House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., escalated the panel’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday by issuing two subpoenas to billionaire investor Leon Black during Black’s voluntary transcribed interview before the committee.
According to Comer, Black declined to answer questions regarding nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, involving women, prompting the committee chairman to seek additional testimony and records through formal subpoenas.
In a statement released after the interview, Comer said the committee considers information related to the agreements essential to its ongoing investigation.
“Answers about the terms and substance of these NDAs are critical to our investigation. For this reason, today I issued subpoenas to Mr. Black for NDAs and to appear for a deposition in the near future. We owe it to the American people to provide transparency and ensure accountability for survivors,” Comer said.
One subpoena directs Black to appear before the committee for a deposition on July 16. The second requires him to provide the committee with the nondisclosure agreements it is seeking as part of its investigation.
Speaking with reporters following the interview, Comer outlined the committee’s interest in learning more about the agreements and whether Epstein played any role in them.
“We want to know, was Jeffrey Epstein involved in the NDAs? Was he involved in writing? Was he involved in awarding funds to the women for the NDAs? What was the reason for the NDAs? We want to know everything about the NDAs, so that’s very important to our investigation,” Comer said.
Black, the former chief executive of private equity firm Apollo Global Management, maintained in opening remarks before the committee that he had no involvement in Epstein’s criminal conduct. According to a copy of his remarks obtained by The New York Times, Black stated that he “was not involved with, and had no knowledge of, any of Epstein’s heinous conduct.”
Black’s attorney, Susan Estrich, sharply criticized the committee’s actions, accusing lawmakers of orchestrating the subpoenas before the interview had meaningfully progressed.
Lawmakers, she said, “made a premeditated political decision to serve him with subpoenas after less than an hour of questioning.”
Estrich also rejected any suggestion that Epstein was connected to the nondisclosure agreements.
“This was nothing more than a planned political stunt. Mr. Epstein had no involvement with any NDAs, whether they exist or not,” Estrich said. She added that, as Black stated in his opening remarks, he “never abused a woman, he never was with an underage woman, he never engaged in sex trafficking, he never paid Epstein for access to women, he was never blackmailed by Epstein.”
The renewed scrutiny comes after a woman filed a lawsuit in 2022 accusing Black of rape and alleging that Epstein helped facilitate the attack. Black’s legal team denied those allegations at the time. Following the public disclosure of the lawsuit, Black stepped down from his positions at Apollo.
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., who serves on the House Oversight Committee, said lawmakers are seeking answers about Black’s relationship with Epstein and what he may have known.
“We know some of the stuff that’s publicly out there about him having mistresses, about him having these NDAs, about people being afraid of him, but we want him to answer the tough questions about what he knew about Jeffrey Epstein, his relationship, and whether he was involved in some of the crimes himself,” Subramanyam told reporters.
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