Testimony Breakdown and Future Subpoena

Hey guys, welcome back to News Girls. I'm Ren and I'm coming to you today breaking news because Jeffrey Epstein's billionaire best friend Leon Black just stormed out of his congressional deposition after refusing to answer questions about allegations involving women connected to Epstein . And if you've been following the Epstein files, especially our coverage here, this might have been the deposition we were waiting for the most like whenever Mabel and I are asked about the most disturbing revelations from the Epstein files, we almost always bring up one name and that is Leon Black. He is the billionaire that paid Geoffrey Epstein one hundred fifty eight million dollars after Epstein had already pled guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor that is the most that any single person paid Epstein. Liam Black has been accused of rape and sexual assault in many lawsuits . One US senator believes that Epstein may have acted as a middleman to pay women on blacks behalf. And today, Congress finally got to question him, and we were all hopeful that maybe we'd get some answers today . In fact, House Oversight, Chairman James Coomer even called today's interview potentially the most groundbreaking of all the depositions , but then things took a turn. We're starting to get details of what happened inside the room that I will break down to you. I'll also break down what is Liam Black accused of, what was his relationship with Epstein? You know, it's one of the biggest mysteries of the scandal. I'll let you know all of it, so let's get into it. So Liam Black isn't just another Wealthy Epstein associate. He is one of the most powerful financiers in all of America . His net worth is fifteen billion dollars. He co founded the private equity giant Apollo Global Management and built one of the largest portions on Wall Street . And then in twenty twenty one, he stepped down as CEO over scrutiny of his relationship because it came to light that he had paid Epstein one hundred fifty eight million dollars . According to Black, he says he met Epstein first in the mid nineteen nineties because he told Congress that he knew Epstein for approximately eighteen years before I paid him a dime. And Black Says Epstein always impressed him as an intellectual and surround himself with some of the biggest names in politics, finance, academia. In fact, let me play you a clip of how a congresswoman who was inside the hearing room explains how fondly Leon Black spoke about his friendship with Epstein today. This is what he was saying today. Before Mr. Black left the interview, he admitted that he lived close to Epst ein. He often dined at his house. He went over for breakfast for happy hours, attended impromptu dinners with world leaders, with academics, with scientists, and that Mr. Epstein handled his personal financial affairs . It was also clear he served on his family foundation board and it's also clear that Mr. Black knew of Epstein's past conviction and plea deal and also was unbothered by it. He said as much basically in the part of the interview that was conducted . But what Black was insisting today was that he didn't know about Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking. He was just friends with a b rilliant financial advisor and I'll get more into exactly what Black told the committee in a bit . But first I want to go through Black's sexual assault allegations because I think it's necessary to have a clear understand ing of who this man is . So several women have accused Leon Black of rape and sexual assaults. One woman alleged black raped her inside of Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan Townhouse in two thousand two , she later drops the lawsuit, though we don't know if an NDA is involved and that's a very relevant question today, which we'll also circle back to Black says he never even met this woman. Another woman, a former Russian model, also accused Black of Abusing and harassing her, but the lawsuit was eventually dismissed, but court records reveal something crazy. Black later tried to get her to sign an NDA and one of the people that was advising him how to go about doing this was Jeffrey Epstein. According to court filings, Epstein suggested hiring former law enforcement officers to pressure her into signing the NDA . He wrote in an email , choose Method of Delivery, my choice to highly respected former immigration Scotland Yard who may knock on her door and present the terms. In another instance, there are also emails that we learned about in the Epstein files that suggest Epstein was tracking women for black. This is what Epstein sent to Black's lawyer he said, did we get a report on where she went after lunch? Details ? And the lawyer replied to this yellow apartment building on eighty third and York, where she stayed until she traveled to JFK, she was snug out through the garage in a car with tinted windows. We have license plate numbers . That's really creepy and that suggests how involved Epstein was in blacks affairs. And we're not even close to being done with the list of allegations against Leon Black because there is still one lawsuit that is ongoing. Another woman sued Black in twenty twenty three and accused of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager, but earlier this year fed aeral judge sanct ioned the woman over issues with her evidence . But importantly, the judge still allowed the lawsuit itself to continue. So despite those sanctions, Black does still face an active sexual abuse case. And one of the most shocking releases from the Epstein files was this PowerPoint that had prominent Epstein affiliates on it and the list of allegations that they're accused of. And Leon Black is on this he has two really horrifying allegations. It says one, Blank stated Epstein told her to give black massage while Black was naked. That name is supposed to be redacted. I'm not going to read it. Blank stated another female gave black massage and he made her perform oral sex. Epstein made jokes about black's penis size . And then a second allegation Blink stated Black raped her numerous times and sex trafficked her, including at Epstein's. Black threatened to destroy her life and stated connections with the police. And so with Leon Black, the sex crimes is only part of the mystery. The other part is what was at one hundred fifty eight million dollars to Epstein for ? Because between twenty twelve and twenty seventeen, obviously years after Epstein had pled guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor, Lean Blnaack paid him that huge sum of money. It is the largest publicly known payment anyone ever made to Jeffrey Epstein . Black is insisting every dollar was legitimate. He testified today . I came here today voluntarily to set the record straight about my relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and in particular why I paid him the money I did. So according to Black, Epstein solved some estate planning problem that none of the experts or lawyers he had hired could solve . It's vague what he's talking about. It's something about inheritance tax and leaving his billions to his kids and Epstein found a way for him to do it without having to pay enormous tax fees. And in those situations it is it can be customary that you pay whatever accounting or tax expert five percent or some portion of the money that you end up saving as like payment for the work that they did. So it's possible that this was all above board. In fact, a law firm commissioned by Black's former employer Apollo ultimately did conclude that Epstein had in fact performed legitimate tax and estate planning work and that Black does genuinely believe that Epstein had saved him billions of dollars and so gave him a little portion of that as a thank you. The explanation that it was genuine though doesn't really satisfy everyone though. Like it definitely doesn't justify why one of the richest men on earth would be paying Jeffrey Epstein after he's a known sex offender. There's still a lot of shadiness going on . And in the new Epstein files, Leon Black's name appears eight thousand times. In fact , the phrase please call Leon Black appears more than three hundred times and there's one email that I think really shows how close Epstein and Black were and it's this in twenty fourteen Epstein wrote to Black Leon, as you are well aware, there is little I won't do for you and a great deal that I have already done both known and some things that will need to remain unknown . Like be more obvious about it. Like that's just I mean that is chilling . Obviously they're referring to something sketchy. Like I've never written anything like that to my friends have you. Like I wouldn't even have it wouldn't even cross my mind to insinuate there's things that like I can't say on the record that you've helped me with. Like who's doing that? Another example of how close Leona Black and Jeffrey Epstein was, remember that birthday book Epstein's birthday book that Trump did that poem on a woman's figure. Well, guess who Alice wrote a poem for that book? Leon Black . There's a lot of weird parts of this. He says blonde, red or brunette spread out geographically hm.m And then he says, best of all, a dear friend, happy birthday, Jeffrey, love and kisses Leon. That sounds pretty chummy to me. And so like I mentioned , a senator, Senator Ron Wyden, has been investigating Leon Black for four years now and he said that Epstein appears to have acted as a middleman for black to pay women on black behalf. While I have offered Black ample opportunities to address outstanding regularities regarding his arrangement with Epstein, he has refused. Now those are very serious allegations . Black has denied any wrongdoing, but that brings us to today and what he told the House O versight Committee today to explain his relationship with Epstein . The TLDR is basically that Epstein fooled him , that he was so unaware of who Epstein really was and Epstein was a different person to him. So he told lawmakers, I want to state clearly that I did not know about this nefarious activity until Epstein was charged with trafficking in july twenty nineteen . Though he did acknowledge knowing about Jeffrey Epstein's two thousand eight conviction , but he said Epstein convinced him it was an isolated incident. Black said Epstein told me that it was an isolated incident resulting from a fake ID . Black said five years after Epstein's conviction, I gave him a second chance, as did many others, I wish I had not. With hindsight, I now see that Epstein exaggerated, embellished, manipulated and outright lied, prolifically without any concern for me or my family. His deceit is not limited to me but also extended to numerous highly sophisticated individuals . This next line is a memorable line. I knew Jekyll, I didn't know Hyde . So that really completely sums up what Black is saying. It's something that we've heard from a lot of billionaires. They all seem to paint Epstein as the greatest compartmentalizer of all time. And I'm sure they' s some truth to that in parts and I'm sure not everybody knew about everything that was going on, but it is hard to believe that you can be this close to Epstein, that Epstein is referring to secrets that you share that in fact there are allegations that Black even raped a woman at Epstein's apartment and he didn't know about Epstein's nefarious activity. But I guess Leon Black and Epstein did have a falling out after Epstein solved his taxes . Black is now claiming that Epstein actually duped him financially. He testified today that Epstein falsely convinced him that the fees that he paid were tax deductible. So Black said what I believe to be ninety five million dollars of net fees paid out to him over five years was actually one hundred fifty eight million . And so Black is claiming that Epstein essentially tricked him out of more than sixty million. I guess he thought that last sixty million he would get back in taxes or it was tax deductible , but he didn't. And so he was saying Epstein duped him . I'm not a tax expert, so I'm not going to weigh in on this claim. I'll let people smarter than I am in that area do it, but it's a little bit like you want sympathy for us that your fifteen billion dollars net worth is down sixty million dollars to the sex offender that you were already prepared to pay ninety five million dollars to? Because that's definitely not going happen to. And then this is the strongest denial we've heard from Leon Black and this was part of his prepared opening statement at his testimony today. He said, let me state unequivocally that I have never abused a woman, I've never been with an underage woman. I've never engaged in sex trafficking. I have never paid Epstein for access to women. I was never blackmailed by Epstein. I was not involved with and had no knowledge of any of Epstein's heinous conduct . I feel terrible for the victims . So despite that very civil prepared statement , things quickly went sideways in the hearing. According to chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, once investigators moved away from Black's prepared statement and started asking him about alleged NDAs with women that were connected to Epstein and specific abuse allegations. Leon Black stopped cooperating altogether, absolutely refused to answer their questions. I guess he said quote, I'm not answering questions about NDAs or my private life. Other lawmakers described blacks' attitude and demeanor throughout the hearing as arrogant and sm ug . Leon Black was arrogant. He was smug. He refused to answer the questions, but at the same time was emphasizing how he was being transparent because this was voluntary . But when pressed on critical questions about his own sexual abuse and the allegations against him and nondisclosure agreements, he absolutely refused to answer these questions. And then after being asked several questions that he didn't want to answer, he simply got up and walked out. But all hope is not lost because lawmakers have now subpoenaed Leon Black to return with the subpoena. This would be testimony under oath and he is absolutely compelled to appear again and answer their questions about these NDAs and these allegations, and if he doesn't, he could be held in contempt of Congress , which could carry civil or criminal consequences. I'm so grateful that he will be returning under oath. That's how every single one of these should be under oath in a public hearing in front of the American people video taped. We need full transparency for the survivors as well as for the American public. Newsgirls will obviously be tracking all of that and we'll bring you all of the updates as they come out like we did we have been doing. So that is your speed course on Liam Black and what happened today during his testimony. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of News Girls. Don't forget to follow us everywhere, substack , podcast, social media so you never miss any content from us. See you next time guys