WASHINGTON – The House on Wednesday approved a resolution finding billionaire Leon Black in contempt of Congress, sending the matter to the Justice Department after he declined to comply with Oversight Committee subpoenas tied to its Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
The measure moved quickly and was adopted without a formal recorded vote. The Justice Department will now determine whether it will pursue criminal charges. Black has not responded to subpoena demands that he testify before the committee and provide any possible nondisclosure agreements connected to the Epstein inquiry.
Members of the House Oversight Committee from both parties backed the bipartisan push to move the contempt resolution forward.
“No one is above the law,” Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said in a statement. “We will continue to seek transparency for the American people and justice for survivors in our investigation of the federal government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell criminal cases.”
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the committee’s senior Democrat, described the action as “an important step towards justice and accountability.”
Attorneys for Black, the former leader of a private equity firm, have sharply criticized the Oversight Committee’s investigation, arguing that Congress is misusing its authority. They maintain that Black “had no knowledge of any of Epstein’s heinous conduct.”
“The Committee has continued to insist on looking for information that does not exist,” lawyers Susan Estrich and Aaron Cutler said in a statement.
The lawyers called the House action politically driven. They have sued the committee and asked the Office of Congressional Conduct to investigate Comer’s approach.
“This an outrageous action that ignores the facts and the truth about Mr. Black,” they said.
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Black is the latest among several prominent figures, including Bill Clinton and Bill Gates, who have been asked to appear as part of the Oversight Committee’s long-running probe of Epstein. Survivors of Epstein’s alleged sexual abuse have told personal stories of being young women in a trafficking enterprise organized by Epstein and his colleague Maxwell.
In June, Black did appear for a voluntary interview at the committee. Lawmakers said later that he refused to answer their questions about the nondisclosure agreements.
The committee issued two subpoenas seeking to compel Black to produce the NDAs and to appear for a deposition July 16. The committee said it had accommodated Black’s request to delay the deposition to Sept. 3, but he refused to appear.
On Tuesday the Oversight Committee voted unanimously to approve the contempt recommendation, sending it to the full House.
Black co-founded the private equity firm Apollo Global Management and stepped down in 2021 during the fallout over his ties to Epstein.
Lawmakers have alleged that Black paid Epstein $180 million during their yearslong relationship.
A 2021 review commissioned by Apollo found that Black paid Epstein $158 million from 2012 to 2017, after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor. The review said the payments were for “bona fide tax, estate planning and other related services.”
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