By Isla Binnie and Pritam Biswas
NEW YORK, Sept 3 (Reuters) – Wall Street billionaire Leon Black on Thursday sued a congressional committee that had ordered him to provide lawmakers with copies of non-disclosure agreements as part of a probe into the activities of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In June, Black refused to answer questions from lawmakers about victims of Epstein’s abuse and the agreements. He declined to appear at a deposition the committee had scheduled for Thursday. He accused lawmakers of exceeding their constitutional authority when they subpoenaed him to provide the agreements.
In a complaint filed in Washington federal court, Black alleged that the House Oversight Committee and its chairman James Comer weaponized a voluntary June interview to launch an unlawful “fishing expedition.”
Black, the co-founder of private equity giant Apollo Global Management, said the committee’s subpoenas have no legitimate legislative purpose and threaten to violate the privacy of women who have no connection to the Epstein scandal.
“This is no longer about finding the truth about Epstein. It is about trying to destroy Mr. Black. We were left with no choice but to file this lawsuit in response to an abuse of Congressional power,” Susan Estrich, attorney for Black, said in a statement.
The committee is proceeding with Thursday’s deposition to formally document the Apollo co-founder’s absence before discussing next steps, House Oversight Chairman James Comer said in a statement. He defended the probe’s scope, saying it aims to uncover how federal authorities mishandled the Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases for decades, and how Epstein leveraged powerful connections to evade justice.
Epstein was found dead in a New York City jail cell in 2019, and his death was ruled a suicide. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after a 2021 conviction for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors.
“It’s a shame Leon Black is hiding behind litigation rather than provide answers to the American people,” Comer said. “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.”
EPSTEIN TIES, APOLLO FALLOUT
Black is one of several prominent political and business figures who have been called to testify about their ties to the late financier. Black relinquished the chief executive role at Apollo in 2021 after an external law firm found he had paid Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning.
Thursday’s scheduled deposition followed a voluntary private appearance Black made in June.
On that occasion, Black told the committee he never abused women or engaged in sex trafficking and had never had sex with underage women. He walked out during the interview, according to members of the committee, who ordered him to come back to testify under oath and subsequently subpoenaed him for documents.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to state prostitution charges and served 13 months in jail. He was arrested again in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors.
Apollo declined to comment on Black’s appearance this week.
(Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru and Isla Binnie in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)
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