House Oversight Chair James Comer on Tuesday wrote a blistering letter to the lawyers of Leon Black threatening to hold the billionaire Apollo Global Management founder in contempt of Congress.
The threat comes after Black, who paid the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein tens of millions of dollars, refused to answer the panel’s questions about possible nondisclosure agreements he had signed with women tied to Epstein.
Black has since produced one NDA after being subpoenaed by the Oversight Committee. Comer, in his Tuesday letter, said that was insufficient and demanded more of the documents while floating the contempt vote if Black refuses.
The panel is hoping that the NDAs might shed further light on how Epstein and his network were able to sexually exploit women and girls and evade liability for decades.
Susan Estrich, a lawyer for Black, said that the Oversight Committee’s letter “misrepresents the facts.”
“Mr. Black provided the Committee with the only confidentiality agreement that pre-dated Epstein’s death and the only one of which Epstein was aware,” Estrich said in a statement.
Comer in the letter said, “the production of a singular non-disclosure agreement — after the Committee agreed to extend the deadline in good faith by two weeks — is insufficient to fulfill the requirements of this subpoena, considering your letter fails to articulate that there are no further non-disclosure agreements and seems to imply additional non-disclosure agreements exist.”
“The Committee demands full compliance with the subpoena and rejects any attempts at further disrupting or delaying this investigation,” he wrote.
The panel has been working to get Black to appear for a videotaped, transcribed deposition Sept. 3 and has been negotiating with his legal team about the terms of his appearance and what documents he’d produce.
“If Mr. Black refuses to provide the Committee with responsive documents or refuses to appear for his scheduled deposition on September 3, 2026, the Committee will use all tools at its disposal, including contempt,” Comer said.
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