Leon Black Sues Rep. Garcia Over Epstein Comments

Billionaire investor Leon Black filed a federal defamation lawsuit Wednesday against Rep. Robert Garcia of California over public comments tying him to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, according to NBC News, Quartz and TMZ.

The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks a jury trial and $7.25 million in compensatory and punitive damages, Quartz reported, citing Associated Press coverage of the filing, and TMZ, which said it reviewed court documents. Black alleges Garcia “has knowingly and willfully lied about Leon Black and defamed him,” NBC News reported.

The comments at issue

Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in a television interview weeks after Black’s voluntary committee appearance in June that Black “is at the center of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes,” according to NBC News and Quartz. Garcia also said he had spoken with survivors who credibly named Black as someone directly involved in the abuse of women, those outlets reported. TMZ said the suit also cites Garcia’s claim that Black was among the last people to interact with Epstein before Epstein’s death in jail.

A spokesperson for Black said Wednesday that “he has never abused a woman; he has never been with an underage woman; he has never been involved with sex trafficking; and, he never paid Epstein for women,” NBC News reported. A Garcia spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new lawsuit, according to NBC News and Quartz.

Oversight fight and contempt vote

Black, the co-founder of Apollo Global Management who stepped down in 2021, sat for a voluntary closed-door interview with the Oversight Committee over the summer but left before it ended, NBC News reported. The committee later issued subpoenas; Black did not appear for a later deposition and sued the panel to block the subpoenas and nondisclosure requests. That case is still pending.

The House voted in September to hold Black in contempt for defying those subpoenas, according to NBC News and Quartz. No criminal charges have been filed against him. With Democrats set to take control of the House in January, Garcia is poised to become Oversight chair, NBC News reported.

Sources: NBC News, Quartz, TMZ.