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The 41-0 vote on the contempt resolution came nearly two weeks after Black refused to give further testimony to the committee and to comply with a subpoena seeking multiple nondisclosure agreements that the billionaire was a party to.
Black sued the committee on Sept. 3 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., seeking to block enforcement of the subpoenas.
“Subpoenas are not suggestions; they carry the force of law and require full compliance,” Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said at a meeting of the committee.
“We have no choice but to hold him in contempt,” Comer said.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the ranking Democrat on the panel, said, “We should not allow Leon Black to defy congressional subpoenas.”
“Our investigation is about fighting for the survivors of Epstein’s abuse, and we’re going to develop reforms and legal changes to ensure the system that allowed Jeffrey Epstein and his billionaire friends to continue their activities for years comes to an end,” Garcia said.
“Unfortunately, billionaires like Leon Black believe that they are above the law,” Garcia said.
Black’s lawyers, Susan Estrich and Aaron Cutler, earlier Tuesday blasted the committee for its expected vote, and asked the panel to postpone taking that step.
“This Committee mark-up and contempt resolution is a complete abomination,” the lawyers said in a statement. “The Committee under the leadership of Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Robert Garcia has lost sight of its legislative purpose and is abusing its power.”
“This is retaliation — plain and simple,” Black’s attorneys said. “We have the constitutional right to sue Chairman Comer and the Committee because the subpoenas issued were illegitimate, illegal and a textbook abuse of power designed to bully and destroy legal protections of private citizens.”
The complaint alleges that before Black’s scheduled Sept. 3 deposition by the committee, “Chairman Comer engaged in what should be viewed as a violation of the Rules of the House of Representatives relating to the deposition, especially on the basis of the business meeting scheduled for September 15, 2026,” the letter says.
The letter did not detail Comer’s alleged conduct.
But it said that, “If substantiated, the claims alleged within the OCC Complaint would fundamentally call into question the validity of the Committee’s contempt proceedings against Mr. Black.”
“The claims also raise substantial concerns regarding whether Committee Members have been provided all information necessary to evaluate the Contempt Resolution,” the letter said.
Black stepped down as Apollo CEO in March 2021, two months after the firm revealed he paid Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning advice from 2012 through 2017 despite knowing that Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl in Florida.
Epstein, 66, killed himself in a federal jail in New York City in August 2019, weeks after being arrested on child sex trafficking charges.
Black has not been charged with wrongdoing in connection with his dealings with Epstein.
In a separate letter to Garcia on Tuesday, Black’s lawyers said the congressman in a Sept. 11 press release had made false claims that the billionaire “has been credibly accused of sexual assault by multiple women.”
“Before addressing the falsity of this statement — and it is indeed false — you should understand that the Committee’s actions have created a serious risk to Mr. Black’s personal safety,” the attorneys wrote. “By repeatedly and publicly associating Mr. Black with Epstein’s crimes, the Committee has exposed Mr. Black to a foreseeable risk of harassment and violence. Mr. Black has received escalating death threats and has been compelled to employ security measures while traveling as a result of the Committee’s public attacks.”
Black’s lawyers said that those harms are “a result of the Committee’s efforts to portray Mr. Black as connected to criminal conduct involving Epstein, despite Mr. Black’s consistent denial that he participated in or had any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.”
Comer, in a statement on Sept. 11 announcing the planned markup of a resolution recommending a contempt action against Black, said, “It doesn’t matter how wealthy, powerful, or connected you are, no one gets to pick and choose which lawful congressional subpoenas they will obey.”
“Rather than provide the American people with answers about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Leon Black has chosen to hide behind litigation by suing me and the Committee in an attempt to obstruct our investigation,” Comer said.
“The Committee provided Mr. Black multiple opportunities to cooperate, yet he has refused to appear for a deposition and failed to produce subpoenaed documents relevant to our investigation.”
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