WASHINGTON — One of America’s richest men sued the House Oversight Committee Thursday in a desperate bid to avoid testifying about his connection to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Leon Black, the 75-year-old former CEO of Apollo Global Management, called a subpoena for his testimony “invalid” and said the inquiry “bears no legitimate connection to [a] legislative purpose.”
Black stepped down from Apollo in 2021 after an independent review commissioned by the firm found he steered $158 million to Epstein in exchange for financial advice and purported charitable work.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) accused Black of “hiding behind litigation” to avoid providing answers about his relationship with Epstein, who was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019.
“Mr. Black’s testimony is crucial to our investigation as he was one of Mr. Epstein’s fee-paying clients and has several nondisclosure agreements,” said Comer, adding that he believes Black is trying to run out the clock on the current congressional session, which ends Jan. 3, 2027, with his suit. After that date, the subpoena would have to be reissued if Black does not agree to appear.
Black is America’s 78th-richest man, according to Forbes, with an estimated net worth of $13.8 billion.
He claimed in June that he was oblivious to Epstein’s abuse of women and girls, insisting, “I knew Jekyll. I didn’t know Hyde.”
Black’s attorney Susan Estrich claimed Thursday that the oversight committee “is on a fishing expedition that oversteps its authority” and that its members are “trying to destroy Mr. Black.”
The outcome of the Nov. 3 election is unlikely to change the panel’s attempt to force Black’s testimony and even could heighten the stakes for the businessman.
“By refusing to testify today, Leon Black is now defying two Congressional subpoenas,” said Oversight Committee ranking member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.). “We must hold him in contempt immediately.”
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida state charges of soliciting prostitution, including from a minor, but managed to maintain an impressive roster of powerful friends until his 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges.
The perverted financier’s circle included former President Bill Clinton, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Victoria’s Secret titan Les Wexner and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak — spawning theories that he had blackmailed rich patrons and possibly worked with spy agencies.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Epstein’s former Upper East Side neighbor, claimed to The Post last year that he believed the sex offender was “the greatest blackmailer ever… that’s how he had money.”
President Trump was friendly with Epstein in the 1990s, but broke off ties in the early 2000s — with the president saying the falling out occurred after Epstein “poached” Mar-a-Lago spa staffers, including Virginia Giuffre, who said she was later trafficked to Epstein’s close friend Prince Andrew.
Last July, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo refusing to release federal files on the Epstein case, writing that no “client list” exists and that “[w]e did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,” despite assessing there were “over one thousand victims” of the pedophile.
“No further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted,” wrote Bondi, drawing bipartisan backlash.
Congress then mandated the release of thousands of files held by the DOJ, leading to a wave of corporate and political resignations — including those of then-British Ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson, Goldman Sachs chief legal officer Kathy Ruemmler and Harvard University professor Larry Summers.
