House Oversight Votes 41-0 to Hold Leon Black in Contempt Over Epstein Subpoenas

The House Oversight Committee voted 41-0 on Tuesday to recommend that Leon Black, the billionaire co-founder of Apollo Global Management, be held in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas tied to the panel's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

The vote caps a fight that's been building since June, when Black sat for a voluntary transcribed interview and walked out after roughly an hour, refusing to answer questions about nondisclosure agreements, according to Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.). Comer then issued two subpoenas: one ordering Black to appear for a sworn deposition, the other demanding he hand over every NDA to which he's a party.

Black didn't show up for the deposition scheduled for September 3. Instead, on that same day, he sued the committee in federal court, arguing the subpoenas were invalid and exceeded the panel's legislative authority, according to CBS News and the Associated Press, via PBS. His legal team, led by attorney Susan Estrich, called the effort "a fishing expedition" and said in a statement, "This is no longer about finding the truth about Epstein. It is about trying to destroy Mr. Black."

Comer said Black also failed to produce the documents he'd been ordered to turn over. "He defied Congress and refused to do either," Comer said in prepared remarks released by the committee. "Mr. Black did not appear for his scheduled deposition on September 3, 2026, and only produced one NDA to the Committee, despite his counsel indicating there were many more."

Ranking Democrat Robert Garcia of California didn't hold back either. "We believe that Leon Black is at the heart of the Epstein network," Garcia said at Tuesday's business meeting. "We need to know why Jeffrey Epstein got over 180 million dollars from Mr. Black... we need to know how and if it led to the abuse of women and girls."

A 2021 review commissioned by Apollo found Black paid Epstein $158 million from 2012 to 2017 for what the review described as "bona fide tax, estate planning and other related services," according to PBS. Black stepped down as Apollo's CEO that same year amid the fallout. He has said repeatedly he had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes and never forced any woman to sign an NDA.

Black's lawsuit raises a privacy concern: it argues the subpoenas would expose confidentiality agreements involving women who have "no known or public connection to Epstein," who bargained for privacy and never agreed to have those deals aired before Congress. NDAs unrelated to Epstein's crimes could sweep up unrelated personal matters that have nothing to do with sex trafficking.

The committee's counter, laid out in Comer's remarks, is that it wants to determine whether NDAs were used to cover up criminal conduct connected to Epstein's network, not to expose unrelated private matters for their own sake. Which argument wins is now a question for the federal judge hearing Black's lawsuit.

The contempt resolution now moves to the full House floor. CBS News reported the timing is uncertain, noting this is the House's last week in session before members leave until after Election Day. If the full chamber approves the contempt finding, it becomes a formal referral to the Justice Department, which then decides independently whether to pursue charges. No charges have been filed against Black, and no criminal investigation of him has been announced.

Comer noted this is a rare case: of the many billionaires and powerful figures the committee has questioned in various probes, he said Black is the first to sue rather than comply, according to PBS. The vote itself was bipartisan and unanimous, a rarity in the current Congress, and follows an earlier bipartisan vote this year forcing the Justice Department to release Epstein-related files, per The Hill.

Black isn't the only name that keeps surfacing. Breitbart's coverage noted President Trump's name has appeared repeatedly in Epstein-related documents; Trump has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with any offense connected to the case. That fact sits alongside, not inside, the Black contempt fight, since no source ties the two developments together beyond both stemming from the broader Epstein files investigation.

The open question now is whether Black's federal lawsuit gets resolved before the full House votes, and whether a contempt finding would actually reach the Justice Department before Black's legal challenge plays out in court.