from another major Epstein associate
Ramaswamy’s running mate, Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, separately accepted $5,000 from Les Wexner, the billionaire former retail executive whose decades-long relationship with Epstein has come under intense scrutiny.
Wexner gave $5,000 to McColley’s campaign in June 2024, according to Ohio campaign-finance records and reporting from the Ohio Statehouse News Bureau.
Epstein managed Wexner’s fortune for years and held sweeping power of attorney over his financial affairs. Wexner has said Epstein stole millions of dollars from him and that he severed ties with Epstein years before Epstein’s 2019 arrest.
FBI document named Wexner as an Epstein “co-conspirator”
An FBI document written five days after Epstein’s death named Wexner as one of eight Epstein “co-conspirators.”
WOSU reported on the unredacted document after it was released as part of the Epstein files in February.
The same list included Maxwell, who was later convicted on federal charges stemming from her role in recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein, and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
A separate FBI communication described Wexner as a “secondary co-conspirator” while noting investigators had “limited evidence” involving him.
Wexner has not been charged with a crime in connection with Epstein. He has denied knowing about or participating in Epstein’s criminal conduct, and his representative has said a federal prosecutor told Wexner’s attorneys in 2019 that he was neither a co-conspirator nor a target.
McColley defended himself over Wexner money, then donated it
By February, Ohio politicians from both parties were giving away campaign contributions from Wexner as his relationship with Epstein came under renewed scrutiny.
When the Statehouse News Bureau asked McColley on Feb. 18 what he would do with Wexner’s $5,000, McColley did not say he would return or donate it.
Instead, he defended himself by saying he had never met Wexner.
“I’ve never met the guy,” McColley told the Statehouse News Bureau. “I don’t know the guy, I don’t even know how to get a hold of him, even if I wanted to.”
McColley said politicians could decide for themselves what to do with Wexner’s money.
“I think every member should do what is in their own conscience to do under the circumstances,” he said.
McColley subsequently donated the money. Campaign-finance records reviewed by WOSU later confirmed McColley was among Ohio politicians who followed through on promises to donate Wexner contributions.
Ramaswamy’s campaign donated Dubin’s money. The super PAC backing him did not.
Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign donated the money it received directly from Dubin after the contribution came under scrutiny.
McColley ultimately donated Wexner’s $5,000.
But Dubin’s much larger $100,000 contribution to the super PAC backing Ramaswamy was never refunded.
Federal records show American Exceptionalism PAC spent all $8.87 million it raised, reported $0 in contribution refunds and shut down with nothing left.
Cleveland.com reported the PAC also never donated Dubin’s $100,000 before it dissolved.
It kept and spent the money while Ramaswamy repeatedly promised voters that Epstein’s network should be exposed, that government should stop shielding powerful people and that, in his words, “no one will be spared.”
