House subpoenas Leon Black

What's happened

The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed former Apollo CEO Leon Black to produce nondisclosure agreements and to return for a sworn deposition on July 16 after he declined to answer questions about NDAs during a closed-door interview. Committee chair James Comer says the NDAs may connect Black to Jeffrey Epstein; Black denies wrongdoing.

What's behind the headline?

What just happened

The Oversight Committee has escalated its inquiry into Leon Black by issuing two subpoenas: one demanding any nondisclosure agreements related to women and any ties those NDAs have to Jeffrey Epstein; the other compelling Black to return on July 16 for a sworn deposition. Black voluntarily attended a closed-door interview but refused to answer questions about NDAs; the committee responded by forcing production and testimony under oath.

Why the committee is pushing hard

• The committee is probing whether NDAs have concealed payments or arrangements that relate to Epstein's network and alleged wrongdoing.
• NDAs, if tied to Epstein, will legally and factually connect private settlement practices to broader questions about how wealthy figures shielded relationships and conduct.
• A sworn deposition will remove the voluntary-interview protections that let Black decline to answer; the committee is eliminating his ability to block answers on privacy grounds.

Who benefits and what will change

• The committee will gain access to documents and sworn testimony that will produce evidentiary leads it cannot get from voluntary interviews.
• Republicans on the committee are driving the subpoena to expand the probe; Democrats have publicly supported the requests, making this a bipartisan push for documents.
• For Black, the subpoenas will increase legal and reputational pressure and will likely force fuller disclosure about his ties to Epstein and about any NDAs he used.

What happens next

• Black will be required to produce NDAs and to appear for the July 16 deposition. The committee will use the deposition to press for specifics the witness declined to provide today.
• The committee will likely review the produced NDAs for references to Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell or payments to women who have alleged misconduct by Epstein associates.
• If documents show undisclosed connections, the probe will widen and could prompt referrals to other investigative bodies.

Big-picture forecast

This will push the Oversight Committee from document-gathering into direct, sworn fact-finding. The shift from voluntary interviews to subpoenas will accelerate the inquiry, force more witnesses to testify under oath, and increase the chance that the committee will uncover previously hidden settlement terms linking Epstein’s circle to payments or restrictions on accusers.

How we got here

Members of the committee have been interviewing figures tied to Jeffrey Epstein to probe how the Justice Department handled related investigations and whether confidential settlements concealed misconduct. Black has faced scrutiny over payments to Epstein, which a 2021 review said were for tax and estate work.

Our analysis

Business Insider reported that Rep. James Comer said the committee issued two subpoenas after Black declined to discuss NDAs; Comer told reporters: "Was Jeffrey Epstein involved in the NDAs? Was he involved in writing? Was he involved in awarding funds to the women in the NDAs?" (Jacob Shamsian, Business Insider UK). Bloomberg noted the two subpoenas — for a July 16 deposition and for NDAs related to women — and tied the documents to alleged ties to Epstein (Bloomberg). The New York Times Business said the subpoenas followed Black's refusal to discuss NDA details during a closed-door interview and described the move as an unusual escalation, noting the committee handed the documents to Black while he was testifying and that he left shortly after (New York Times Business). The Guardian and AP described Comer calling the deposition potentially "groundbreaking" and quoted committee Democrats backing the subpoenas; The Guardian reported Black's lawyers called the subpoenas "a planned political stunt" and quoted Susan Estrich saying, "Mr. Epstein had no involvement with any NDA's, whether they exist or not." CNBC and Independent provided context on Black's prior statements and the Dechert report finding that Black paid Epstein large sums for tax and estate advice; CNBC quoted Black saying, "I have never abused a woman... I was never blackmailed by Epstein." Across sources, reporting converges on the subpoenas, the July 16 deposition date, Black's refusal to answer questions about NDAs, and his denials of misconduct.

Go deeper

• What will a sworn deposition add that a voluntary interview did not?
• How narrowly will the committee define the NDAs it is demanding?

More on these topics

• Jeffrey Epstein - American financier

  Jeffrey Edward Epstein was an American financier and convicted sex offender. He began his professional life as a teacher but then switched to the banking and finance sector in various roles, working at Bear Stearns before forming his own firm.

• Bill Gates - American business magnate

  William Henry Gates III is an American business magnate, software developer, investor, and philanthropist. He is best known as the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation.

• Leon Black - American billionaire businessman, MoMa Chairman, art collector (born 1951)

  Leon David Black (born July 31, 1951) is an American private equity investor. He is the former CEO of Apollo Global Management, which he co-founded in 1990 with Marc Rowan and Josh Harris. Black was the chairman of the Museum of Modern Art from 2018 to 2021. Black resigned from both Apollo Global Management and the Museum of Modern Art in the wake of revelations about his business ties to the New York financier, Jeffrey Epstein. Between 2012 and 2017, Black paid Epstein a total of $170 million for tax and financial services, reportedly saving him over $1 billion in taxes. After Black had a long-term affair with a Russian model, she threatened to make public allegations of sexual abuse unless he paid her $100 million. Epstein negotiated a 2015 NDA under which Black agreed to pay her $100,000 per month over 15 years, totalling $18 million. Black has said that he "deeply regrets" his relationship with Epstein. As of 2026, Black has a net worth of approximately $13.8 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, derived primarily from his retained stake in Apollo Global Management.

• Washington, D.C. - Capital of the United States of America

  Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington or D.C., is the capital of the United States.

• Apollo Global Management - Private equity company

  Apollo Global Management, Inc., is a global alternative investment manager firm. It was founded in 1990 by Leon Black, Josh Harris, and Marc Rowan. Apollo is headquartered in New York City, with additional offices across North America, Europe and Asia. Th

• Bill Clinton - 42nd U.S. President

  William Jefferson Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Prior to the presidency, he was the governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981, and again from 1983 to 1992, and the attorney general

• James Comer - United States Representative

  James Richardson Comer Jr. is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky who currently represents the state's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.

• Capitol Hill - Residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., United States

  Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues.

• Hillary Clinton - Former United States Secretary of State

  Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is an American politician, diplomat, lawyer, writer, and public speaker who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, as a United States Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009, and as First Lady o

• Microsoft - Technology company

  Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company with headquarters in Redmond, Washington. It develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services.

• Howard Lutnick - CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald

  Howard William Lutnick is an American billionaire businessman, who succeeded Bernard Gerald Cantor as the head of Cantor Fitzgerald. Lutnick is the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners.

• United States - Country in North America

  The United States of America, commonly known as the United States or America, is a country mostly located in central North America, between Canada and Mexico.

• Pam Bondi - Former Florida Attorney General

  Pamela Jo Bondi is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician. A Republican, she served as the 37th Florida Attorney General from 2011 to 2019.

• Melinda Gates - American philanthropist

  Melinda Ann Gates is an American philanthropist and a former general manager at Microsoft. In 2000, she co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with her husband Bill Gates, the world's largest private charitable organization as of 2015.

• Goldman Sachs - Investment banking company

  The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in New York City.

• Kathryn Ruemmler - White House Counsel

  Kathryn "Kathy" Ruemmler is an attorney who formerly served as Principal Deputy White House Counsel and then White House Counsel to President Barack Obama.

• New York - Wikimedia disambiguation page

  New York most commonly refers to: New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to:

• Ghislaine Maxwell - Socialite

  Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell is a British socialite, known for her association with financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

• Alan Dershowitz - American lawyer

  Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer and legal scholar known for his scholarship of U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law, and a noted advocate of civil liberties.