CNN has reported that investment billionaire Leon Black was just named in a lawsuit filed by the victim of an alleged sexual assault. The story gets even more sordid, because the rape is said to have taken place in the Manhattan townhouse of the infamous financier and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Cheri Pierson is filing suit against both Black and the Epstein estate in connection with the alleged assault, which she says took place in the spring of 2002 (the suit was filed under New York's new Adult Survivor's Act, which temporarily lifts the statute of limitations on such cases).
Leon Black and Debra Black (Photo by Andrew Toth/Getty Images for The Museum of Modern Art)
Pierson alleges she was connected with Black via Epstein, who arranged for her to give Black a massage in exchange for money she says she "desperately needed" in order to care for her daughter. Instead, she says she faced a "brutal attack" from Black and afterwards was "swollen, torn, and bleeding." The lawsuit goes into even more detail about the effects suffered by Pierson:
"By the time Ms. Pierson exited the massage suite and rode down the elevator with Black, she could barely walk out of the house onto the sidewalk, as she was in excruciating pain and still in shock."
Bill Tompkins/Getty Images
For Black's part, he has denied the allegations, and a press statement released by his attorney Susan Estrich of the law firm Estrich Goldin called the allegations "categorically false and part of a scheme to extort money from Mr. Black by threatening to destroy his reputation."
The lawsuit is not the first blowback Black has suffered due to his alleged Epstein ties. In early 2021 he resigned from his position as CEO of Apollo Global Management due to his association with Epstein. It's also not the only lawsuit he's facing for alleged sexual misconduct, as he's also being sued by Guzel Ganieva, a Russian model who claims he "he sexually abused her and then falsely accused her of extortion when she spoke out," per the CNN report, allegations that Black also denies.
