Washington — The House unanimously agreed to hold billionaire investor Leon Black in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas as part of lawmakers’ investigation into the late Jeffrey Epstein.
The measure was passed by unanimous consent a day after the House Oversight Committee voted 41-0 to recommend holding him in contempt.
The matter now heads to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.
Black, a former business associate of the convicted sex offender, did not comply with subpoenas to appear before the committee on Sept. 3 and produce nondisclosure agreements. Months earlier, in June, Black abruptly left a closed-door, voluntary transcribed interview with the panel. Black filed a lawsuit in D.C. federal court challenging the validity of the subpoenas.
Black, who co-founded Apollo Global Management, employed Epstein as a wealth management adviser, paying him large sums of money for tax and estate planning services. Black also allegedly confided in Epstein about personal matters, including extramarital affairs that ended in nondisclosure agreements, according to emails released last year.
Black told lawmakers in June that he met Epstein in the 1990s and began paying him for wealth management advice in 2013. He has said he regrets employing Epstein, saying the financier repeatedly lied and “falsely claimed to have been involved in decisions about investments.”
Black’s attorneys said over the summer the private equity titan was not aware of Epstein’s crimes, and said Epstein “had no involvement with any NDA’s, whether they exist or not.” His legal team reiterated Wednesday that Black “never forced any woman to sign any NDA.”
“No one is above the law. Leon Black defied two subpoenas, and the U.S. House of Representatives acted swiftly to find him in contempt of Congress. We will continue to seek transparency for the American people and justice for survivors in our investigation of the federal government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell criminal cases,” GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the committee’s chairman, said in a statement.
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the committee’s ranking member, called the vote “an important step towards justice and accountability.”
Attorneys for Black called the action “outrageous” and said the House “has rushed through every stage of this inquiry.”
“The Committee has continued to insist on looking for information that does not exist. They are looking to ask questions about every NDA Mr. Black ever signed including with business partners over his 50 year career and also with individuals who he never met. This is absurd. They even asked him to give the names of individuals in his social circle who have NDA’s,” attorneys Susan Estrich and Aaron Cutler said in a statement.
