{"id":520562,"date":"2026-11-06T12:28:25","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T12:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/520562\/"},"modified":"2026-11-06T12:28:25","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T12:28:25","slug":"billionaire-leon-black-sues-rep-robert-garcia-for-defamation-over-epstein-comments-long-beach-post-news-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/520562\/","title":{"rendered":"Billionaire Leon Black sues Rep. Robert Garcia for defamation over Epstein comments \u2022 Long Beach Post News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billionaire Leon Black<\/a> on Wednesday filed a federal defamation lawsuit against U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia<\/a> for public comments the Long Beach congressman made tying him to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The court filing comes less than two months after the House approved a resolution holding Black in contempt of Congress<\/a> for defying the Oversight Committee\u2019s<\/a> subpoenas in its investigation into Epstein.<\/p>\n

In June, Black appeared for a voluntary interview<\/a> at the committee during which he denied any knowledge of Epstein\u2019s sex trafficking network.<\/p>\n

Weeks later, Garcia said during a TV interview that \u201cLeon Black is at the center of Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s crimes\u201d and that Black \u201cwas one of the last people to actually interact\u201d with Epstein before he committed suicide in prison.<\/p>\n

\"\"FILE \u2013 Billionaire Leon Black arrives for a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee at the Capitol in Washington on June 26, 2026. AP Photo by J. Scott Applewhite, File.<\/p>\n

In addition, Garcia said<\/a> that he had \u201ctalked to survivors that have credibly named Leon Black as someone that was involved in direct abuse of women and was directly involved\u201d with Epstein.<\/p>\n

Those statements were false and were made maliciously, Black asserts through his lawyers. The defamation lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York seeks a jury trial and $7.25 million in compensatory and punitive damages.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongressman Garcia\u2019s knowing lies have caused real and significant ongoing harm to Mr. Black. His physical safety has been threatened, he has received a barrage of hateful calls, emails, and social media posts, and his business and philanthropic endeavors have suffered,\u201d the filing states.<\/p>\n

Garcia responded by saying, \u201cI won\u2019t be intimidated by a billionaire.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September, Garcia called the contempt resolution against Black \u201can important step toward justice and accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Black had refused to respond to subpoenas asking him to appear and to turn over any potential nondisclosure agreements involving the investigation into Epstein.<\/p>\n

Black\u2019s lawyers have repeatedly denounced the Oversight Committee\u2019s pursuit of the former head of a private equity firm as an abuse of congressional power. They have maintained he had no knowledge of any of Epstein\u2019s criminal conduct.<\/p>\n

Black was among several prominent figures, including Bill Clinton<\/a> and Bill Gates<\/a>, who had been asked to appear as part of the Oversight Committee\u2019s long-running probe of Epstein. Survivors of Epstein\u2019s alleged sexual abuse have told personal stories of being young women in a trafficking enterprise organized by Epstein and his colleague Ghislaine Maxwell<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Black co-founded the private equity firm Apollo Global Management and stepped down in 2021 during the fallout over his ties to Epstein.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers have alleged that Black paid Epstein $180 million during their yearslong relationship.<\/p>\n

A 2021 review commissioned by Apollo found that Black paid Epstein $158 million from 2012 to 2017, after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008<\/a> to soliciting prostitution from a minor. The review said the payments were for \u201cbona fide tax, estate planning and other related services.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was updated with Garcia\u2019s response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billionaire Leon Black on Wednesday filed a federal defamation lawsuit against U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia for public comments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-520562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}