Billionaire Leon Black to appear before House panel over ties to Jeffrey Epstein

The billionaire financier Leon Black is scheduled to appear Friday morning before the House committee on oversight and reform as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.The interview will be conducted behind closed doors, though the committee is expected to release a transcript at a later date, as it has done with previous interviews.The former Apollo Global Management CEO has faced questions over his past ties to Epstein for years, with scrutiny intensifying after the Justice Department released millions of records related to Epstein late last year and earlier this year. In 2021, Black stepped down as chairman and chief executive of Apollo Global Management.According to a report commissioned by Apollo several years ago, Epstein provided financial services to Black between 2012 and 2017. After Epstein pleaded guilty to Florida state prostitution charges in 2008, including procuring a minor, Black became Epstein’s largest client, paying him a total of roughly $170m in fees, according to an investigation by the Senate Finance Committee. Black has described his work for Epstein as tax and estate-planning services.Among the documents released by the DoJ earlier this year was a document titled “PROMINENT NAMES”, which included Black. The document was part of the FBI’s investigation into Epstein, though it is unclear for whom the presentation was prepared, and it does not indicate or state that investigators verified any of the allegations referenced within it against the named men.Under Black’s name, the document lists several allegations, including one claim that “Epstein told [name redacted] to give Black a massage while Black was naked.” Another allegation states that “another female gave Black a massage and he made her perform oral sex.” Black has denied the allegations and any wrongdoing.Three women have sued Black for alleged sexual abuse, allegations that Black has repeatedly denied. One of the suits has been dismissed, one was withdrawn and one remains pending. Lawyers for Black have told The Guardian in a statement that the misconduct allegations raised against Black were false, and that “subsequent events have established with certainty that Mr Black’s account was truthful, and his accusers’ claims were not.”Black’s lawyer, Susan Estrich, also told The Guardian earlier this year that “of the three civil lawsuits filed against Mr Black, one has been dismissed, the other withdrawn and the other is currently facing a case terminating motion for sanctions.”Another DoJ document in the Epstein disclosures stated that the “Manhattan district attorney’s office began looking into allegations against Leon Black.” No charges have ever been brought against Black.Separately, the US Virgin Islands conducted a civil investigation into Black’s ties to Epstein and several women. In that case, Black agreed to pay $62.5m in a settlement to the territory. “The terms of this Agreement shall not be cited by any person as evidence of wrongdoing by Black,” the agreement stated.The New York Times also reported this year that, according to the released DoJ records, Epstein introduced Black to women on several occasions, and counseled Black on paying millions of dollars to several women while suggesting ways to obscure the payments.A spokesman for Black declined to comment to the Times on the payments. In a separate statement to the newspaper, Black’s lawyers said that the Justice Department documents “make clear that Mr Epstein embellished, exaggerated and lied about Mr Black” and said that Black was not aware of Epstein’s sex trafficking or that he paid any women on Black’s behalf.In 2020, Apollo hired the law firm Dechert LLP to conduct an independent review into Black’s relationship with Epstein. The firm, which said it pored over 60,000 documents and interviewed more than 20 witnesses, claimed it saw “no evidence that Black or any employee of the Family Office or Apollo was involved in any way with Epstein’s criminal activities at any time”.The report also concluded that there was “no evidence that Epstein ever introduced Black, or offered to introduce Black, to any underage woman”, and it said that there was “no indication” that Apollo used Epstein’s services or that he invested in any Apollo-controlled fund.The Dechert report did find that “Black and others at Apollo and the Family Office were aware that Epstein had been convicted in 2008 for the charges of solicitation of prostitution and procuring a person under 18 for prostitution.” However, the report said that it found “no evidence suggesting knowledge of any other of Epstein’s criminal activity or the scope and details of such activity, at any time prior to such activities being publicly”.According to the report, Black and Epstein maintained a social relationship from the mid-1990s until 2018. Black, per the report, retained Epstein to provide advising services to him and his family office on issues such as trust and estate planning, taxes and philanthropy.The House oversight and reform committee sent a letter to Black in March, asking him to sit for an interview as part of its investigation into Epstein. Later that month, Ron Wyden, a Democrat senator, alleged in a letter that the Justice Department records related to Epstein suggested that “Epstein may have served as a ‘fixer’ regarding women who were paid tens of millions of dollars in exchange for their silence,” and accused Black of using Epstein to conceal such payments.In another letter from June that the Oregon senator sent to the leaders of the House oversight committee ahead of Black’s testimony, Wyden said that the committee’s “planned deposition of Mr Black under oath presents a unique opportunity to get answers from one of Epstein’s largest benefactors and a major source of funding for Epstein’s criminal network.”Black’s representatives have rejected Wyden’s claims against Black, calling them “outrageous and false” and said that Wyden’s accusations were meant to serve “his own selfish political interests”.“Mr Black paid Epstein for tax and estate planning work and he had no awareness of Epstein’s criminal activity,” a spokesman for Black told the Wall Street Journal in March. “He looks forward to answering the committee’s questions, providing additional clarity and furthering their work.”