Newly released transcripts reveal the panicked words billionaire Leon Black hurled at the House Oversight Committee before fleeing a transcribed interview on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein last month, ABC News reported Friday.
Black repeatedly invoked attorney-client privilege to dodge questions about nondisclosure agreements and forced committee members to issue subpoenas, ABC News confirmed Friday, then revealed his words.
“I’m not here to talk about confidential NDAs,” Black said. “I’m not here to talk about who has NDAs.”
The pair’s relationship began in the mid-1990s and proved lucrative for Epstein, who took in more than $170 million for purported “tax and estate planning advice,” according to ABC News’ review of Senate Finance Committee records.
During the interview, Black acknowledged discussing at least one NDA with Epstein, though he insisted the deceased sex offender played no advisory role in its creation, according to ABC News.
Black reportedly said he agreed to pay one woman more than $21 million over 15 years after she allegedly “blackmailed and extorted” him.
According to ABC News, Black said he made Epstein aware of the agreement and payments because Epstein helped manage his finances.
“He was not my NDA adviser,” Black said, according to the transcript. Black also denied being a close friend of Epstein’s, ABC News reported.
“Friendship is an amorphous term,” he reportedly said. “This is somebody who knew intimately the goings on in my family tax and estate planning entities. It’s also something where, as I mentioned, I’d go over and meet his friends. I know there are emails where he claims that we’re best friends. We were never best friends.”
Black’s attorney has confirmed he’ll appear for a Sept. 3 deposition and turn over NDAs sometime next week, a House Oversight Committee spokesperson told ABC News.
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