Billionaire Leon Black sues House committee, skips deposition in Epstein probe

Leon Black, the billionaire co-founder of Apollo Global Management, sued the House Oversight Committee on Thursday rather than answer a subpoena compelling him to testify about his financial relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, escalating a standoff that Democrats on the panel say should end in a contempt citation.

Black was scheduled to sit for a deposition before the committee Thursday morning as part of its investigation into Epstein's network of financial and social ties. Instead, he filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the committee and its chairman, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, arguing that two subpoenas issued to him in June exceed the panel's authority because they do not serve a "legitimate legislative purpose."

Black, 74, co-founded the private-equity giant Apollo Global Management and has served as a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art; he is among the highest-profile financiers Congress has drawn into its continuing examination of Epstein's business and social network. Black's name appears more than 300 times in Justice Department files related to Epstein that the committee has reviewed, including in more than 100 emails sent by Epstein's personal assistant, according to a statement from the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia. That volume of documentary evidence, Democrats argue, is why Black's cooperation matters to an inquiry that has drawn some of Wall Street's best-known names into its scope.

Two subpoenas, an empty chair

The dispute traces to a March 3 letter in which the committee first asked Black to sit for a voluntary transcribed interview, according to committee correspondence posted to its website. Black agreed, appearing for that interview in late June, but left without answering questions about nondisclosure agreements he had entered into. The same day, Comer issued two subpoenas: one compelling Black to produce those NDAs, the other ordering him to appear for a sworn deposition. "Answers about the terms and substance of these NDAs are critical to our investigation," Comer said at the time, adding that the panel owed it "to the American people to provide transparency and ensure accountability for survivors," according to the committee's release announcing the subpoenas.

Black's deposition was rescheduled to Thursday, September 3. He did not appear. His lawsuit contends the NDA subpoena in particular oversteps Congress's power, warning that turning over the agreements would expose women who signed them, who his lawyers say have no public connection to Epstein and "bargained for confidentiality." Susan Estrich, Black's attorney, called the committee's demands a "fishing expedition that oversteps its authority," telling reporters, as CBS News reported, that "this is no longer about finding the truth about Epstein. It is about trying to destroy Mr. Black." Comer proceeded with the deposition anyway, on the record, with what he described as an empty chair standing in for the missing witness.

A decade of financial ties

Black hired Epstein around 2012 to handle trust, estate and tax planning for his family office, years after Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor in Florida. An independent review by the law firm Dechert, commissioned by Apollo's board after directors raised questions about the relationship, found in January 2021 that Black paid Epstein $158 million between 2012 and 2017. The review concluded the fees reflected legitimate services and found no evidence Black was involved in Epstein's criminal conduct, though Black stepped down as Apollo's chief executive shortly after the findings were released.

In 2023, Black agreed to pay $62.5 million to settle claims brought by the U.S. Virgin Islands, which had investigated Epstein's activities on his private islands there, without admitting wrongdoing. Garcia's committee statement this week put Black's total payments to Epstein at "over $180 million over six years," a higher figure than the Dechert review's, though the committee has not detailed the additional transactions it says make up the difference. Black is one of several prominent financiers the Oversight Committee has summoned this year as part of a broader inquiry into how Epstein built and sustained his financial network after his conviction.

The standoff carries stakes beyond Black himself. The committee's Epstein-related inquiry has reached other financiers and associates who did business with him, and a court ruling on the reach of these subpoenas could shape how much Congress can compel from witnesses in similar disputes down the line. It also puts a spotlight on the women named in the disputed NDAs — individuals Black's lawyers say have no connection to Epstein's crimes and did not agree to have their confidentiality agreements examined in a congressional inquiry into someone else's conduct.

Contempt threat, and what happens next

"By refusing to testify today, Leon Black is now defying two Congressional subpoenas. Black gave Jeffrey Epstein over $180 million over six years... We must hold him in contempt immediately."

That statement from Garcia, issued the day Black skipped the deposition, reflects the position of the committee's Democrats, who lack the votes on their own to move a contempt resolution but are pressing Comer to bring one to the floor. The push comes as the House's fall floor schedule has grown unusually compressed ahead of the midterm elections, leaving Comer only a limited number of legislative days to act before campaign season fully takes hold. Any formal contempt citation would first require a committee vote, then House approval, before the matter could go to the Justice Department for a criminal contempt referral or to federal court for a civil enforcement action — a path that, in past congressional standoffs, has often taken months to resolve.

Black's own suit, meanwhile, asks the court for a declaration that the subpoenas are invalid and an injunction blocking the committee from enforcing them. No hearing date had been set as of Thursday evening. Comer, for his part, told reporters he was "very disappointed," adding that he did not think he needed to explain to anyone in the room how important a witness Black is, according to NBC News. The committee's chairman said afterward it was "a shame" Black was "hiding behind litigation rather than provide answers to the American people," a line NPR and other outlets reported from the hearing room Thursday.

With litigation now pending in federal court and a contempt push building on the committee's Democratic side, the fight over Black's testimony is likely to stretch well beyond this week, adding another unresolved thread to an Epstein-related inquiry that has already drawn in some of the country's most prominent financial figures.