Lester Crest

Background

Lester Crest is the hacker and planner behind most of the big jobs in Grand Theft Auto V. He worked with Michael Townley and Trevor Philips in the old days, setting up robberies from behind a computer screen. Lester suffers from a degenerative condition that leaves him walking with a cane, and he rarely leaves his cluttered house in El Burro Heights, which is packed with screens, servers and surveillance gear.

He knew the truth about Michael's "death" and kept it to himself, which made him one of the few people Michael could turn to once he needed money again.

Events of Grand Theft Auto V

Lester returns to the story in Friend Request, when Michael visits him after the Madrazo incident. Before agreeing to plan a job, Lester asks Michael to plant an explosive in a prototype phone at the Lifeinvader office so that its founder dies during a live product launch. He then organizes Casing the Jewel Store, the setup missions and The Jewel Store Job, which pays off Michael's debt to Madrazo.

From there Lester becomes the crew's brains. He hires out Franklin for a series of assassinations, starting with The Hotel Assassination, each designed to move share prices so the protagonists can profit on the stock market. He plans The Bureau Raid to steal the data Haines holds over Michael, and he designs The Big Score, the robbery of the Union Depository, selecting approaches and crew with the three protagonists in Planning the Big Score.

Lester runs his operations from the Darnell Bros. garment factory in La Mesa, which serves as the crew's planning base for several heists. Before The Bureau Raid he decides the job will make the place too hot and prepares to burn it down. His stock-market contracts for Franklin continue with The Multi Target Assassination, The Vice Assassination, The Bus Assassination and The Construction Assassination, each tied to a company whose share price the player can exploit.

When Franklin is pressured to kill one of his partners, Lester is the one who proposes the alternative. In The Third Way he helps the trio plan the simultaneous killing of Steve Haines, Wei Cheng, Stretch and Devin Weston, giving the story its canonical ending.

Personality

Lester is neurotic, sarcastic and fiercely intelligent. He is paranoid about surveillance, insists on doing things his own way and constantly complains about the carelessness of the people he works with. Under the grumbling he is loyal to Michael and genuinely invested in the crew surviving.

Relationships

• Michael De Santa: an old partner and the protagonist he trusts most.
• Franklin Clinton: his hired gun for the assassination missions.
• Trevor Philips: someone he tolerates more than likes.

Trivia

• Lester is voiced by Jay Klaitz.
• He reappears frequently in GTA Online as a heist planner and contact.