Billionaire Leon Black sues to block House subpoenas, skips deposition on Epstein documents

Billionaire Leon Black filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday, September 3, 2026, to block House Oversight Committee subpoenas demanding his deposition and nondisclosure agreements related to Jeffrey Epstein. Black failed to appear for the scheduled deposition that same day, according to ABC News reporting. Black's lawsuit asserts the subpoenas are "invalid to the extent they exceed OGR's delegated authority in seeking private information that bears no legitimate connection to OGR's legislative purpose," per ABC News. Black's attorneys contend that the subpoenas would "expose women who value their privacy," who have no known or public connection to Epstein, while asserting that the committee lacks statutory authority to enforce its subpoenas in federal court. Black says he has already "produced the only confidentiality agreement in which Epstein could have been 'involved' because it is the only one executed while he was alive," according to NPR's reporting. In June, the House Oversight Committee issued subpoenas to Black after he appeared for a transcribed interview and refused to answer questions about nondisclosure agreements. According to NPR, Black walked out of the committee during that voluntary testimony after he was asked about NDAs he may have signed. The June subpoenas called for his appearance for a deposition and the production of purported nondisclosure agreements that Epstein survivors have discussed with committee investigators. Black is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief preventing the committee from compelling compliance with the subpoenas. Black's attorney, Susan Estrich, stated: "The Committee is on 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. We were left with no choice but to file this lawsuit in response to an abuse of Congressional power." After Black filed the suit and failed to appear for the deposition, Chairman James Comer signaled that the committee may move to hold Black in contempt of Congress. Comer said: "This is unacceptable. We're very disappointed. I don't think I need to tell anyone in here how important of a witness Mr. Black is to this investigation. So we're going to huddle up as a committee and talk about next steps with respect to Mr. Black, and we'll go from there." Comer also stated: "I would hold him in contempt right now. Of all the powerful billionaires and political people we brought in for interviews and depositions, this is the first time anyone's filed suit. I don't want to do anything to harm our chances in court." According to ABC News, Comer and Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee, both believe Black is trying to run out the clock. Comer said: "Obviously, we're running up against the clock at the end of this Congress, I'm sure his legal team knows that. So we've got to be smart from here on in." Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said: "What he's trying to do is to slow the process down of getting us the information. He's very aware that Comer no longer is going to be the chairperson. But what Mr. Black should understand is that we will be even more aggressive than Chairman Comer as it relates to his testimony." Black maintained a social relationship with Epstein since the mid-1990s and eventually paid him more than $170 million for "tax and estate planning advice," according to ABC News citing the Senate Finance Committee. Black has denied wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein's crimes, though his financial payments to Epstein served as a lifeline to the convicted sex offender in the years after Epstein's 2008 prison sentence for soliciting a minor for prostitution. An independent investigation commissioned by Apollo, a company Black co-founded, concluded "Mr. Black paid Epstein $158 million for tax, estate-planning, and other legitimate activities," according to Black's lawsuit. In his June testimony, Black stated that he "categorically stated that he has never abused a woman, never been with an underage woman, never engaged in sex trafficking, never paid Epstein for access to women, and never was blackmailed by Epstein," per NPR's reporting. Black's name appears in the Justice Department's Epstein files thousands of times, according to NPR. However, NPR also reported that appearing in the Epstein files is not necessarily an indication of criminal wrongdoing. Black had a six-year affair with a former Russian model, Guzel Ganieva, which ended in allegations of abuse, court records show, per BBC World reporting. According to a lawsuit filed by Ganieva against Black, which was later dismissed, he prepared a nondisclosure agreement in 2015 to secure her silence. A judge ultimately dismissed Ganieva's lawsuit, citing the NDA she signed and about $9 million that she had received in the years after entering the agreement. Estrich, Black's attorney, has dismissed Ganieva's accusation as "demonstrably false," per BBC World. Black himself has previously said he was the victim of extortion, according to BBC World. Garcia stated: "Leon Black provided over $180 million to Jeffrey Epstein. $180 million, and he has yet to tell the committee or the public as to exactly what that funded and why he did it." Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges and later died in prison; authorities determined his death was a suicide, according to NPR. The House committee has questioned Bill and Hillary Clinton, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Bill Gates, Les Wexner, Epstein's former accountant Richard Kahn, and former attorney Darren Indyke, per NPR. Comer said earlier this year that Kahn, Epstein's accountant for more than a decade, testified that Black was among "five clients who paid money to Epstein." The other people on the five-client list were Wexner, former Microsoft Windows Division President Steven Sinofsky, hedge fund investor Glenn Dubin, and the Rothschild family, according to NPR.