Leon Black is heading to Capitol Hill to answer for his decades-long business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, as lawmakers prepare to grill the disgraced billionaire about the financial machinery that sustained one of the nation's most notorious sex trafficking operations.
The former CEO of Apollo Global Management will testify before the House Oversight Committee as part of its broader investigation into how federal authorities handled the Epstein case. But Black's appearance carries particular weight: newly released Justice Department files containing millions of pages show the depth and duration of his financial entanglement with Epstein, raising fresh questions about what he knew and when he knew it.
The phrase "Please call Leon Black" appears more than 300 times in the Epstein files. Black's phone number surfaces over 200 times across the 3.5 million pages of documents released publicly. Emails show Epstein's personal assistant, Lesley Groff, repeatedly notifying Black that Epstein had returned his call. One 2014 email from Epstein to Black struck a notably intimate tone: "Leon, as you are well aware, there is little I won't do for you or at least try to do as a friend. And a great deal that I have already done (both known and some things that will need to remain unknown.)"
The two men first connected in the 1990s through a mutual acquaintance. Epstein eventually served as a director of Black's family foundation and later as his financial adviser, collecting millions for what Black's legal team characterizes as legitimate tax and estate planning services.
Black has consistently denied knowing about Epstein's criminal activities and has said he deeply regrets the association. When he was forced out of Apollo in 2021, Black issued a statement calling his involvement with Epstein "a horrible mistake." His attorney, Susan Estrich, pointed to an independent investigation commissioned by Apollo that examined over 60,000 documents and conducted interviews with more than 20 people. That review, she said, concluded Black paid Epstein only for financial advice and had no awareness of the sex trafficking operation.
But the newly released files complicate that narrative considerably. Bank of America survivors of Epstein's abuse sued the financial institution, alleging it ignored suspicious transfers flowing from Black's account to Epstein. Court documents show Black wired Epstein $170 million for "tax and estate planning advice." The plaintiffs argued that money funded the sex trafficking enterprise. Black disputed those claims. Bank of America settled the lawsuit for $72.5 million in March without admitting fault, and Black avoided testifying through a separate settlement with the U.S. Virgin Islands worth $62.5 million in 2023.
Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, has spent years investigating Black's conduct. Wyden alleged that Black may have used Epstein as a middleman to funnel hush money to women. In a letter sent earlier this year, Wyden pointed to an email in which Epstein shared the location of a woman on Black's payroll with a Russian government operative and sought advice on how to handle her blackmail attempts. "Your relationship and business dealings with Jeffrey Epstein should be properly investigated by the federal government," Wyden wrote.
The Capitol Hill appearance places Black among a growing list of America's most powerful figures forced to answer questions about their ties to Epstein. Bill and Hillary Clinton and Bill Gates have already testified before Congress on the matter. The inquiry reflects broader concern that Epstein's financial web connected him to people in the upper echelons of American business and politics in ways that remain incompletely understood.
Black also faces separate legal exposure. Multiple women have accused him of sexual assault, charges he denies. One lawsuit alleges he raped a woman at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse in 2002, though Black says he never met her. A second case involving a former model was dismissed after Black countersued. A third lawsuit, filed in 2023 by a woman who says Black sexually abused her as a teenager, remains open. A federal judge sanctioned the accuser and her former legal team for allegedly falsifying and destroying evidence, but allowed the case to proceed.
Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial. His associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of federal sex trafficking charges in 2021.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Black's expected Capitol appearance suggests Congress is determined to follow the money trail Epstein left behind, regardless of how many powerful figures end up on the witness stand."
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