On Sept. 16, the House Oversight and Governing Reform Committeeapproveda resolution to hold former Dartmouth trustee Leon Black ’73 in contempt of Congress. The charge came after Black defied the committee's subpoenas related to their investigation into convicted sex offender and Black’s longtime acquaintance, Jeffrey Epstein. On June 26, the committeeissuedtwo subpoenas to Black after he refused to answer “specific questions” about nondisclosure agreements that he was involved in during a voluntary closed-door testimony committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., told news outlets after the June 26 meeting.
Black’s subpoenas and testimony were part of the committee’s ongoing investigation into Epstein and his associates. Between November 2025 and January 2026, the Department of Justice released over 3 million documents relating to Epstein and his dealings in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Black’s name appears thousands of times in the files, which includes correspondence between Epstein and Black from 2012 and 2017, during which time BlackpaidEpstein $170 million for “tax and estate-planning services.”
One of the subpoenas Black did not fulfill ordered him to provide the committee with any nondisclosure agreements he was involved in and any agreements tied to Epstein or Epstein’s associate and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. The other required Black to return and testify under oath in front of the committee on July 16 for a sworn deposition, which was later pushed to Sept. 3.
On Sept. 3, Blackfileda lawsuit against the committee and Comer,claimingthat “there is no justification here for such a sweeping and intrusive subpoena served upon a private citizen.”
Black’s attorneys Susan Estrich and Aaron Cutler wrote that holding Black in contempt was “outrageous” and “ignores the facts and the truth about Mr. Black.” They asserted that Black has cooperated with the committee by “voluntarily appearing to answer questions in a transcribed interview.”
“Despite being misled about the intent of that interview, he then fully complied with the Committee’s subpoena related to Epstein,” they wrote. “Mr. Black provided the Committee with the only confidentiality agreement that Jeffrey Epstein knew about … We also told them that Ghislaine Maxwell had absolutely nothing to do with any of the agreements.”
In a Sept. 15addressat the committee meeting where the resolution was passed, Comer said that Black is “hiding behind litigation to delay having to provide answers to the American people.”
“A little over two months ago, Mr. Black appeared before the Committee for a transcribed interview,” Comer wrote. “But only an hour into the interview, he began refusing to answer questions, so we issued two subpoenas to him. Mr. Black did not appear for his scheduled deposition on Sept. 3, 2026, and only produced one NDA to the Committee, despite his counsel indicating there were many more.”
Comer wrote that the committee’s subpoenas were “not suggestions.”
Black’s attorneys wrote that the committee’s questions and subpoenas were “looking for information that does not exist.”
“They are looking to ask questions about every NDA Mr. Black ever signed, including with business partners over his 50-year career and also with individuals who he never met,” his attorneys wrote. “They even asked him to give the names of individuals in his social circle who have NDAs.”
Black served as a Trustee between 2002 and 2011. In 2012, the Black Family Foundationdonated$48 million to fund the Black Family Visual Arts Center’s construction at Dartmouth.
Black has alsofacedmultiplelawsuitsaccusing him of sexual harassment, abuse or rape. He has denied all allegations of wrongdoing, and the three lawsuits have since been dismissed.
In 2021, Blackstepped downas chief executive officer and chairman of private equity firm Apollo Global Management — which he co-founded in 1990 — amidst public scrutiny and an internal investigation into his relationship to Epstein. The investigation, conducted by Dechert LLP,foundthat Black had a “social relationship” with Epstein from the mid-1990s to 2018, and the “professional services” between them occurred from 2012 to 2017.
In November 2025, a College spokespersontoldThe Dartmouth that the College has “no current financial relationship” with Black. They declined to comment on Black’s June testimony and his being found in contempt.
