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Washington — The House Oversight Committee voted 41-0 to recommend holding billionaire investor Leon Black in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas as part of its investigation into the late Jeffrey Epstein.
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. Black is challenging the subpoenas in court.
The contempt resolution now advances to the full House for a vote on whether to recommend the matter to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. Any charging decisions are up to the Justice Department.
It’s unclear when the House plans to vote on the matter. It’s the House’s last week in session until after Election Day.
GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the committee’s chairman, issued the subpoenas after Black, the co-founder of Apollo Global Management, abruptly left a closed-door, voluntary transcribed interview with the panel in June after refusing to answer questions about nondisclosure agreements.
Black 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 Epstein 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.”
Instead of appearing before the committee in September, Black filed a lawsuit in D.C. federal court challenging the validity of the subpoenas. Black argued the subpoenas had “no legitimate connection” to the committee’s legislative purpose, and that turning over nondisclosure agreements would violate the privacy of women who have “no known or public connection to Epstein.”
Comer said in a statement that Black “has chosen to hide behind litigation.”
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said he “strongly” supported the move to hold Black in contempt.
In letters ahead of the vote, attorneys for Black urged the committee to postpone the markup until the court has issued a ruling on Black’s lawsuit and the Office of Congressional Conduct has had time to review a complaint that they planned to submit about Comer’s conduct related to the deposition.
“This is retaliation — plain and simple,” attorneys Susan Estrich and Aaron Cutler said in a statement. “We have the constitutional right to sue Chairman Comer and the Committee because the subpoenas issued were illegitimate, illegal and a textbook abuse of power designed to bully and destroy legal protections of private citizens.”
“This entire charade is about politics and ambition,” they said.
