Billionaire Leon Black filed a federal defamation suit Wednesday against Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, accusing him of lying about Black's ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, seeks $7.25 million in compensatory and punitive damages and a jury trial, and alleges Garcia "has knowingly and willfully lied about Leon Black and defamed him," NBC News reported.
Black undoubtedly had this ready to go after midterms - as following Tuesday's blue tsunami, Democrats will take control of the House in January, and Garcia is expected to become Oversight chairman. This would put him in charge of the committee that has already subpoenaed Black and voted to hold him in contempt.
According to the suit, Garcia said in a television interview weeks after Black's June voluntary interview with the committee that Black "is at the center of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes" and was "one of the last people to actually interact" with Epstein before his death in prison. The complaint also cites Garcia saying he had spoken with survivors who named Black as involved in direct abuse of women. Black's lawyers say the statements were false and malicious, and that they caused "real and significant ongoing harm": threats to his physical safety, a stream of hateful calls, emails and posts, and damage to his business and philanthropic work.
A Black spokesperson said he has never abused a woman, has never been with an underage woman, has never been involved in sex trafficking and never paid Epstein for women.
The suit is the second Black has filed over the Epstein case. In early September he defied the committee's subpoena and sued the panel and its Republican chairman, Rep. James Comer, calling the probe a "public fishing expedition." Garcia answered that day that Black had "funded Epstein's abuse and trafficking of women" and that "multiple women have also accused Black of sexual assault." Black had left his June interview before it finished, then skipped a later deposition. The committee voted unanimously in September to hold him in contempt, and the full House followed. The Justice Department said on Sept. 16 that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia "will review the referral of Mr. Black carefully." No charges have been filed against Black.
The money is the center of the dispute. Lawmakers allege Black paid Epstein $180 million. An Apollo-commissioned review in 2021 found $158 million in payments from 2012 to 2017, which it said were for tax, estate planning and related services. Black, who co-founded Apollo Global Management, stepped down as its CEO in 2021 after that review; it found he was not involved in Epstein's criminal activities, and he has denied wrongdoing.
Black has been on the defensive in court for years. A New York appeals court ruled for him, 4-1, in a defamation case brought by a former model who accused him of rape, and he still faces a Manhattan lawsuit from a woman who says he raped her in Epstein's mansion in 2002, when she was 16. Those are her allegations.
With the suit, the fight over Black and the Epstein files will go before a judge before Garcia ever gets the gavel.
We're sure Garcia could have some fun with Les Wexner?