In early August 2025, former U.S. President Barack Obama and his spouse Michelle bought their Martha’s Winery home to Les Wexner, who employed late, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein as a cash supervisor.
The home in query, referred to as Blue Heron Farm, is positioned in Chilmark and faces the Tisbury Nice Pond, to the west of the island. It reportedly bought to Wexner for $37 million. Nonetheless, the Obamas by no means owned it, they solely rented it for 3 consecutive summers beginning in 2009. In 2019, the couple acquired their very own property on the island, 10 miles to the east, for a reported $11.75 million. Snopes discovered no proof that that they had bought it.
In August 2025, as rumors about late financier and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein continued to swirl after the Trump administration did not launch Epstein’s “consumer checklist” as promised, a declare that former President Barack Obama and his spouse Michelle had bought their Martha’s Winery summer season home to one in every of Epstein’s cash administration purchasers, Leslie “Les” Wexner, started to flow into on-line.
For instance, a submit on Fb stated the couple had bought their home to Wexner for a “whopping $37 million” (archived):
The submit had gained 1,200 reactions and practically 200 shares. It didn’t point out or hyperlink to a supply. Another one (archived) shared the declare, describing Wexner as “Epstein’s sugar daddy.” The rumor additionally appeared on X (archived), gaining 1 million views. Additional, readers searched Snopes’ website searching for to substantiate the veracity of the declare.
Nonetheless, the declare was false. It stemmed from a confusion between a home the Obamas rented for summer season residence early in Obama’s presidency and a home they purchased a decade afterward the other facet of the Massachusetts island.
The home that bought, referred to as Blue Heron Farm, went on sale for $39 million in Could 2025, in response to stories and a now-expired real estate ad (archived). Snopes was in a position to verify that the home bought on July 10, 2025, in response to a deed registered with Dukes County. It bought for $2 million beneath the asking worth at $37 million, in response to separate gross sales data overlaying the different lots that are part of the property. It’s within the city of Chilmark and faces Tisbury Nice Pond.
The property didn’t belong to the Obamas, however to British architect Norman Foster and his spouse, who’d owned it since 2011 and had made a number of enhancements to the home and the land. Whereas it’s true that the Obamas summered there for the primary three years of Obama’s presidency, which we had been in a position to verify primarily based on pictures within the reputable image bank Getty Images and local reports on the time, the Obamas by no means owned the property. They solely rented it earlier than the Fosters purchased the property and eliminated it from the rental market.
Later in 2019, the Obamas acquired their very own property 10 miles to the east within the city of Edgartown for $11.75 million. Snopes was able to verify the price utilizing property playing cards. Listed as a trustee was James F. Reynolds, an outdated good friend of the couple, in response to several reports. Snopes reported on that acquisition in 2024. The final title Obama doesn’t seem on property paperwork.
The Chilmark property sold to a trust tied to Wexner, founding father of L Brands, which incorporates the lingerie model Victoria’s Secret. Wexner hired Epstein as his cash supervisor and gave him power of attorney over his accounts. Certainly, we had been in a position to verify with the Massachusetts Land Property Information web site that Matthew Zeiger had changed Fain Hackney because the trustee for Blue Heron Farm Nominee Belief. Zeiger is based in New Albany, Ohio, a city the place lots of Wexner’s operations are positioned and which he’s credited with growing.
