Billionaire Leon Black Sues Rep. Robert Garcia for Defamation Over Epstein Claims

Billionaire Leon Black is taking the House’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation to court, suing the Democrat who is about to run it.

Black filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday in the Southern District of New York against Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, NBC News reported.

The suit alleges Garcia “has knowingly and willfully lied about Leon Black and defamed him,” citing Garcia’s claims that Black was “at the center” of and “directly involved” with Epstein’s crimes, according to NBC.

In one TV interview cited in the complaint, Garcia said he met with survivors who “credibly named Leon Black as someone that was involved in direct abuse of women,” the Washington Examiner reported. The suit seeks more than $7 million in damages.

Black Says He Now Needs Security

“Based on the false statements from Congressman Garcia, Mr. Black has received scores of hateful and threatening emails, phone calls, letters, and social media posts directed at him,” the complaint states.

The filing says Black hired a private security company, which rated the physical risk to him and his family as “HIGH,” and that Garcia never answered an Oct. 19 retraction request, the Examiner reported.

A Black spokesperson said “he has never abused a woman; he has never been with an underage woman; he has never been involved with sex trafficking; and, he never paid Epstein for women,” NBC reported.

Garcia’s office did not immediately respond to NBC. In September, Garcia said Black had “funded Epstein’s abuse and trafficking of women” and that “multiple women have also accused Black of sexual assault,” according to NBC.

Black, who co-founded Apollo Global Management, paid Epstein for years as a wealth adviser. He testified to the committee in June that Epstein helped him save billions and defrauded him of more than $60 million in fees, the Examiner reported.

He left that closed-door interview early, skipped a later deposition and sued the committee to block subpoenas for his testimony and Epstein-related nondisclosure agreements. That case is still being litigated, NBC reported.

The House voted in September to hold Black in contempt of Congress, a move Garcia first pitched and Republican Chairman James Comer of Kentucky supported, the Examiner reported. No charges have been filed against Black, NBC noted.

Apollo’s independent review, which preceded Black stepping down in 2021, found he was not involved in Epstein’s criminal activity, according to NBC.

The timing raises the stakes. With Democrats taking the House in January, Garcia is set to become Oversight chairman, and he has already warned the Trump team to “lawyer up,” the New York Post reported.

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