Who is billionaire Leon Black and why did he walk out of the closed-door hearing on Epstein files?

The House Oversight Committee issued subpoenas to billionaire investor Leon Black on Friday after lawmakers said he declined to fully respond to questions about his long-standing relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, during which he reportedly paid the disgraced financier at least $158 million, AP reported.

Black, co-founder and former CEO of private equity firm Apollo Global Management, stepped down in 2021 following scrutiny over his ties to Epstein. He is the 16th individual to appear before the committee as part of its wider probe into the network of wealth and influence connected to Epstein.

Lawmakers said that after a closed-door voluntary interview with Black, he declined to answer questions related to non-disclosure agreements, leading the committee to issue a subpoena seeking information about the NDAs. A separate subpoena was also issued, requiring Black to appear for sworn testimony on July 16, AP reported.

“This is a result of refusing to answer specific questions,” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the committee chairman, told reporters after Black's interview.

Susan Estrich, the lawyer representing Black, said the decision to serve the subpoenas was a “premeditated political decision.” She called it a “planned political stunt.”

Democrats emerged from their hour of questioning Black saying he had not answered questions, and they praised Comer's decision to subpoena him.

Rep. Robert Garcia, the top ranking Democrat on the committee, told reporters that “it was clear from the moment this interview started that Leon Black was not going was not going to answer critical questions.”

Black was featured prominently in the Epstein files

As reported by AP, Black is mentioned repeatedly in files that the Department of Justice has released related to the Epstein investigation. He also appears in a collection of birthday messages sent to Epstein that were released by the House committee last year, including a poem attributed to him that refers to “Blond, Red or Brunette, spread out geographically.”

Black maintained Friday that he was not aware of Epstein’s “nefarious activity” until 2019 and that he paid Epstein for legitimate purposes, in part due to his “unrivaled network of relationships” with influential figures, AP reported.

“I knew Jekyll. I didn’t know Hyde,” said Black.

A 2021 review commissioned by Apollo concluded that Black paid Epstein $158 million between 2012 and 2017, several years after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor. The review said the payments were for “bona fide tax, estate planning and other related services.”

“I gave Epstein a second chance, as did many others. I wish I had not,” Black said.

Epstein was indicted in July 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. The US Justice Department alleged that he operated a wide network involving underage girls, some as young as 14, whom he abused between 2002 and 2005.

He died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.

Comer said earlier this year that Epstein’s former accountant, Richard Kahn, told lawmakers in his testimony that Epstein received significant sums of money from a number of high-profile individuals, including Black, AP reported.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., this month referred 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.”

Black broadly denied the allegations in his opening statement, calling them “rank speculation.”

“I have never abused a woman. I have never been with an underage woman. I have never engaged in sex trafficking. I have never paid Epstein for access to women. I was never blackmailed by Epstein.”

Many high-profile figures have been summoned to testify about Epstein

Other individuals who have appeared in connection with the investigation include former US President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, former Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

Gates testified earlier this month, saying he had made a “grave error in judgment” by meeting Epstein.

Black said Epstein's network included SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, AP reported.

Democrats on the House committee have pushed Republicans to seek testimony from President Donald Trump, a Republican who had his own yearslong relationship with Epstein. Republicans have refused, saying they have not come across any evidence that Trump did anything wrong during his well-documented friendship with Epstein.

Comer has said he has been in touch with the Justice Department about acting Attorney General Todd Blanche coming in for questioning soon.

Bondi, in her testimony, stressed that Blanche had overseen the chaotic release of the federal Epstein files, which included the unintentional release of victim information.

(With inputs from AP)