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Subpoenas and a Walkout
Billionaire Leon Black refused to answer questions about non-disclosure agreements during a Friday appearance before a House committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein, prompting Rep. James Comer to issue subpoenas mid-hearing and leading Black to walk out.
Comer, the Republican chairman, said he issued two subpoenas, including one “for all the NDAs that he is party to,” and a second for “a deposition on July 16.”
CBS News reported that Black was then told to return under subpoena, with the first requiring him to appear again on July 16 and the other requiring him to produce nondisclosure agreements.
In his prepared opening statement, Black said, “I knew Jekyll. I didn’t know Hyde,” and he also told the committee, “I have never abused a woman.”
Competing Claims and Quotes
Comer said the committee wants to know whether “Jeffrey Epstein involved in the NDAs,” whether he was “involved in writing,” and “what was the reason for the NDA.”
Susan Estrich, an attorney for Black, decried the subpoenas as “a planned political stunt,” and she said, “Mr. Epstein had no involvement with any NDA's, whether they exist or not.”
The Guardian reported that Comer told reporters, “During today’s voluntary transcribed interview, Mr Black stated he wouldn’t answer questions about NDAs,” and it said the committee issued subpoenas for NDAs and for a deposition.
Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said, “The NDAs are central to us understanding what actually happened,” while the Guardian described the interview as conducted behind closed doors with a transcript expected later.
What Happens Next
Comer told reporters that the committee had issued two subpoenas on Friday and that Black would return “next month,” with the July 16 deposition described as videotaped and under oath.
“Former Apollo Global Management CEO Leon Black refused to answer questions about non-disclosure agreements he is party to during testimony about his dealings with the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein before a House committee on Friday, the panel's Republican chairman said”
Black’s lawyer Susan Estrich said the committee’s move was a “planned political stunt,” while Comer said the “answers about the terms and substance of these NDAs are critical to our investigation.”
The Guardian added that Black acknowledged he did know about Epstein pleading guilty in “2008 to state charges relating to prostitution involving a minor,” even as Black wrote that he did not know about “this nefarious activity until Epstein was charged with trafficking in July 2019.”
In the same prepared remarks, Black wrote that he was appearing “to set the record straight about my relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and, in particular, why I paid him the money I did,” and he said, “I knew Epstein for 18 years before I paid him a dime.”
