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The Epstein Chronicles
Leon Black’s Team Quietly Pressured Federal Judge in Epstein Survivor Case (Part 1) (5/8/26)
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Leon Black has faced mounting scrutiny over his long and deeply intertwined relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, particularly after newly surfaced court filings revealed an aggressive behind-the-scenes legal effort tied to a woman accusing Black of rape...
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What's up everyone? And welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. A couple of days ago we were talking about Leon Black and how he had won a court battle to sanction one of his accusers. Well now the Guardian has a very extensive article out going a little bit deeper into the situation with Leon Black and the accuser who is accusing him of abusing her. And some of the allegations, some of the information that we're learning is very disturbing, such as Leon Black and his team reaching out to the judge behind the scenes. That doesn't seem like a very good idea, does it? That doesn't seem like it's in the spirit of fairness, especially considering how powerful Leon Black is. Anyway, so we have a very extensive article here from the Guardian and we're going to break it down into multiple pieces. So let's dive into episode one of this Guardian article and let's see what they have to say about Leon Black and his ongoing legal battle with his accuser. Headline Epstein link Billionaire Accused of Rape Privately reached out to Federal Judge to defend his Good Name. Like what? That doesn't seem like the proper way to do it. Shouldn't you do that inside the courtroom? Did the judge receive anything improper from Leon Black? And we're talking about Judge Rakoff here. So what did he receive from Leon Black if anything? And why is Leon Black reaching out to him behind the scenes? Sounds a whole lot like what Jeffrey Epstein was doing with the npa. This article was authored by Johanna Berkman and Johanna, great job. This is a very, very good article. Very well put together and exactly on point. Lawyers for Leon Black, the billionaire investor who has been accused in a civil lawsuit of raping a teenage girl inside Epstein's New York townhouse in 2002, reached out to a powerful federal judge in 2024 to raise doubts about the alleged victim's claims, a Guardian investigation has found. The move set off a months long court proceeding which was conducted outside public view and led to U. S District Judge Jed Rakoff to reverse a two and a half million dollar award that had been granted to the alleged victim in a separate Epstein related class action lawsuit. According to court records, she was later given a much smaller settlement in the class action case. Absolutely disgusting. I mean for real, Judge Rakoff, really, that's what you're doing? You're going back and you're reversing a decision because Leon Black and his people reached out to you. Cowardice, that's what it is. Straight up cowardice. Jane Doe, as she's known in Court filings has claimed she was trafficked by Epstein and raped by Black when she was a teenager more than two decades ago. The Guardian's investigation is revealing new details about the private communication and Black's legal campaign which undermined Doe and her civil lawsuit against Black. Wall street billionaire. And can you imagine being this dough going up against somebody like Leon Black and then having the federal system come down on you on behalf of Leon Black? It is unconscionable, absolutely unconscionable. In a recent court order, Doe faced a significant setback when Jessica Clark, the federal judge presiding over her civil lawsuit against Black, sanctioned Doe and her former lawyer for serious sanctionable misconduct in the case. They said that the former lawyer had repeatedly lied to the court and opposing counsel and directed her client to destroy a social media account though was sanctioned for having falsified some sonogram images that appeared in personal journals which were submitted to the court as evidence in her abuse by Epstein. However, it was not a complete victory for Black as the judge also ruled that the high stakes lawsuit could proceed. But make no mistake, this is a serious setback for Jane Doe. The fact that she was sanctioned, the fact that her lawyer was sanctioned, that's going to come up in any criminal or civil case, right? And you know that Leon Black's team, they're going to look to utilize that. Black, the 74 year old former Apollo Global Management CEO paid Epstein 170 million according to an investigation by the senate finance committee, which he says was for tax and estate planning. Can you imagine paying someone 170 million American dollars for tax and estate planning? Black has denied allegations that he raped or ever met though who is now 40 years old. He's never been charged with any crimes in connection to Epstein or otherwise. I'm sure him paying $62 million to the u. S. Virgin Islands to get his name out of the fire played a part in that though, right? The Epstein scandal has prompted questions about why the accused sex traffickers elite circle of friends and associates has not faced greater scrutiny. That may change. Black is due to testify before the House oversight committee on June 26, according to a person familiar with the matter. As part of the committee's investigation into, among other things, Epstein sex trafficking rings. He's also facing questions from the Democratic senator Ron Wyden, who claimed in a recent letter to Black that the Epstein files released by the department of justice remove any lingering doubt as to whether Black was connected to women in Epstein's network and alleged that powerful associates in the U. S. And abroad will were surveilling and paying off women on Black's behalf. We've seen the emails and we know that they reached out to Russian Special Services to do that. But I guess that's no big deal, right? I guess it's the girl who was abused, allegedly by Leon Black, who should be sanctioned. Black's attorney, Susan Estrich, called Wyden's assertions outrageous and false in an emailed statement and characterized the Senator's comments as as a politically motivated attack. What now? Politically motivated? That's taking it a bit far. Maybe, just maybe, Leon Black is a dirtbag. How about that? Susan Estrich. The Guardian's investigation, based on access to extensive court records, many of which are still under seal but are due to be unsealed, soon reveals how Black and his legal team's private pleas to a federal judge led to a legal battle involving extensive written submissions and multiple hearings in a case in which he was not a party. Well, of course, gotta have that extra pull behind the scenes because I'm Leon Black, Mr. Big Shot. It included an extraordinary personal appeal from Black to Judge Rakoff, a well known and respected jurist based in the Southern District of New York. The written message, which was obtained by the Guardian, portrayed Black as a victim, invoking the death of Black's father, disputing Doe's credibility and citing the damage the allegations have done to Black's reputation. It was submitted by the billionaire's lawyers days before rakoff denied the $2.5 million reward that DOE was due to receive in the Epstein related class action lawsuit. Was Judge Rakoff paid off? Look, I know that's a big question, right? And I don't have any evidence to back that up, but something here is amiss. Why would Judge Rakoff do what Leon Black asked him to do? I mean, I guess Judge Rakoff could think it's the right thing to do, but that would really call his judgment into question, in my opinion. In another twist, Black's legal effort was bolstered by a high profile lawyer who was publicly heralded as as an advocate for Epstein's victims. All these communications occurred outside of public view. And remember when I told you that all the lawyers involved, even the ones that are representing the survivors, shouldn't be trusted? This is what I mean. The vast majority of these lawyers are just looking to collect a bag. And they know that this is a big case and they know they can make a lot of money if they get a settlement. So a lot of these people don't even care about the Survivors. In an exclusive statement to the Guardian in which Doe described her feelings about what had transpired, she said, we're often taught that the justice system is here to protect victims and correct wrongs. My experience has shown me that it's far more complicated than that. Justice is not always blind. It's often shaped by power, access, and who is able to withstand the process. I'm still here. I am not done. In July of 2023, Jane Doe alleged in a legal complaint filed against Leon Black in the Southern District of New York that Jeffrey Epstein introduced her to Black at Epstein's townhouse in the late spring of 2002. She was 16 years old. Black, who was worth an estimated 14 billion, was the chair and chief executive officer of Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm he co founded and led until he stepped down in March of 2021. In the wake of the revelations, he paid tens of millions of dollars to Epstein. Black has said the payments were for legitimate financial advice and that he was completely unaware of misconduct by Epstein, who in emails released earlier this year by the Department of Justice, sometimes referred to black as Mr. Big. Well, that's funny, because I think that leon Black is Mr. Big, but Mr. Big. Dickhead. Apollo announced in January of 2021 that an internal review by the Deckard LLP law firm, which Apollo's board commissioned to investigate Black's previous professional relationship with Epstein, found Black's payments to Epstein were for Bonafide Financial services. Oh, God. Okay, sure. We believe that the whole investigation should be over. Everything was just a big mistake. Sorry, Mr. Leon Black. The report found that there was no evidence that Black was involved in Epstein's criminal activities. And that review has since faced scrutiny, however, including by Senator Wyden, whose claim to staff uncovered evidence that money paid by Black to Epstein was used to finance Epstein's sex trafficking operation. Black's lawyer called Wyden's attacks on the Deckard report completely baseless. Nope, not baseless. Sorry. That report is garbage. And the whole entire idea behind that report was to whitewash what was going on with Leon Black. That's all that report was. And it did a pretty good job, right? They're still talking about it like that report means something, like that report is important when it's not. What's really important is what Leon Black was up to. What's really important is that he lied about Jeffrey Epstein and he lied about that relationship for years. That's what's important. So considering all of that, why exactly should I be giving Leon Black the benefit of the doubt in her legal complaint though, alleged that Epstein told her that Black was his special friend and that because she was Epstein's special girl, he had chosen to give her to Black the same kind of massage treatment that she gave to him. Though understood, according to her legal complaint, this meant that she was expected to strip naked and have sex. But when Doe and Black went up to a third floor massage room, she alleged in the complaint that Black threw her down on the massage table and then abused her vaginally and anally with sex toys. He then bit her vagina, she alleged, causing bleeding and extreme pain. Reflectively, the complaint says Doe kicked him and in response, the complaint alleges he became enraged, then raped her. Doe alleged in her complaint that the internal abrasion she suffered from the alleged attack that day continued to cause her pain more than 20 years later. The complaint described Doe as having autism. While she has an above average iq, the complaint alleges her neurodivergence makes her extremely trusting. That is just beyond the pale. Imagine going after a young girl who has autism. What kind of monster does something like that? Oh, that's right. Well, that's in Jeffrey Epstein's orbit, that's who. In a subsequent amended complaint for filed by Doe's then lawyer Jean Christensen, claims about the alleged assault by Black remained substantially the same. Some key details about how Doe said she met Maxwell and was trafficked by both Maxwell and Epstein changed significantly. According to a later court order. The Guardian has not independently verified any of those claims. Well, that's hard to do. So it comes down to who do you trust? Black's attorneys have said those allegations are entirely fabricated. Black's lawyers have also previously called for Wigdor, the law firm that represented Doe until last year, to be legally sanctioned for relying on false allegations and made up stories in other cases. When Doe filed the suit against Black, Wigdor had already filed two other lawsuits against Black on behalf of women who also alleged he raped them. One of those lawsuits, by Guzel Ganieva, a Russian model and former mistress who claimed that she was dismissed because she had previously signed a non disclosure agreement for which he had been paid nine and a half million dollars by Black. The other lawsuit, filed by a woman named Sherry Pearson who alleged that Black had raped her at Epstein's townhouse, was discontinued with prejudice and without cost to any party. As against the other, Black has said he never met Pearson. Black's lawyers have said the allegations by both women have no merit. Even as she pursued a civil lawsuit against Black, Doe was involved in another legal case in the Southern District of New York, this one connected to the crimes of Epstein that he was accused of before his 2019 suicide. In 2022, a class of Epstein victims sued JPMorgan Chase alleging that the bank had violated anti trafficking laws because of its participation and intentional involvement in Epstein sex trafficking operation. The victims were represented by Bradley Edwards, the Florida plaintiff's lawyer who has represented hundreds of Epstein victims and is famous for helping to expose the 2008 Sweetheart non prosecution agreement that shielded Epstein for years. Doesn't make him infallible and it certainly doesn't put him above criticism or reproach. Right. The JP Morgan class action lawsuit which was overseen by Judge rakoff, settled for $290 million in June of 2023 without an admission of liability. Though J.P. morgan said it regretted its association with Epstein, it included a fund for Epstein abuse survivors to compensate them for physical and and emotional injuries. A claims administrator was appointed to oversee the fund. Edwards firm Edwards Henderson, together with co counsel Boy schiller were paid $87 million for their work representing Epstein victims in the JP Morgan class action lawsuit. 83. 87. Excuse me, not 83. $87 million. That is quite the bag to collect. Quite the bag. In late October 2023, William Doe was interviewed by the claims administrator in the J.P. morgan case. She later found out that she was being allocated two and a half million dollars. It was a moment of elation for Doe, her adoptive mother told the guardian because it was the first time she felt that her trauma was being recognized. Alright folks, we're gonna wrap up right here and in the next episode we're gonna pick up where we left off. All the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.