WASHINGTON — Billionaire investor Leon Black sat before the House Oversight Committee on Friday as part of a sweeping congressional effort to understand how Jeffrey Epstein’s vast network of power and money allowed decades of sexual abuse to continue.
Black is the latest in a series of prominent individuals called to give a closed-door deposition before the committee. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates appeared earlier this month, telling lawmakers he had made a “grave error in judgment” by associating with Epstein.
Black co-founded the private equity firm Apollo Global Management and previously served as its chief executive. He stepped away from that role in 2021 following backlash over his connections to Epstein.
An internal review commissioned by Apollo in 2021 revealed that Black had paid Epstein a total of $158 million between 2012 and 2017 — payments that came after Epstein had already pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor. According to the review, those payments were made for “bona fide tax, estate planning and other related services.”
Black’s name comes up frequently in documents released by the Department of Justice connected to the Epstein investigation. He also appeared in a set of birthday messages sent to Epstein that the House committee made public last year. Among those messages was a poem attributed to Black that referenced “Blond, Red or Brunette, spread out geographically.”
Epstein was indicted in July 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. Prosecutors alleged he built an extensive network of girls — some as young as 14 — whom he sexually abused between 2002 and 2005. Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on those charges.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., noted earlier this year that Epstein’s former accountant, Richard Kahn, told lawmakers during his own testimony that Epstein received large sums from several high-profile individuals, Black among them.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., this month forwarded findings from a nearly four-year investigation into Black to the House committee. In a statement, Wyden said, “Epstein even appears to have acted as a middleman for Black to pay women on Black’s behalf.”
Wyden added, “While I have offered Black ample opportunities to address outstanding irregularities regarding his arrangement with Epstein, he has refused.”
Others who have already appeared before the committee include former Democratic President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, former Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Gates.
Democratic members of the committee have pushed their Republican counterparts to call President Donald Trump to testify, noting his well-documented past friendship with Epstein. Republicans have declined, stating they have found no evidence that Trump engaged in any wrongdoing.
Committee Chairman Comer has indicated he is in discussions with the Justice Department about scheduling testimony from acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Bondi, during her own testimony, highlighted that Blanche had overseen the troubled release of federal Epstein files, which included the accidental disclosure of victim information.
