Leon Black hit by new suit in confrontation with #MeToo law firm

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Leon Black has been hit with a lawsuit from a third woman accusing him of sexual abuse, opening a new front in the billionaire’s high-stakes confrontation with a law firm that has played a leading role in the #MeToo movement.

The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, comes on the heels of setbacks for the Wigdor firm, which has represented survivors of sexual attacks by prominent men, including the disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Wigdor first filed a lawsuit against Black in 2021, representing Guzel Ganieva, a Russian former fashion model who had a relationship with Black for several years. But Ganieva fired Wigdor earlier this year, weeks before her case was thrown out by a New York state judge. She is representing herself on appeal.

In a motion filed in December, lawyers for Black asked a judge to punish the Wigdor firm for “repeatedly abus[ing] the court system to launder frivolous, unsubstantiated, and damaging accusations of sexual assault against Black” in lawsuits it filed on behalf of Ganieva and another woman, Cheri Pierson, whom Black says he has never met.

Wigdor has denied acting improperly.

Tuesday’s lawsuit, filed by Wigdor on behalf of a pseudonymous Jane Doe, contains graphic descriptions of Black’s alleged mistreatment of a plaintiff who has Down’s syndrome and autism and the developmental capacities of a 12-year-old.

Black is alleged to have inflicted permanent injuries on the woman, who was 16 at the time of their alleged 2002 encounter at a Manhattan townhouse belonging to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Susan Estrich, a lawyer for Black, said the lawsuit was part of a “vendetta”, adding that it was “frivolous”, “sanctionable” and contained “vicious and defamatory lies”.

“These allegations — about an incident that supposedly took place 20 years ago — are totally made up [and] entirely uncorroborated,” she said.

A spokesperson for Black said of the new lawsuit: “This is a stain on the justice system and Wigdor should be disbarred.”

Black has for years been troubled by the fallout from his association with Epstein, who served prison time in Florida after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor, and died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

He resigned as chief executive of Apollo Global Management in 2021 after an investigation by lawyers for the private equity firm’s board found that he had paid Epstein $158mn for tax advice and other professional services.

Black paid $62.5mn to the government of the US Virgin Islands earlier this year to settle legal claims arising from his business relationship with Epstein, who abused dozens of girls at the private island he owned in the territory. The USVI settlement contained no suggestion that Black was aware of or participated in any misconduct, according to his spokesperson.

The billionaire also faces a US Senate finance committee investigation into payments and tax arrangements surrounding his relationship with Epstein. In a letter on Monday, Senator Ron Wyden told Black that “the inadequate responses you have provided the Committee only raise more questions than answers”.

“Black’s broken record response that everyone is a ‘liar’ except him is growing tiresome,” said Wigdor partner Jeanne Christensen, in a statement to the Financial Times.

“Is the USVI also on a vendetta?” she added. “We look forward to getting to the bottom of the unanswered questions surrounding his multimillion- dollar payments in this litigation.”