Get your popcorn ready, because the DC swamp is hosting quite the VIP guest this Friday morning. Billionaire financier and corporate elite poster boy Leon Black is scheduled to pull up to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform for a cozy, closed-door chat about his old pal Jeffrey Epstein. Because nothing says "I have absolutely nothing to hide" quite like a secret congressional deposition that we might get to read in a heavily redacted transcript months from now, if we’re lucky.

Black, the former CEO and chairman of Apollo Global Management, has been dodging questions about his Epstein connection for years. But the heat got turned up to eleven after the Department of Justice dumped millions of Epstein-related files late last year and earlier this year. Apparently, having your name splattered across federal documents isn't great for the corporate aesthetic, which is probably why Black had to step down from his Apollo throne back in 2021.

According to an independent report that Apollo commissioned several years ago, Epstein was busy providing "financial services" to Black between 2012 and 2017. And get this: Black decided to become Epstein’s absolute biggest client after Epstein pleaded guilty to Florida state prostitution charges in 2008, which literally included procuring a minor. Black proceeded to write checks totaling roughly $170 million in fees to Epstein, according to a Senate Finance Committee investigation. Black’s official explanation? He described his work for Epstein as "tax and estate-planning services." That must have been some world-class tax planning.

The DoJ paper trail got even wilder earlier this year with the release of an FBI presentation slide titled "PROMINENT NAMES," which featured Black's name in bold. Now, to be fair, nobody knows who this presentation was actually made for, and the FBI itself didn’t bother to state that they verified any of the claims. But the unverified allegations listed under Black’s name are something else. One slide alleges that "Epstein told [name redacted] to give Black a massage while Black was naked." Another claim says "another female gave Black a massage and he made her perform oral sex." Black, of course, denies all of it.

On the civil side, Black has been playing legal whack-a-mole with three lawsuits from women alleging sexual abuse. Black has repeatedly denied everything, and his high-powered lawyers are taking a victory lap because one lawsuit has been dismissed, another was withdrawn, and the last one standing is currently facing a "case terminating motion for sanctions," according to his attorney Susan Estrich. His legal team is fully leaning into the "we told you so" defense, claiming subsequent events prove Black was telling the truth all along.