Billionaire Leon Black has sued a United States House of Representatives committee investigating convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his influential social circle.
The lawsuit on Thursday was filed as Black, the cofounder and former chief executive of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, skipped a scheduled deposition.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform had issued two subpoenas to Black when he appeared for a voluntary interview in June. Lawmakers at the time said he had refused to answer questions about nondisclosure agreements related to Epstein.
In a statement, Black’s lawyer called the panel’s investigation “a fishing expedition that oversteps its authority and completely ignores its responsibility”.
“This is no longer about finding the truth about Epstein. It is about trying to destroy Mr Black,” Susan Estrich said.
Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, called on Congress to hold Black in contempt of Congress “immediately”.
Holding an individual in contempt of Congress typically requires a vote by the full House. If that passes, a citation is sent to a federal prosecutor, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, who can impanel a grand jury for a potential indictment.
It remained unclear whether the Republican-controlled House would have the appetite to pursue such a measure.
“By refusing to testify today, Leon Black is now defying two congressional subpoenas,” Garcia said.
Black’s lawsuit seeks to block the subpoenas, one of which demanded Black produce documents related to his relations with Epstein. The other required him to return for a deposition before the committee.
Black is one of several influential figures whose name appeared repeatedly in a tranche of files released in recent months by the Department of Justice from its Epstein investigation.
The release came after lawmakers from both parties unified to pass legislation requiring it as speculation grew over possible complicity by the rich and powerful in Epstein’s alleged crimes.
The financier was awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges when he was found dead in a Manhattan detention facility in 2019. To date, only Epstein and his confidante Ghislane Maxwell have been charged in connection with the allegations.
The House panel’s investigation, which is separate from the Department of Justice probe into Epstein, has so far called several influential figures to appear, including former Democratic President Bill Clinton, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates.
The panel has not called President Donald Trump, who has said he had a years-long friendship with Epstein before falling out with him in the early 2000s.
Despite releases of Justice Department documents, photos and files, lawmakers from both parties have accused the department of not being forthcoming with all documents related to Epstein.
Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican and Trump critic, has been among those seeking a vote on a new bill, the Epstein Files Transparency Act II.
The new legislation would give state attorneys general and Epstein survivors the ability to sue the Justice Department to release further unredacted files.
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