JAMES COMER, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has threatened to hold billionaire investor Leon Black in contempt of Congress, escalating a dispute over Black’s cooperation with an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and the government’s handling of the late sex offender’s crimes.
Comer accused Black, an associate and former financial-services client of dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, of attempting to restrict the committee’s access to documents and determine which subjects lawmakers may examine.
“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 wrote in a letter released Tuesday.
The confrontation tests the committee’s ability to obtain evidence about confidentiality agreements that may involve people connected to Epstein or his victims. The panel is investigating the federal government’s handling of Epstein, the operation of sex-trafficking networks and the methods Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell used to cultivate influential relationships and shield their crimes.
Black’s lawyer, Susan Estrich, rejected Comer’s account and described the investigation as a “political witch hunt.”
Black, the co-founder of Apollo Asset Management, voluntarily appeared before the committee in June. The questioning ended after about one hour when Republican and Democratic members said he would not answer questions about nondisclosure agreements.
Comer responded by issuing two subpoenas. One required Black to produce “all non-disclosure agreements to which he is a party.” The other ordered him to appear for a deposition.
Black has provided one confidentiality agreement and indicated that he would turn over one more, according to Comer’s letter. His lawyers have sought assurances that he will not face contempt proceedings. They have also asked the committee to replace the subpoenaed deposition with a voluntary transcribed interview, confine questions about confidentiality agreements to the two documents Black is prepared to submit and postpone the session from Sept. 3 until early October.
“At no point has Mr Black sought a reasonable accommodation from the Committee, but rather he has consistently sought to dictate to the Committee the scope of its investigation,” Comer wrote.
The dispute centers partly on when Black entered into the confidentiality agreements and whether documents executed after Epstein’s death fall within the investigation.
Black’s representatives told the committee that he had produced the only relevant agreement predating Epstein’s death in 2019. They maintained that any additional agreements would have been negotiated well after Epstein died.
Comer said Black does not have “the right to decide what documents are responsive” to the subpoena. Agreements completed after Epstein’s death, he wrote, “could still involve [Epstein’s] victims.”
Estrich said Black had already supplied the committee with the agreement most closely connected to Epstein.
“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,” she said.
“Congress has no right to invade private lives as part of a fishing expedition especially where the parties to a confidentiality agreement do not want their identities revealed in a circus-like atmosphere and especially when Epstein had nothing do with any agreement.”
Black’s financial relationship with Epstein continued years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to state prostitution charges, including procuring a minor. A review commissioned by Apollo found that Epstein provided Black with tax and estate-planning services from 2012 through 2017.
A Senate Finance Committee investigation identified Black as Epstein’s largest client following the 2008 conviction. The committee said Black paid Epstein roughly $170 million in fees.
Black has characterized the work as sophisticated tax and estate planning. In a written statement submitted before his June appearance, he said: “I did not know about this nefarious activity until Epstein was charged with trafficking in July 2019.”
Black also acknowledged knowing that Epstein had pleaded guilty in “2008 to state charges relating to prostitution involving a minor.”
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He’s got something to hide. That’s the only reason I can think of as to why he doesn’t want to turn over the docs. His lawyer sounds like a MAGAt!