In a rare moment of bipartisan outrage, both the chairman of the House Oversight Committee and the ranking member are threatening billionaire Leon Black with being held in contempt after he failed to appear for a deposition as part of the House investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
The 75-year-old investor instead filed a lawsuit against the House Oversight Committee demanding the courts block two subpoenas from the committee as he refuses to answer questions about nondisclosure agreements.
“Leon Black must be held in contempt of Congress immediately,” Ranking Member Robert Garcia wrote on X.
“Leon Black provided over $180 million to Jeffrey Epstein,” Garcia said, speaking to reporters on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday. “$180 million, and he has yet to tell the committee or the public as to exactly what that funded, and why he did it.”
Garcia said members of Congress had made clear they needed access to the nondisclosure agreements with survivors as part of the investigation when he previously met with them.
Republican Chairman James Comer also slammed Black’s failure to appear and filing a lawsuit instead.
“This is unacceptable. We are very disappointed,” Comer told reporters after Black failed to appear, describing his deposition as important to the investigation.
Comer said he would speak with members about the next steps but did not rule out holding Black in contempt.
“I would hold him in contempt right now,” Comer said. “This is the first time, of all the people we brought in, 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.”
Comer said he believes the most important priority is getting Black before the committee to answer questions.
Black filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C. on Thursday against the committee and Comer as its chairman. His lawyers urged the court to block the subpoenas, which demanded he produce the nondisclosure agreements and sit for a deposition.
“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,” the lawsuit reads.
“Additionally, the subpoenas would also expose women who value their privacy, who have no known or public connection to Epstein, who bargained for confidentiality and have refused to release it, and who have no ability to protect themselves and their privacy before the Committee,” it continued.
Black is the former CEO of Apollo Global Management. He resigned in 2021 after it was revealed he had business ties to the convicted pedophile.
The billionaire investor appeared repeatedly in the Epstein files. In June, he sat down voluntarily for an interview with the committee, where he insisted he was not aware of Epstein’s criminal activity until 2019 and had paid the late, disgraced financier for legitimate purposes.
