Billionaire Leon Black launched a legal battle Thursday against a House committee’s ongoing probe into Jeffrey Epstein, but in doing so, made a telling admission on his own past behavior, famed journalist Julie K. Brown argued Friday in a new analysis.
Black filed a lawsuit Thursday against the House Oversight Committee and its ongoing probe into Epstein and potential co-conspirators, claiming that the lawmakers were outside their authority in demanding copies of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) Black had signed with women.
“I found a few interesting things in his lawsuit," Brown wrote in a report published on her Substack Friday. "For one, it admits that he’s been party to a number of these NDAs."
Specifically, Black’s lawsuit includes mention of “a vast quantity of agreements of all kinds,” among which include details of the “private circumstances of women who bargained for confidentiality," Brown wrote.
“Black also claims that all the agreements, except one, were signed after [Epstein's] death, and therefore, that shows the agreements had nothing to do with Epstein,” Brown continued. “Most of Epstein’s victims didn’t come forward until after his death. It took them that long to feel brave and safe enough to talk about what had happened to them.”
Black has been accused of sexual abuse by several women, but had denied any wrongdoing.
He had long been a client of Epstein’s, paying the convicted child sex abuser about $170 million for what he says were financial services, and has also been friends with President Donald Trump for decades.
“I am not a lawyer,” Brown wrote. "But it seems to me that the Oversight Committee is doing exactly what it should do — uncover whether Epstein had enough friends in high places to continue his crimes. And if Black’s [NDAs] have nothing to do with Epstein, then why not show them to the Committee?”
Leaked emails from Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell suggested, Brown previously argued, that she may have weighed offering Congress new information about Black in a bid for clemency.
