A former financier and associate of Jeffrey Epstein was sued Monday on allegations that he raped a woman in Epstein’s New York City mansion in spring 2002, according to court filings.
Attorneys for Cheri Pierson, who filed the suit Monday in New York state court in Manhattan, said the “brutal attack” by Leon Black took place in a suite of the luxury townhouse that contained a massage table and was connected to a bathroom, according to court filings.
Black, the co-founder of investment firm Apollo Global Management, stepped down as head of the firm after an independent review of his ties to Epstein in 2021. The review, carried out by a New York law firm, declared that Black was not involved in Epstein’s criminal activities.
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“Black had the opportunity and the means to rape Ms. Pierson that day because their meeting was pre-arranged by his close friend and confidant, Epstein,” the lawsuit alleges.
Black’s attorney, Susan Estrich of Estrich Goldin, told NBC News that “we intend to defeat these baseless claims, and to pursue all of our remedies to hold the [plaintiff’s firm] legally accountable for their abusive conduct and misuse of the courts.”
For more on this story, go to NBC News.
