Leon Black is a billionaire investment adviser who had a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein that began in the 1990s. Yesterday a lawsuit was filed by a woman who claims she was raped by Black at Epstein’s New York home back in 2002 when she was only 16-years-old. The alleged victim is also autistic and has a form of Down syndrome.

According to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court in New York on Tuesday, Epstein and his longtime girlfriend and associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, trafficked the girl to Black in 2002. The lawsuit says the plaintiff, now in her 30s and identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe, is autistic…

The plaintiff is autistic, and was born with Mosaic Down syndrome — a condition that shares similarities with other forms of Down syndrome, including intellectual delays and disabilities, the lawsuit says. It describes her developmental age as about 12 years old…

In late spring or early summer 2002, the lawsuit says, the girl was told she was being “shipped off” to New York City to meet Epstein’s “special friend,” Leon Black. After she arrived at Epstein’s home, Black allegedly subjected her to anal and vaginal rape using adult sex toys, according to the complaint.

“The violent and sadistic nature of Black’s rape left an indelible mark on her, both physically and psychologically,” the lawsuit alleges.

Black’s attorney, Susan Estrich, has denied the allegations.

Susan Estrich, an attorney for Black, denied the allegations, accusing Wigdor LLP, the law firm behind the suit, of having a “vendetta” against Black related to multiple cases…

“These allegations — about an incident that supposedly took place 20 years ago — are totally made up, entirely uncorroborated and, as pleaded, squarely violate the statute of limitations.”

The newly filed case has some similarities to another lawsuit that was filed last year by a woman named Cheri Pierson. Pierson had agreed to give Epstein massages on several occasions but he became frustrated with her because she wasn’t interested in anything more than that. At one point she became desperate for money and contacted Epstein who sent her $300 and offered to introduce her to someone who could help her. That person was Leon Black. She claims she met Black at Epstein’s New York home in 2002.

Cheri Pierson claims the dead pedophile arranged for her and Black, 71, to meet at his Upper East Side mansion, where the legendary investor and former head of Apollo Global Management assaulted her, according to her Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.

“She recalls desperately yelling and screaming” and she “tried to kick” but “he was too strong,” the suit states, describing the alleged 2002 incident…

Black showed up in a business suit and seemed very familiar with Epstein’s home, taking Pierson up to the massage room and having $300 ready for her, the lawsuit alleges…

Pierson says she had horrible vaginal swelling, tearing and bleeding that she had to recover from over the next several weeks. She was in pain and had difficulty urinating because of it, the suit claims.

According to Pierson, this sort of arrangement was common for Epstein. His interest was primarily in young teenagers and once those girls became too old for him he would attempt to pass them on to his wealthy friends.

…when the women got older, “Epstein simply passed some of these women on to Black, and likely other men,” the filing states.

“Black, thereafter, became involved sexually with these women, at least several of whom had been with Epstein for years while underage.”

Again, Black’s attorney has denied the allegations. Pierson’s allegations first came to light as part of a lawsuit filed by Russian model Guzel Ganieva who claimed she was subjected to a “sexually violent” relationship with Black for several years. Black admitted to a consensual relationship with Ganieva but claimed the other allegations were an attempt to extort him. She responded by suing him for defamation.

The lawsuit isn’t the only reason Leon Black was in the news yesterday. He’s also being investigated by the Senate Finance Committee. Specifically, they are interested in a very large payment he made to Jeffrey Epstein.

The Senate Finance Committee is looking into whether billionaire investor Leon Black’s $158 million payment to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was part of a greater strategy to avoid paying over $1 billion in federal gift and estate taxes.

Black, the co-founder and former CEO of Apollo Global Management, paid Epstein in several installments between 2012 and 2017, according to findings from an ongoing investigation led by Senator Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who heads the Senate Finance Committee.

“At every stage of the committee’s investigation, Black has refused to answer questions or provide any documents that could demonstrate how Epstein’s compensation for tax and estate planning services was determined or justified,” Wyden said in the statement.

Black resigned from his role as CEO of Apollo Global Management months after a NY Times story about his connections to Jeffrey Epstein was published.

Mr. Black wired Mr. Epstein at least $50 million in the years after Mr. Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a teenage girl, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times and interviews with four people with knowledge of the transactions. The transfers included $10 million to a foundation started by Mr. Epstein and consulting fees that were sufficiently unusual to draw scrutiny from Deutsche Bank, where Mr. Epstein kept his accounts. Two of the people said the total amount sent by Mr. Black to Mr. Epstein could be as high as $75 million.

It was not clear what kind of services Mr. Epstein provided to Mr. Black, whose $9 billion fortune can buy him access to the best lawyers and accountants in the world. Mr. Epstein, though he styled himself as a “financial doctor” to wealthy clients, was a college dropout who had worked on Wall Street for just a few years, demonstrated no great skill as an investor and had no formal training in tax and estate planning.

Gee, I wonder what services Jeffrey Epstein could provide to Black that other lawyers and financial analysts could not? Last week, the Times reported that Black had reached a $62 million settlement with the government of the Virgin Islands in January of this year:

The billionaire investor Leon Black agreed to pay $62.5 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands in January to be released from any potential claims arising out of the territory’s three-year investigation into the sex trafficking operation of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, according to a copy of the settlement agreement…

The four-page settlement said nothing in it should be construed as an “admission of liability” by Mr. Black…

The settlement occurred after a scheduled two-day mediation attended by lawyers for Mr. Black and the Virgin Islands, as well as a plaintiffs’ lawyer who had represented many of Mr. Epstein’s victims, according to the document reviewed by The Times…

Some victims of Mr. Epstein who had received settlements directly from his estate were granted permission by the estate’s executors to pursue claims against a handful of men who had socialized with Mr. Epstein, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Mr. Black was one of those men, the person said.

The settlement with the Virgin Islands did not cover claims anyone else might have against Mr. Black. But the settlement itself could not be used as “evidence of wrongdoing by Black,” the document said.

It sounds like Black has worked out a very nice deal for himself where potential accusers get cash and he is never found guilty of anything.