Billionaire Leon Black sues US congressional panel over Epstein subpoena

Lawyer accuses House panel investigating sex offender of ‘fishing expedition’ as lawmaker calls for contempt charges.

Leon Black, a billionaire who was close with Jeffrey Epstein, is seen arriving for a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee at the US Capitol in Washington, DC [File: J Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press]

Billionaire Leon Black has sued a United States House of Representatives committee investigating convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his influential social circle.

The lawsuit on Thursday was filed as Black, the cofounder and former chief executive of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, skipped a scheduled deposition.

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The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform had issued two subpoenas to Black when he appeared for a voluntary interview in June. Lawmakers at the time said he had refused to answer questions about nondisclosure agreements related to Epstein.

In a statement, Black’s lawyer called the panel’s investigation “a fishing expedition that oversteps its authority and completely ignores its responsibility”.

“This is no longer about finding the truth about Epstein. It is about trying to destroy Mr Black,” Susan Estrich said.

Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, called on Congress to hold Black in contempt of Congress “immediately”.

Holding an individual in contempt of Congress typically requires a vote by the full House. If that passes, a citation is sent to a federal prosecutor, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, who can impanel a grand jury for a potential indictment.

It remained unclear whether the Republican-controlled House would have the appetite to pursue such a measure.

“By refusing to testify today, Leon Black is now defying two congressional subpoenas,” Garcia said.

Black’s lawsuit seeks to block the subpoenas, one of which demanded Black produce documents related to his relations with Epstein. The other required him to return for a deposition before the committee.

Black is one of several influential figures whose name appeared repeatedly in a tranche of files released in recent months by the Department of Justice from its Epstein investigation.

The release came after lawmakers from both parties unified to pass legislation requiring it as speculation grew over possible complicity by the rich and powerful in Epstein’s alleged crimes.

The financier was awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges when he was found dead in a Manhattan detention facility in 2019. To date, only Epstein and his confidante Ghislane Maxwell have been charged in connection with the allegations.

The House panel’s investigation, which is separate from the Department of Justice probe into Epstein, has so far called several influential figures to appear, including former Democratic President Bill Clinton, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates.

The panel has not called President Donald Trump, who has said he had a years-long friendship with Epstein before falling out with him in the early 2000s.

Despite releases of Justice Department documents, photos and files, lawmakers from both parties have accused the department of not being forthcoming with all documents related to Epstein.

Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican and Trump critic, has been among those seeking a vote on a new bill, the Epstein Files Transparency Act II.

The new legislation would give state attorneys general and Epstein survivors the ability to sue the Justice Department to release further unredacted files.

律师指责众议院调查性犯罪者的小组进行“钓鱼式调查”，一名议员呼吁以藐视法庭罪名起诉该小组。

与杰弗里·爱泼斯坦关系密切的亿万富翁莱昂·布莱克抵达华盛顿特区的美国国会大厦，接受众议院监督委员会的闭门问询。[图片来源：J Scott Applewhite/美联社]

亿万富翁莱昂·布莱克起诉了美国众议院一个委员会，该委员会正在调查已被定罪的性犯罪者、声名狼藉的金融家杰弗里·爱泼斯坦及其有影响力的社交圈。

周四提起的诉讼是因为私募股权公司阿波罗全球管理公司的联合创始人兼前首席执行官布莱克缺席了预定的取证。

名单1/3：法国检察官称，正在听取10名“新”疑似爱泼斯坦受害者的证词。

马西击败的三项胜利之二：以色列游说集团在肯塔基州的惨胜

比尔·盖茨就与爱泼斯坦的关系在美国众议院闭门会议上作证（共3条记录，此为第3条）。

今年6月，布莱克自愿接受众议院监督与政府改革委员会的问询时，该委员会曾向他发出两份传票。当时议员们表示，他拒绝回答有关爱泼斯坦保密协议的问题。

布莱克的律师在一份声明中称，该小组的调查是“一次越权搜集证据、完全无视自身职责的行动”。

苏珊·埃斯特里奇说：“这已经不再是关于查明爱泼斯坦的真相，而是关于如何毁掉布莱克先生。”

众议院监督委员会首席民主党议员罗伯特·加西亚呼吁国会“立即”以藐视国会罪追究布莱克的责任。

通常情况下，对某人提起藐视国会的指控需要众议院全体投票表决。如果表决通过，就会向联邦检察官，即哥伦比亚特区联邦检察官，发出传票，由其召集大陪审团进行可能的起诉。

目前尚不清楚共和党控制的众议院是否有意愿推进这项措施。

“莱昂·布莱克今天拒绝作证，这是对国会两份传票的公然藐视，”加西亚说。

布莱克的诉讼旨在阻止传票的执行，其中一份传票要求布莱克提供与其和爱泼斯坦关系有关的文件，另一份传票则要求他返回委员会接受质询。

布莱克是几位有影响力的人物之一，他们的名字在司法部最近几个月公布的有关爱泼斯坦调查的一系列文件中反复出现。

在两党议员一致通过立法要求发布该法案后，随着人们对富人和权贵可能与爱泼斯坦涉嫌犯罪有牵连的猜测越来越多，该法案最终得以发布。

这位金融家在等待联邦性交易指控审判期间，于 2019 年在曼哈顿的一处拘留设施中被发现死亡。迄今为止，只有爱泼斯坦和他的密友吉斯莱恩·麦克斯韦因这些指控而被起诉。

众议院小组的调查与司法部对爱泼斯坦的调查是分开的，迄今为止，该小组已传唤了几位有影响力的人物出席，包括前民主党总统比尔·克林顿、商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克和微软联合创始人比尔·盖茨。

该委员会尚未传唤唐纳德·特朗普总统，特朗普曾表示，在 2000 年代初与爱泼斯坦决裂之前，他与爱泼斯坦有过多年的友谊。

尽管司法部公布了文件、照片和档案，但两党议员都指责该部门没有公开所有与爱泼斯坦有关的文件。

共和党众议员托马斯·马西是特朗普的批评者之一，他一直在寻求对一项新法案——《爱泼斯坦档案透明法案 II》——进行投票。

新法案将赋予各州总检察长和爱泼斯坦性侵案幸存者起诉司法部以公开更多未删节文件的权利。