Leon Black sues US congressman Robert Garcia for $7.5m over Epstein comments

Billionaire Leon Black has filed a defamation lawsuit against California congressman Robert Garcia, accusing the lawmaker, who is the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, of making false statements about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and the disgraced financiers’s sex trafficking crimes.The filing, filed in federal court in New York on Wednesday, comes almost two months after the House voted to hold Black in contempt of Congress over his refusal to comply with subpoenas issued by the House oversight committee as part of the panel’s investigation into Epstein. As of 5 November, the Department of Justice has not filed contempt charges against Black. Garcia’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.In late June, Black, whose name came up repeatedly in the Epstein files, and who, as reported by the New York Times, paid Epstein a total of $170m for what he described as tax and estate planning services from 2013 to 2017, appeared before the oversight committee for a voluntary interview. The hearing ended abruptly after lawmakers from both parties said Black refused to answer questions about non-disclosure agreements. Black has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said he had no knowledge Epstein’s crimes.The committee, chaired by Republican James Comer, issued two subpoenas: one demanding that Black produce all NDAs “to which he is a party” and another requiring him to appear before the committee again for a deposition. But Black did not appear for his scheduled 3 September deposition and did not produce all the NDAs sought by the committee.Black instead sued Comer and the committee, arguing that the subpoenas were “invalid” and exceeded the committee’s authority. He also argued that the subpoenas would “expose women who value their privacy, who have no known or public connection to Epstein”.In his lawsuit on Wednesday, Black, who is seeking $7.5m in damages, claims that “shortly after” his June appearance before the committee, Garcia “went on national television and lied to the American people, claiming that ‘Leon Black is at the center of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.’”The lawsuit alleges that several weeks later, Garcia went on television again and “lied again” and asserted that Black “was one of the last people to actually interact” with Epstein before he was found dead in jail in 2019, and the lawsuit alleges that Garcia said that he “talked to survivors that have credibly named Leon Black as someone that was involved in direct abuse of women and was directly involved with Jeffrey Epstein’s trafficking network”.Black claims in the filing that those statements are false and that Garcia “knew it”. Black’s lawsuit alleges that Garcia’s statements “caused real and significant ongoing harm to Mr. Black”.The speech or debate clause of the constitution protects members of Congress from defamation suits, but only for comments made as part of legislative activities. It generally does not shield them from lawsuits over comments made in the media.In September, in response to Black’s lawsuit against the committee, Garcia claimed that Black “funded Epstein’s abuse and trafficking of women” and said: “Multiple women have also accused Black of sexual assault. His connections to Epstein and his unwillingness to cooperate are unacceptable.”A spokesperson for Black said the billionaire has “never abused a woman; he has never been with an underage woman; he has never been involved with sex trafficking; and, he never paid Epstein for women”.At a news conference on Wednesday, Garcia, who is poised to become the next chair of the House oversight committee as a result of the midterm elections, said the committee will be “focused” on four issues, including Epstein, come January.