Lucy Nicholson/File Picture by way of Reuters
Billionaire investor Leon Black can not pursue a racketeering go well with in opposition to a former enterprise companion, a company PR advisor, and an ex-lover who accused him of rape.
A federal appeals court docket on Thursday threw out Black’s 2022 grievance, with prejudice, noting that a district court docket choose final June “recognized 4 main flaws” within the case.
Black’s argument that mannequin Guzel Ganieva conspired together with his Apollo International Administration co-founder Josh Harris and Apollo PR rep Steven Rubenstein to destroy his private and professional fame was “nebulous and overtly conjectural,” U.S. District Decide Paul Engelmayer wrote in his determination final June.
Leon Black (proper) speaks on the the 2010 Milken Institute International Convention in Beverly Hills, California.
Fred Prouser/Reuters
Ganieva in 2021 accused Black of raping her, which the 71-year-old Black—who was intently linked to late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein—denied publicly, claiming it to be a grand extortion plot, which prompted a subsequent defamation lawsuit from Ganieva. The next 12 months, Black filed go well with in opposition to Ganieva, Harris, Rubenstein, and Wigdor LLP, the agency representing Ganieva, claiming they'd “orchestrated a conspiracy and enterprise” with the others to “take [him] down.”
He alleged the entire thing originated as “an tried coup” by Harris to turn into Apollo’s CEO, and that when it didn’t occur, he “weaponiz[ed] Ms. Ganieva to assassinate his character and extort much more from him.” (Black ultimately dropped his declare in opposition to Wigdor, which alleged the agency helped Ganieva disseminate false details about him.)
However Black’s claims “didn't come near knitting [the three] collectively in any stable or coherent approach… not to mention in a way qualifying as a RICO predicate,” Engelmayer wrote final 12 months.
He went on to dismantle Black’s arguments, one after the other, for 63 pages.
Josh Harris speaks on the 2017 Milken Institute International Convention.
Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
Engelmayer’s determination was affirmed on Thursday by the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the Second Circuit, with prejudice. That's, Black’s case is now completely dismissed.
Ganieva first accused Black of sexual assault in a collection of tweets posted in March 2021. Black left Apollo 5 days later, claiming his spouse and he had been coping with well being points. He later mentioned in media interviews that he “foolishly had a consensual affair” with Ganieva, describing her as an extortionist.
“The reality is that I've been extorted by Ms. Ganieva for a few years and I made substantial financial funds to her, based mostly on her threats to go public regarding our relationship, in an try to spare my household from public embarrassment,” Black mentioned in an announcement on the time.
Black has additionally been accused of sexual assault by one other lady, Cheri Pierson, who mentioned the personal fairness mogul raped her so brutally, she had problem urinating for weeks afterward. The alleged rape occurred at Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, in accordance with Pierson’s lawsuit, which was filed in November 2022.
Jeffrey Epstein’s former Higher East Aspect townhouse.
Carlo Allegri/Reuters
In an announcement issued Thursday, Ganieva’s lead lawyer, Wigdor LLP’s Jeanne Christensen, expressed satisfaction with the court docket’s upholding of Engelmayer’s determination.
“In June, Decide Engelmayer accurately dismissed the lawsuit, rendering Black’s claims ‘manifestly poor in basic respects,’” the assertion mentioned. “We consider Black’s claims in opposition to our legislation agency had been baseless and filed in retaliation as a result of we symbolize Guzel Ganieva in her first filed lawsuit in opposition to Black during which she alleges that Black sexually assaulted her for years and defamed her by falsely accusing her of extortion. Black’s try to silence Ms. Ganieva and Wigdor LLP for representing her have failed.”
In an emailed assertion to The Every day Beast, Black’s lawyer, Susan Estrich, mentioned, “This procedural ruling doesn’t change the indeniable information that Ms. Ganieva extorted Mr. Black, broke her settlement with him about their consensual affair after pocketing $9.5 million underneath that settlement, after which defamed Mr. Black by making demonstrably false and allegations. We're assured that a evaluation of the proof in Mr. Black’s New York State Courtroom go well with, together with the signed settlement and Ms. Ganieva’s personal phrases, will expose her despicable claims as lies.”
Ganieva, by way of Christensen, declined to remark.