Billionaire Leon Black Set to Testify Before House Oversight Committee Regarding Connections to Jeffrey Epstein

Billionaire financier Leon Black is slated to appear before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Friday morning as part of its probe into Jeffrey Epstein.

The hearing will be held in closed session, and the committee intends to publish a transcript of the proceedings at a later date, consistent with its practice for prior witnesses.

James Comer, the Republican congressman who chairs the committee, told reporters on Friday that, among all witnesses thus far, Black’s testimony could prove the most groundbreaking. He noted numerous troubling details in the documents and statements from survivors concerning Black. While Black will have the chance to defend himself and observe due process, Comer said the deposition could be highly significant as the committee seeks answers.

Black, the former Apollo Global Management CEO, has faced longstanding questions about his relationship with Epstein. Scrutiny intensified after the Justice Department released millions of related records in recent months, and in 2021 he stepped down as chairman and chief executive of Apollo Global Management.

A report commissioned by Apollo indicated that Epstein provided financial services to Black from 2012 to 2017. After Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida state prostitution charges, including the procurement of a minor, Black became Epstein’s largest client, paying him approximately $170 million. Black characterized the services as tax and estate planning.

In a copy of his prepared remarks to Congress, viewed by the Guardian, Black wrote that he is appearing “to set the record straight about my relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and, in particular, why I paid him the money I did”.

“I knew Epstein for 18 years before I paid him a dime,” the statement said, adding: “By the time I first paid Epstein in 2013, I knew him to possess an unrivaled network of relationships in finance, academia, science, politics, and beyond.”

“I also knew him to possess a remarkable acumen regarding tax, insurance, and estate‑planning matters,” Black wrote, adding that he “paid Epstein for his bona fide advice on these matters and for assistance in managing and improving the operations of my nascent family office.”

“With the benefit of hindsight,” Black said, “I now know, as does the world, that Epstein was engaged in horrific, sordid activities. I feel terrible for Epstein’s victims.”

In his statement, Black wrote that he “did not know about this nefarious activity until Epstein was charged with trafficking in July 2019,” while acknowledging that he was aware of Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea on state prostitution charges involving a minor.

“Epstein told me it was an isolated incident caused by a fake ID,” Black said. “Five years after his conviction, I gave Epstein a second chance, as did many others, and I now wish I had not.”

A Justice Department document released earlier this year, titled “PROMINENT NAMES,” listed Black. The file was part of the FBI’s Epstein investigation, but it does not specify who it was prepared for, and it contains no assertion that investigators verified any of the allegations against the named individuals.

Under Black’s name, the document lists several allegations, including a claim that “Epstein told [redacted name] to give Black a massage while he was naked,” and another that “a female gave Black a massage and he forced her to perform oral sex.” Black has denied these allegations and any wrongdoing.

In his prepared remarks on Friday, Black wrote: “Let me state unequivocally that I have never abused a woman, never been with an underage woman, never engaged in sex trafficking, never paid Epstein for access to women, never been blackmailed by Epstein, and have had no involvement in or knowledge of any of Epstein’s heinous conduct.”

Three women have sued Black for alleged sexual abuse, which he has repeatedly denied. One suit was dismissed, another was withdrawn, and a third remains pending. Black’s lawyers told the Guardian that the allegations are false and that “subsequent events have established with certainty that Mr. Black’s account was truthful and his accusers’ claims were not.”

Black denied the allegations in his prepared remarks on Friday, calling the lawsuits “demonstrably baseless” and asserting that the accusations were “entirely fabricated.”

Another Justice Department document in the Epstein disclosures indicated that the Manhattan district attorney’s office began investigating allegations against Leon Black. No charges have ever been filed against him.

Separately, the U.S. Virgin Islands conducted a civil investigation into Black’s ties to Epstein and several women. Black agreed to pay $62.5 million in a settlement to the territory, and the agreement stipulated that “the terms of this Agreement shall not be cited by any person as evidence of wrongdoing by Black.”

The New York Times also reported that, according to the released Justice Department records, Epstein introduced Black to women on several occasions and advised him on how to pay millions of dollars to multiple women while suggesting methods to conceal the payments.

A Black spokesperson declined to comment on the payments to the Times. In a separate statement, Black’s lawyers said the Justice Department documents “make clear that Mr. Epstein embellished, exaggerated and lied about Mr. Black” and asserted that Black was unaware of Epstein’s sex trafficking or of paying women on his behalf.

In 2020, Apollo retained the law firm Dechert LLP to conduct an independent review of Black’s relationship with Epstein. The firm said it examined over 60,000 documents and interviewed more than 20 witnesses, concluding that 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 found no evidence that Epstein ever introduced Black, or offered to introduce him, to any underage woman, and indicated there was “no indication” that Apollo used Epstein’s services or that he invested in any fund controlled by Apollo.

According to the report, Black and Epstein maintained a social relationship from the mid‑1990s until 2018. Black retained Epstein to provide advisory services to him and his family office on matters such as trust and estate planning, taxes, and philanthropy.

In his opening remarks, Black wrote, without further detail, that “Epstein solved a massive estate problem for me that none of the experts or lawyers I consulted could resolve,” adding that “it was a problem that would have destroyed enormous value for my family and, in Apollo, the company I founded.”

Black also wrote that Epstein told him the fees he was paying were tax‑deductible “60‑cent dollars,” a claim he learned years later was false.

“With hindsight, I now see that Epstein exaggerated, embellished, manipulated and outright lied — prolific and without concern for me or my family,” Black stated.

Black said he fired Epstein in 2018, “after growing tired of his relentless pursuit of ever more money for professional services, his misrepresentations about the ‘60‑cent fee’ payments, and his failure to repay most of a $30 million demand loan I had extended to him.”

The House Oversight and Reform Committee sent Black a letter in March requesting an interview as part of its Epstein investigation. Later that month, Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat, alleged in a letter that Justice Department records suggested “Epstein may have acted as a ‘fixer’ for women paid tens of millions of dollars in exchange for their silence,” and accused Black of using Epstein to conceal such payments.

In a June letter to the House Oversight Committee leaders, Senator Wyden wrote that the committee’s planned sworn deposition of Mr. Black presented a unique opportunity to obtain answers from one of Epstein’s largest benefactors and a major source of funding for his criminal network.

Black’s representatives have rejected Wyden’s claims as “outrageous and false,” asserting that the accusations were driven by “his own selfish political interests.”

A Black spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal in March that “Mr. Black paid Epstein for tax and estate planning work and had no awareness of Epstein’s criminal activity,” and added that he “looks forward to answering the committee’s questions, providing additional clarity and furthering their work.”

In his prepared opening statement on Friday, Black concluded that he wishes he “had never met Epstein.”

“I regret ever doing business with him,” he wrote. “My association with him, the frivolous yet destructive litigation, and the endless rumor mill have created a toxic environment for my wife and family, which I deeply regret.”

“I am here to voluntarily answer questions about the work Epstein did for me and the services for which I paid him,” the statement read. “I am not here to answer questions about my personal life, which would be hurtful to my wife, children and family.”

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