The former Duchess of York has tried to distance herself from the billionaire sex offender.
The former transportation secretary said he was forced to spend 24 hours away from his 4-year-old twins during the probe. Police determined it was a false report.
Billionaire investor Leon Black received two subpoenas Friday after he refused to answer questions about NDAs he’d allegedly signed with women in Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit. “I have never abused a woman. I have never been with an underage woman. I have never engaged in sex trafficking,” Black began in the House Oversight Committee during his closed-door testimony. “I have never paid Epstein for access to women. I was never blackmailed by Epstein. I was not involved with, and had no knowledge of, any of Epstein’s heinous conduct.”The proceedings were derailed when House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer subpoenaed Black after he and his lawyer insisted he could not discuss the terms and contents of certain nondisclosure agreements, according to MSNOW.Prior to the interview, Comer said he was “pretty confident” that Black had allegedly signed NDAs with survivors of Epstein’s abuse. The chair issued two subpoenas, one compelling Black to appear for a deposition on July 16, and another requiring him to produce the NDAs. Black left the interview after only an hour. The billionaire former CEO of Apollo Global Management departed from his role in 2021 after an internal review discovered he’d made $158 million in payments to Epstein for financial advice between 2012 and 2017. In 2023, Black was accused of raping a 16-year-old at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse two decades earlier. Black defended his choice to do business with Epstein after he became a convicted sex offender. “Five years after his conviction, I gave Epstein a second chance, as did many others. I wish I had not,” Black said. (Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008.)Still, Black insisted he knew nothing of Epstein’s heinous sexual misconduct. “I knew Jekyll. I didn’t know Hyde,” said Black.
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Department of Justice admitted to breaking the law by failing to release the majority of its files on Jeffrey Epstein to the public, giving acting Attorney General Todd Blanche a week to release more information.U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan wrote in his opinion that Blanche failed to address allegations from journalist Katie Phang that the Trump administration failed to release the files in full. Phang sued the DOJ in April over a “brazen, shocking, and ongoing violation” of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Congress passed last year.“The Attorney General does not respond substantively to any of these arguments,” Sullivan said in his ruling. “The Attorney General has conceded that he is in violation of the Act.”Sullivan issued a preliminary injunction giving Blanche one week to release information redacted from the files, including names, or provide detailed reasons for the redactions. Some of the files in question include the FBI’s notes from interviews with a woman who accused President Trump of assaulting her in the 1980s as a 13-year-old.The files covered by the injunction also include email exchanges with Epstein concerning an alleged “torture video” and sex acts with minors; the names of co-defendants from a draft indictment; the identities of Epstein’s potential co-conspirators and DOJ employees who sent messages about them; and information in “foreign languages” that the DOJ said it couldn’t translate and redact.The DOJ has said in the past that its unreleased Epstein files were not verified, and contained “unfounded and false” claims about Trump. But the law passed by Congress leaves few exceptions, and now Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, will have to answer for why some of the files remain hidden.“The government ignored its own law and blew off a judge’s order, all for the sake of protecting the very powerful and the very rich,” said Brendan Ballou, Katie Phang’s attorney, to Politico. “Doing so had consequences, and now the public will finally get transparency around Jeffrey Epstein and his network.”
US District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan may have opened the floodgates by siding with former MS NOW show host Katie Phang in her lawsuit demanding the Trump administration adhere to the word of the Epstein Transparency Act.Politico writer Josh Gerstein reports Judge Sullivan issued a preliminary injunction against the DOJ for failing to comply with the letter of the Act by over-redacting released records and not explaining the reasons behind redacting the info.The ruling means Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche now has explain why he shouldn't be forced to release names redacted from emails and documents that reference potentially damning videos and allegations of abuse of minors. Also included in redacted info includes the potential names of co-conspirators of convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, as well as potentially damaging FBI interview notes from a victim who claimed Epstein introduced her to President Donald Trump when she was only 13.Trump has denied the allegation that he assaulted the minor.Blanche, who was Trump’s personal attorney before Trump put him over the DOJ, did not defend the redactions of the information before the court but instead argued the court had no power to decide on the case.However, “The Attorney General has conceded that he is in violation of the Act,” Judge Sullivan said. Additionally the judge refused the DOJ’s wish to be granted a stay, arguing that "There is no competing harm to the government with the issuance of preliminary relief that orders compliance with statutes.”“Phang is not requesting the immediate production of documents, but rather that the Attorney General show cause if he declines to do so,” Sullivan wrote. “As to the requests to review of foreign language documents and publish the redaction log, the Act required the Attorney General to produce the documents and publish the log by December 19, 2025 — more than six months ago. … Conclusion: For the foregoing reasons, the Court grants Ms. Phang’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction.”Prior to this judicial decision the Epstein Transparency Act had no enforcement, but Phang sued under the Administrative Procedure Act, which potentially lets courts overturn government agency decisions.Sullivan’s decision could open the floodgates to a host of other journalists suing under the same argument.
James Comer, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said he issued two subpoenas to billionaire investor Leon Black during his appearance Friday before the panel for a transcribed interview.
Leon Black reportedly refused to answer questions about the agreements in Friday's interview
An investor who employed and was close to Jeffrey Epstein is appearing before members of Congress investigating the deceased sexual abuser.
The 74-year-old, worth an estimated $13.5 billion according to Forbes, paid Epstein $158 million over five years for estate and tax-planning.