According to the Washington Post, a federal lawsuit accuses billionaire Leon Black of raping an autistic 16-year-old girl in 2002 at Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion. According to Forbes, Black, who co-founded private equity company Apollo Global Management before leaving in 2021, has a net worth of $10.1 billion. Epstein and his longtime lover and partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, allegedly trafficked the girl to Black in 2002, according to the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court in New York on Tuesday.
Black tied the girl down inside the townhouse in 2002 and abused her with sex toys, causing her to bleed, according to the victim, now in her 30s. The victim was born with mosaic Down syndrome and has a “developmental age” of roughly 12 years old, according to the lawsuit. She also said she was routinely abused by both of them.
The lawsuit alleges serious misconduct and Denial by Leon Black’s Lawyers
The lawsuit states: “Even as Black grabbed her hand so hard that she thought he broke bones, Jeffrey Epstein knew Jane Doe would never disobey. Developmentally she is about 12, and when she was threatened to do as told because ‘bad girls’ get in ‘trouble,’ she did as she was told.” Epstein refused to let the girl see a doctor, the lawsuit alleges, “and instead said that Ghislaine Maxwell would take care of it.”
The woman alleges she is still suffering physically and mentally as a result of the alleged incident. Meanwhile, Black’s lawyers said that the claims were “totally made up,” implying that they were presented by a law firm with a vendetta. “These vicious and defamatory lies, masquerading as allegations, have been intentionally manufactured by the Wigdor law firm as part of the firm’s vendetta against Mr. Black for vigorously and successfully defending himself over the past two years,” Susan Estrich, an attorney for Leon Black said, adding that her client never met the alleged victim
“These allegations — about an incident that supposedly took place 20 years ago — are totally made up, entirely uncorroborated and, as pleaded, squarely violate the statute of limitations”, she further said.
The connection between Leon Black and the Epstein scandal
Leon Black has already disputed other allegations of sexual assault against him. Two other lawsuits were dismissed. Notably, Jeffrey Epstein, a serial offender, and financier, committed suicide in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019 at the age of 66. Epstein, a self-described “collector” of wealthy and powerful individuals, was connected to a who’s who of influential political and corporate elites. After his arrest in July 2019, that network, which included former US President Bill Clinton and millionaire Leslie Wexner, distanced themselves from the financier.
According to US prosecutors, Epstein used his riches and position to sexually abuse scores of young girls at his houses for years, paying them hundreds of dollars for each encounter and hundreds more if they brought in additional victims. Meanwhile, Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking and is serving a 20-year sentence in a federal prison in Florida.