The case seeks a jury trial and $7.25 million in damages
Billionaire Leon Black filed the suit on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, naming California Rep. Robert Garcia as the defendant. The complaint targets Garcia’s public statements about Black’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and seeks a jury trial and $7.25 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
Garcia made those statements during a television interview in the weeks after Black appeared for a voluntary interview with the House Oversight Committee. Garcia said “Leon Black is at the center of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes” and that Black “was one of the last people to actually interact” with Epstein before Epstein committed suicide in prison. Garcia also said he had “talked to survivors that have credibly named Leon Black as someone that was involved in direct abuse of women and was directly involved” with Epstein.
Black’s lawyers assert that Garcia’s statements were false and made maliciously. Garcia’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
The complaint also alleges that Garcia’s comments caused Black personal and professional harm. The filing states: “Congressman Garcia’s knowing lies have caused real and significant ongoing harm to Mr. Black. His physical safety has been threatened, he has received a barrage of hateful calls, emails, and social media posts, and his business and philanthropic endeavors have suffered.”
The lawsuit comes less than two months after the House approved a resolution holding Black in contempt of Congress for defying Oversight Committee subpoenas in its Epstein investigation. Black had refused subpoenas asking him to appear and turn over potential nondisclosure agreements. In September, Garcia called the contempt resolution “an important step toward justice and accountability.”
At his voluntary committee interview in June, Black denied any knowledge of Epstein’s sex-trafficking network. Black’s lawyers have maintained that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s criminal conduct and have repeatedly denounced the committee’s pursuit of the former private-equity chief as an abuse of congressional power.
Black was among several prominent figures, including Bill Clinton and Bill Gates, asked to appear as the Oversight Committee conducts its long-running Epstein investigation. Survivors of Epstein’s alleged sexual abuse have told personal stories of being young women in a trafficking enterprise organized by Epstein and his colleague Ghislaine Maxwell.
Black co-founded Apollo Global Management and stepped down in 2021 during the fallout over his ties to Epstein. Lawmakers have alleged that Black paid Epstein $180 million during their yearslong relationship. A 2021 review commissioned by Apollo found that Black paid Epstein $158 million from 2012 to 2017, 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.”