Billionaire ‘ogre’ Leon Black accused of raping autistic teen after ‘hand off’ from Jeffrey Epstein: suit
Billionaire investor Leon Black was accused Tuesday of raping an autistic teenager inside Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion two decades ago after the pedophile financier facilitated a “hand off,” new court documents show.
In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, the alleged victim — identified under the pseudonym “Jane Doe” — said she was only 16 when Black pinned her down inside Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse in 2002 and abused her with sex toys, causing her to bleed.
“Even as Black grabbed her hand so hard that she thought he broke bones, Jeffrey Epstein knew Jane Doe would never disobey,” the lawsuit states.
“Developmentally she is about 12, and when she was threatened to do as told because ‘bad girls’ get in ‘trouble,’ she did as she was told.”
The woman claims she was trafficked by Epstein and his longtime gal pal Ghislaine Maxwell for about a year before the alleged encounter with Black, whose lawyers deny the charges and insist he has never even met the woman concerned.
She suffers from Mosaic Down Syndrome, a rare condition that affects her neurological capabilities, making her a “perfect target” for the depraved duo, the complaint alleges.
Doe says she met the debauched couple after her abusive cheerleading coach took her an “adult party” in a Washington DC suburb, where Maxwell fawned over her “beautiful bright blue eyes, blonde hair and perfect hair” that made her look like a living “doll,” the filing states.
She was then routinely shipped out to Epstein’s notorious Caribbean island, his Palm Beach home and occasionally to New York, where she was forced to sexually “massage” the creep, and later, his friends, according to the suit.
“In 2002, at his Manhattan townhouse, 9 East 71st, Jeffrey Epstein executed a ‘hand off’ to his close friend Leon Black,” the filing alleges.
“But what passed directly to Black’s hands from the hands of Jeffrey Epstein was a human being – not a ball.”
The woman alleges Epstein told her that Black was “important” and a “special friend” to him — though the she recalls thinking that the former Apollo CEO looked like an “ogre,” according to the lawsuit.
She claims she was ordered to strip naked and give Black the same massages she gave Epstein.
But Black instead allegedly violently picked her up and threw her down on the massage table, the suit states.
“She tried to scream but Black placed his hand over her mouth and leaned over her while ripping off her shirt and under her skirt pulling her underwear off,” the filing reads.
“Plaintiff was crying and terrified. Black asked her repeatedly what made her ‘Jeffrey’s special girl’ and throughout the assault called her demeaning, shameful, disgusting names.”
When the girl tried to fight back, Black allegedly threw her onto the floor and slammed her against the walls, the suit claims.
Epstein found her crying on the floor, but refused to take her to the doctor, instead claiming Maxwell would “take care of her” — only to then put her on a plane home, the filing states.
The alleged harrowing attack caused her to bleed and was so forceful she thought her pelvis had broken, according to the suit.
Doe claims she continued to physically and emotionally suffer from the alleged attack.
“Sadly, Ms. Doe’s experience is one more in a long line of despicable and heinous experiences inflicted on a minor trapped in Jeffrey Epstein’s web – a web that extended to a group of powerful and influential men, including Leon Black,” the filing states.
Black’s lawyer, Susan Estrich, rejected Doe’s claims, calling the lawsuit frivolous.
“He never met this woman,” Estrich said in an interview. “He doesn’t know her at all. We’re confident the lawsuit is totally uncorroborated by any evidence. It has nothing to do with Leon Black.
In a statement she added: “These allegations—about an incident that supposedly took place 20 years ago—are totally made up and are entirely uncorroborated. This sham proceeding will be promptly dismissed and will provide further ammunition for Mr. Black’s pending sanctions motion against the Wigdor firm,” refencing the law company who are representing the woman.
The suit was filed the same day the Senate’s Finance Committee said it was examining Black’s treatment of several trusts, and whether $158 million he paid Epstein for tax and estate planning was properly deemed income or gifts for tax purposes.
Black has also denied several other sexual assault allegations lodged against him, including one by former Russian model Guzel Ganieva, and one from Cheri Pierson, who also claimed Black raped her in Epstein’s home two decades ago. Judges dismissed both lawsuits.
Black — who has a net worth of $10.1 billion, according to Forbes — left the private equity firm he founded shortly after a 2021 New York Times story exposed his ties to Epstein.
With Post wires
