Epstein-linked billionaire accused of rape privately reached out to federal judge to defend his 'good name'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Wed 6 May 2026 13.50 EDT


Lawyers for Leon Black, the billionaire investor who has been accused in a civil lawsuit of raping a teenage girl inside Jeffrey Epstein’s New York townhouse in 2002, reached out to a powerful federal judge in 2024 to raise doubts about the alleged victim’s claims, a Guardian investigation found.

The move set off a months-long court proceeding, which was conducted outside of public view and led US district judge Jed Rakoff to reverse a $2.5m award that had been granted to the alleged victim in a separate Epstein-related class action lawsuit, according to court records. She was later given a much smaller settlement in the class action case.

Jane Doe, as she is known in court filings, has claimed she was trafficked by Epstein and raped by Black when she was a teenager more than two decades ago. The Guardian’s investigation is revealing new details about the private communications in Black’s legal campaign, which undermined Doe in her civil lawsuit against the Wall Street billionaire.

In a recent court order, Doe faced a significant setback when Jessica Clarke – the federal judge presiding over her civil lawsuit against Black – sanctioned Doe and her former lawyer for “serious, sanctionable misconduct in this case”. Judge Clarke said Doe’s former lawyer had “repeatedly lied to the court and opposing counsel”, and directed her client to destroy a social media account. Doe was sanctioned for having “falsified” some sonogram images that appeared in personal journals, which were submitted to the court as evidence of her abuse by Epstein. However it was not a complete victory for Black, as the judge also ruled that the high-stakes lawsuit could proceed.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/may/06/jeffrey-epstein-leon-black

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Oh, *that* Epstein-linked billionaire accused of rape

I thought it meant the President of the United States: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143661337

[usonian]

2. Black and the judge must have discussed the writings of Benjamin Franklin. A LOT.

[AZJonnie]

3. Then the judge needs to be sanctioned for having private conversations with lawyers for Black

If Black's lawyers want to make the case that Jane Doe made up her account and he did not do what she alleges, this should all be argued IN COURT, ON THE RECORD, not done via shady backroom negotiations with the judge. IOW, it was mostly the judges responsibility to say "GTFO with this, argue it on the record, don't call me and ask!"

I suspect, however, that this sort of problem is EXTREMELY endemic to our legal system when it comes to the way that rich assholes are treated, esp. in civil cases

[hamsterjill]

4. +1000

Exactly. Every word you wrote. Exactly.

[progressoid]

5. We need a lot more guillotines.

[UpInArms]

6. Leon Black is a utter pig

a disgusting lying rapist.

It is times like these that I wish there truly was a hell for him to descend to.

“Not since my father’s death 49 years ago have I felt such pain and seen such hurt inflicted on those I love … I cannot settle with Jane Doe and the Wigdor firm, not only because of the damage their lies have caused, but more importantly, because I don’t know how I could look my children and grandchildren in the eyes and teach them the importance of Shem Tov.”

Invoking his father’s death in a letter to Rakoff was a striking choice. Black’s father, Eli Black, had been a socially prominent New Yorker and the CEO of a global company, the Chiquita banana importer United Brands. But on 3 February 1975, Eli Black killed himself by jumping out of the window of his 44th-floor office in the Pan Am Building on Park Avenue. After his death, it was revealed that he had authorized a $2.5m bribe to the president of Honduras in a bid to get lower export taxes on bananas. When United Brands was ultimately charged with criminal conspiracy on account of the scheme, Eli Black was, according to the New York Times, posthumously named as a co‐conspirator.

His father was a piece of shit, also.

To the day, I have never purchased a Chiquita banana ... I remember their nefarious ways