'Outrageous!' Lawyers fumed in emails after Epstein associate avoided charges
Lawyers representing victims of one of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's associates were outraged after he was able to avoid charges in 2023, newly released emails show.
Jeanne M. Christensen, a partner at New York-based law firm Wigdor LLP, wrote in an email to an individual whose name was redacted that "it's outrageous" that Epstein associate Leon Black was able to avoid criminal charges for allegedly abusing young girls after he paid $62.5 million to settle claims against him in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2023.
Christensen, who represented multiple women who accused Black of abuse, said in the email that she hoped the email recipient's office would "take a hard look at" Black's case after the settlement was reported.
"In case you have not heard (sic) it has been discovered that Leon Black paid [$]62.5 million to USVI - and this does not include payments of money to individual women - it's outrageous that criminal charges have not been brought against him," the email reads in part. "I've heard one lawyer represents ten women that he sexually assaulted."
Black, the billionaire former CEO of Apollo Global Management, paid Epstein more than $158 million for alleged "tax services" before allegedly severing ties with the convicted sex criminal in 2018.
The New York Times reported at the time that the settlement cannot be used as "evidence of wrongdoing” against Black.
“There is no suggestion in the USVI settlement that Mr. Black was aware of or participated in any misconduct,” a spokesperson for Black told the paper.
Black stepped down from Apollo in 2021 after his ties with Epstein were revealed. Black has sued the Wigdor law firm three times over allegations that he abused young girls, none of which were successful.