© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Leon Black is pictured right here in Beverly Hills, California, U.S. Could 1, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
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By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Leon Black, the billionaire co-founder of personal fairness agency Apollo World Administration (NYSE:) Inc, was sued on Monday by a lady who stated he raped her 20 years in the past within the late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion.
Cheri Pierson stated she had been a cash-strapped single mom who had already given Epstein 5 massages for $300 every, when the financier organized within the spring of 2002 for her to therapeutic massage Black for $300.
She stated Black, who was eight inches taller and weighed greater than twice as a lot, with out her consent bodily overwhelmed her and prompted “excruciating ache” of their encounter on the third flooring of Epstein’s dwelling.
Susan Estrich, a lawyer for Black, known as Pierson’s lawsuit “categorically false and a part of a scheme to extort cash from Mr. Black by threatening to destroy his popularity…. We intend to defeat these baseless claims.”
Pierson’s lawsuit in a New York state court docket in Manhattan seeks unspecified damages from Black for sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional misery, and from Epstein’s property for negligence.
Her legislation agency Wigdor LLP additionally represents Guzel Ganieva, a former Russian mannequin who in June 2021 sued Black for defamation, saying he falsely claimed she tried to extort him after accusing him of rape.
In a Nov. 19 letter to the Wigdor agency, Estrich stated: “Mr. Black by no means sexually assaulted anybody wherever at any time.” She additionally stated Black could deliver defamation claims or search sanctions if Pierson sued.
Legal professionals for Epstein’s property didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Black is price $9 billion based on Forbes journal.
Pierson sued below New York’s Grownup Survivors Act, a brand new legislation giving sexual assault victims a one-year window to sue their alleged abusers, even when the misconduct occurred way back and statutes of limitations have expired.
Epstein killed himself in August 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell whereas awaiting trial on intercourse trafficking prices.
His former affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell is interesting her conviction and 20-year jail sentence for enabling Epstein’s abuse of underage women.
Pierson stated Epstein had launched her to Black, describing him as somebody who might “assist” her, implying monetary assist.
She stated that after the alleged rape, Black started calling her, saying he “wished to speak” and felt “dangerous.”
Pierson stated they met at a bar within the St. Regis (NYSE:) Lodge the place Black gave her $5,000, ostensibly to cut back her bank card debt.
She stated he known as later and stated “I wish to see you,” and he or she refused.
