In the long reckoning that follows the exposure of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes, the House Oversight Committee has turned its gaze toward Leon Black, one of America's most powerful financiers, whose $158 million relationship with Epstein raises questions not merely of financial judgment but of moral proximity. On June 26, Black appeared voluntarily before the panel, only to leave under subpoena — ordered to return in September with copies of nondisclosure agreements and answers the committee believes he has withheld. The hearing lasted less than an hour, but the questions it opened may take far lo
House Panel Grills Leon Black Over Epstein Ties, Birthday Poem
We were never best friends. Was I friendly with him? Yes.
Mark
Why does the committee care so much about the nondisclosure agreements? Black says the terms prevent him from discussing them anyway.
Mimi
Because the NDAs might show what Black was actually protecting—and whether Epstein was helping him protect it. If Epstein was advising on personal matters like affairs, what else was he advising on? The NDAs are the paper trail.
Mark
But Black says Epstein wasn't involved in negotiating them.
Mimi
That's what he says now. But the emails tell a different story. Epstein was in the conversation about at least one NDA, offering advice. The committee wants to see if there's a pattern—if Epstein was always there, always helping, always knowing.
Mark
The birthday poem seems almost trivial compared to the $158 million.
Mimi
It's not about the poem itself. It's about what the poem reveals about how Black saw Epstein, and how he wants to be seen now. He called him his best friend in writing. Now he's saying they weren't close. That gap between what he wrote and what he's saying matters.
Mark
Why would Black have paid so much if the work was legitimate?
Mimi
That's the real question. A 2021 report says the work was legitimate. But legitimate doesn't mean the price was fair, or that Black understood what he was paying for. He claims he was misled about deductibility. Maybe he was. Or maybe the price was inflated because of what else Epstein was providing—access, connections, discretion.
Mark
What happens in September?
Mimi
Black has to come back under subpoena. The committee will have the NDAs by then. They'll know more about what Epstein was doing for him, and what Black knew about what Epstein was doing to others.
Il Polso
- Black's voluntary appearance collapsed within an hour as his attorneys shut down the hearing, calling it a political ambush — and the committee responded by serving him with a subpoena on the spot.
- At the center of the inquiry is $158 million paid to Epstein for tax and estate planning — a sum Black defends as a bargain, even as he admits Epstein misled him about the fees.
- A birthday poem Black wrote for Epstein in 1998, referencing women 'spread out geographically,' has become a focal point, with the committee pressing him on what he understood about Epstein's relationships with women.
- Emails show Epstein advising Black on a nondisclosure agreement with a former lover who later sued Black for rape — a level of personal entanglement Black insists was merely professional counsel.
- Black must return to the committee in September under legal compulsion, and faces demands to produce NDA documents he has so far shielded behind the agreements' own confidentiality terms.
In the long reckoning that follows the exposure of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes, the House Oversight Committee has turned its gaze toward Leon Black, one of America's most powerful financiers, whose $158 million relationship with Epstein raises questions not merely of financial judgment but of moral proximity. On June 26, Black appeared voluntarily before the panel, only to leave under subpoena — ordered to return in September with copies of nondisclosure agreements and answers the committee believes he has withheld. The hearing lasted less than an hour, but the questions it opened may take far longer to resolve: how much did those closest to Epstein truly know, and what did their silence cost others?
Leon Black arrived at the House Oversight Committee on June 26 expecting a voluntary interview. He left under subpoena. His attorneys shut the session down in under an hour, but not before the panel had ordered him to produce copies of nondisclosure agreements and to return in September — this time not by choice.
The hearing centered on Black's $158 million financial relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, which a 2021 report commissioned by Black's own firm, Apollo Global Management, had documented as fees for tax and estate planning. Black defended the payments, saying Epstein had misled him about their deductibility and that he'd expected to pay around $95 million — but maintained the advice had saved him between one and two billion dollars. The math, he suggested, still worked in his favor.
The committee wanted to know what else the money had bought, and what Black had known. Emails showed Epstein advising Black in 2015 on a nondisclosure agreement with Guzel Ganieva, a Russian model with whom Black had conducted a six-year affair. Black acknowledged telling Epstein about the affair and about Ganieva's alleged blackmail attempts. After signing the NDA, Ganieva sued Black for rape and defamation, denying any extortion. Black denied Epstein had negotiated the agreement or any others, and said the NDAs' terms prevented him from discussing them further — a position the committee was now testing by subpoena.
The two men had met in the 1990s through a mutual friend. Black valued Epstein for his connections — among them former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak — and appointed him to his family foundation's board in 1997, removing him only after Epstein's 2008 arrest. For a decade afterward, Black continued seeing Epstein every few weeks and attending gatherings at his Manhattan townhouse. He said they finally severed ties in 2018 over Epstein's escalating financial demands and dishonesty.
Then there was the birthday book. In 1998, Ghislaine Maxwell compiled a volume for Epstein's 50th birthday, filled with tributes from friends and associates. Black's contribution was a poem referencing women 'spread out geographically' — blond, red, or brunette, scattered across Paris, Santa Fe, and Epstein's island. He explained to the committee that Epstein simply knew many attractive women around the world; he was a bachelor who enjoyed their company. The poem was signed 'Love and kisses, Leon,' and Black had called Epstein his 'best friend' in the book. Under questioning, he walked that back: they were never truly close, he said — it was a professional relationship built on Epstein's intelligence and his Rolodex.
Black had already paid $62.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Virgin Islands over his financial support of Epstein. Now, with a mandatory September appearance ahead and subpoenas in hand, the committee's inquiry into what he knew — and when — is far from finished.
Billionaire financier Leon Black walked into a House Oversight Committee hearing on June 26 expecting a voluntary conversation. He left under subpoena, his lawyers declaring the whole thing a political ambush. The interview lasted less than an hour before his attorneys shut it down, but not before the panel had served him with orders for copies of nondisclosure agreements and notice of a mandatory return in September.
Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein had cost him dearly—$158 million in fees for tax and estate planning services, according to a 2021 report commissioned by Black's own firm, Apollo Global Management. Black defended the payments during the hearing, though he claimed Epstein had misled him about the deductibility of the fees. He said he'd expected to pay around $95 million but insisted the final bill was still a bargain, estimating Epstein's advice had saved him between $1 and $2 billion. The math, Black seemed to suggest, worked out.
What the committee wanted to understand was what else Black had paid for, and what he knew. Emails released by the panel showed Epstein weighing in on Black's personal affairs with the ease of a trusted confidant. In 2015, when Black was negotiating a nondisclosure agreement with Guzel Ganieva, a Russian model with whom he'd had a six-year affair, Epstein offered advice in an email dated September 21. Black admitted to the committee that he'd told Epstein about the affair and Ganieva's alleged blackmail and extortion attempts. After Ganieva signed the NDA, she sued Black for rape and defamation, denying his claims of extortion. Her lawyers wrote simply: "Black has never been 'extorted by Ms. Ganieva.'" The lawsuit went nowhere.
Black denied that Epstein had been involved in negotiating that agreement or any others. He said the terms of the NDAs prevented him from discussing them without a subpoena—a claim the committee was now testing by issuing exactly that. He also denied that Epstein had ever paid for access to women, and in his opening statement, he flatly rejected any knowledge of Epstein's abuse of women, sex with minors, or sex trafficking, except for what he'd learned from Epstein's 2008 plea deal for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
The two men had met in the 1990s through a mutual friend, Black testified. He'd stayed connected to Epstein because of the doors Epstein opened—the influential people in his orbit. Epstein had introduced him to high-profile figures including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Black had even appointed Epstein to the board of his family foundation in 1997, though he removed him after the 2008 arrest and conviction. For a decade after that, Black said he saw Epstein roughly once every three to four weeks and regularly attended gatherings at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse. It wasn't until 2018 that they completely severed ties, Black said, citing Epstein's "relentless pursuit of more and more money" for professional services, his "mistruths and misrepresentations," and his failure to repay a $30 million loan.
But there was the matter of the birthday book. In 1998, Ghislaine Maxwell had compiled a volume to commemorate Epstein's 50th birthday, filled with letters, drawings, and messages from his friends and business associates. Many of the contributions referenced his relationships with women. Black's poem included the lines: "Blond, red, or brunette spread out geographically, with this net of fish Jeff's now the old man and the sea." When a committee staff member asked what he meant, Black explained that Epstein seemed to know women all over the world—in Paris, Santa Fe, on his island. He enjoyed the company of attractive women, and he was a bachelor.
The poem was signed "Love and kisses, Leon," and in the book Black had referred to Epstein as his "best friend." But when the committee pressed him on this, Black walked it back. They were never best friends, he said. He was friendly with Epstein because of his Rolodex, because Epstein was smart as a professional adviser. Nothing more. In 2023, Black had paid the U.S. Virgin Islands a $62.5 million settlement after being sued over his financial support of Epstein. Now he faced a return to the committee in September, this time not voluntarily, but under the force of law.
Citazioni salienti
We were never best friends. Was I friendly with him from the point of view of enjoying his Rolodex? Yes. Did I think he was very smart as a professional adviser? Yes.— Leon Black, testifying before House Oversight Committee
A planned political stunt.— Susan Estrich, Black's attorney, on the subpoenas served during the interview
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