House Holds Leon Black in Contempt Over Epstein Inquiry

The U.S. House of Representatives voted by unanimous consent on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, to hold billionaire financier Leon Black in contempt of Congress for defying two subpoenas tied to the chamber’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. It is the first time the House has held a witness in the Epstein inquiry in contempt, and it now sends the matter to the Department of Justice, which will decide whether to prosecute.

The bipartisan move followed Black’s refusal to appear for a sworn deposition and to hand over nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) sought by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The resolution passed without a formal roll call after no member objected.

How the Contempt Vote Unfolded

According to NPR, the Oversight Committee advanced the contempt report unanimously, 41-0, on Tuesday, September 15, before the full House approved it the next day. Black, the 75-year-old co-founder and former CEO of private equity giant Apollo Global Management, had defied two subpoenas: one demanding he produce all NDAs to which he is a party, and another requiring him to appear for a deposition initially set for July 16 and later rescheduled to September 3.

In a statement released after the vote, Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) framed the action as a matter of equal justice.

“No one is above the law. Leon Black defied two subpoenas, and the U.S. House of Representatives acted swiftly to find him in contempt of Congress,” Comer said, per the House Oversight Committee. “We will continue to seek transparency for the American people and justice for survivors in our investigation of the federal government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell criminal cases.”

Addressing the committee a day earlier, Comer had been blunter: “Mr. Black is hiding behind litigation to delay having to provide answers to the American people. No one is above the law.”

A Business Relationship That Outlasted a Conviction

Black’s name appears thousands of times in the Justice Department’s Epstein files. Appearing in those files is not necessarily an indication of criminal wrongdoing, and Black has denied any wrongdoing.

What is documented is a lucrative financial relationship. An Apollo review in 2021 determined that Black paid Epstein $158 million between 2012 and 2017 for tax and estate planning services. Other reporting cited by The Guardian puts the figure at roughly $170 million for 2013 to 2017. At his June interview, Black delivered a written statement saying he paid Epstein over $100 million and that the tax work saved him “billions of dollars.”

Crucially, those payments came after Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea in Florida state court to prostitution charges involving a minor under 18. Black stepped down as Apollo’s CEO in March 2021, after the payments became public, but remained chairman.

A Walkout and a Lawsuit

In June, Black appeared voluntarily for a closed-door transcribed interview. The session ended abruptly after lawmakers from both parties said he refused to answer questions about the NDAs. Comer then issued the two subpoenas.

Rather than comply, Black sued the committee and Comer, arguing the subpoenas were “invalid” and exceeded the committee’s “delegated authority in seeking private information that bears no legitimate connection” to its legislative purpose, per CNBC. That lawsuit remains pending in U.S. District Court in Washington.

Black gave the committee one NDA — which his lawyers said was the “only” one Epstein knew about — but withheld others. His attorneys argue the broader demand is an abuse of power that would expose women who value their privacy and have no known connection to Epstein.

In a joint statement, attorneys Susan Estrich and Aaron Cutler called the contempt holding “an outrageous action that ignores the facts and the truth about Mr. Black.”

“Mr. Black is a private citizen who has helped create hundreds of thousands of jobs, has given away more than $700 million in philanthropic and charitable contributions, and has supported research that has been at the vanguard of cancer treatment,” they said. “To think, he is being held in contempt over invalid subpoenas is ridiculous.”

They added that their client “never abused a woman,” “was never blackmailed by Epstein,” and “had no knowledge of any of Epstein’s heinous conduct.”

What Happens Next

The resolution now goes to the Department of Justice. Prosecuting a contempt referral is rare, and DOJ is not required to act. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia will review the referral.

A DOJ spokesperson said the department “takes allegations of contempt of Congress seriously” and that its office in Washington “will review the referral of Mr. Black carefully and will not hesitate to pursue additional cases where the evidence supports.”

Precedent cuts both ways. During the Biden administration, former Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro each served four months in prison after failing to cooperate with the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. But Congress held former Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt in 2024, and DOJ declined to act — illustrating that a referral guarantees nothing.

If prosecuted and convicted, contempt of Congress carries a sentence of not less than one month and not more than 12 months in prison.

The Survivors’ Dimension

The vote drew praise from survivors of Epstein’s abuse, who have pushed the committee to keep following investigative leads regardless of how powerful the names involved.

“By moving to hold Leon Black in contempt, Chairman Comer is sending a clear message that wealth and influence do not put anyone beyond the reach of congressional oversight,” the survivors said in a joint statement, per NPR.

Representative Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, called the action “an important step towards justice and accountability” but stressed the work is far from finished. “We are just getting started,” he said.

On the same day as the contempt vote, Comer introduced the Survivor’s Voice Protection Act, a bill that would allow survivors to share their sexual abuse stories even if they signed an NDA. The committee is now in its second year of investigation and has heard from 19 people, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Bill Gates, per the New York Post.

Survivors are also pressing the committee to hear from Alan Dershowitz, Epstein’s former attorney, and Attorney General Todd Blanche, who oversaw the release of the Epstein files.

Why It Matters

The contempt vote marks both a symbolic and a practical escalation. Symbolically, it is the first time the House has held a witness in the Epstein investigation in contempt — a rebuke aimed at a figure of considerable wealth and influence. Practically, it forces a decision by a Justice Department that has repeatedly said it will pursue every lead in the Epstein matter, but which has wide discretion over whether to charge.

For Black, the immediate battle may now shift to the courts, where his lawsuit challenging the subpoenas is still live. For the committee, the question is whether the referral yields testimony, documents, or prosecution — or merely another round of litigation. What is clear is that Congress has chosen to test, in public, how far its investigative power reaches when the witness refuses to cooperate.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is expected to certify the matter for referral. Whether DOJ acts — and how quickly — will determine whether the contempt vote is a turning point or another data point in a long-running inquiry.