Monday, June 29, 2026
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The U.S. Capitol is seen at sunset, Thursday, June 25, 2026, in Washington.
WASHINGTON — Billionaire investor Leon Black will testify Friday before the House Oversight Committee as lawmakers probe what they claim was a web of riches and influence around Jeffrey Epstein that allowed his decades of sexual abuse.
Black is the latest high-profile individual to sit down for a closed-door deposition before the committee. Earlier this month, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates testified and said he made a "grave error in judgement" by meeting with Epstein.
Black is co-founder and former chief executive of the private-equity firm Apollo Global Management. He stepped down in 2021 in the wake of the backlash over his ties to Epstein.
A 2021 study commissioned by Apollo showed that Black paid Epstein $158 million between 2012 and 2017, after Epstein pled guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitutes from a child. The evaluation said the payments were for "bona fide tax, estate planning and other related services."
Black is a major player in the Epstein files The Department of Justice has published data pertaining to the Epstein probe and black is mentioned numerous times. He also appears in a collection of birthday cards addressed to Epstein that the House committee revealed last year, including a poem attributed to him that mentions “Blond, Red or Brunette, spread out geographically.”
Epstein was accused in July 2019 on federal counts of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. The Justice Department said Epstein operated a sprawling network of females, some as young as 14, to sexually assault from 2002 to 2005. He was awaiting trial when he died by himself in a New York jail cell in 2019.
Epstein’s former accountant, Richard Kahn, revealed in testimony to Congress earlier this year that Epstein received large sums of money from a number of high-profile persons, including Black, according to Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., head of the House committee.
In October, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sent the House committee findings from a nearly four-year probe into Black. “Epstein even appears to have served as a middleman for Black to pay women on Black’s behalf,” Wyden added in a statement.
“I have given Black many opportunities to respond to unresolved irregularities in his arrangement with Epstein, but he has declined to do so,” Wyden added.
Many high-profile people have been called to testify by Epstein Other personalities who have appeared for the probe include former Democratic President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, former Attorney General Pam Bondi and Gates.
Democrats on the House committee have asked Republicans to seek evidence from President Donald Trump, a Republican who had his own relationship with Epstein. Republicans deny, stating they have seen no proof that Trump did anything wrong during his widely publicized relationship with Epstein.
Comer said he has been in communication with the Justice Department about Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche coming to testify soon.
Bondi testified that Blanche oversaw the disorderly release of the federal Epstein files, which included the accidental leaking of victim information.
