Billionaire Leon Black is still saying that his accusers are just trying to set him up. The former head of Apollo Global Management filed yet another lawsuit against a Russian model who accused him of rape, saying she could be a Russian spy or something like that, reported the Daily Beast.
Leon Black was forced out of his firm over allegations that he was involved in the whole Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Black had paid more than $50 million in various fees to Jeffrey Epstein over the years, even after Epstein was first arrested, and these “fees” were deemed questionable by some. Leon Black, however, has continually denied that he made any sort of “hush” payments to Epstein or payments for anything illicit.
Leon Black is being sued by one Güzel Ganieva who accused Black of coercing her into silence after committing acts of sexual violence against her as well as defamation. Now Black is saying that not only are the claims false but that Ganieva was a former lover of Harris’ and that she was used as part of a campaign that forced Black out as head of Apollo Global Management. Black has described his ouster as a coup that resulted from a malicious defamation campaign.
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Leon Black’s new lawsuit, filed in court on Monday, claims that Guzel Ganieva “made false allegations” claiming Black assaulted and abused her. Black also said that Guzel was paid millions of dollars in a confidentiality agreement not to say anything about their relationship and that making these allegations violated the agreement.
Leon Black also goes after his accuser’s lawyers in the new lawsuit saying the firm “used its public relations acumen and contacts to ensure that her volatile and malicious disclosure of information she and Black contracted to keep confidential was broadly disseminated.”
The suit asserts that Leon Black paid her $9 million over the years and “In exchange, Ganieva agreed to (1) fully release any purported claims she had or might in the future have against Black and (2) keep her relationship with him strictly confidential.”
In a previous counter-suit of his own, Leon Black declared, “Knowing that to him, and in his world, reputation matters, they set about to destroy him and make him pay anything to make them stop are planning to line their own pockets with the results.”