On Sept. 16, the House Oversight and Governing Reform Committee approved a resolution to hold former Dartmouth trustee Leon Black ’73 in contempt of Congress. The charge came after Black defied the committee's subpoenas related to their investigation into convicted sex offender and Black’s longtime acquaintance, Jeffrey Epstein. On June 26, the committee issued two subpoenas to Black after he refused to answer “specific questions” about nondisclosure agreements that he was involved in during a voluntary closed-door testimony committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., told news outlets after the June 26 meeting.
Black’s subpoenas and testimony were part of the committee’s ongoing investigation into Epstein and his associates. Between November 2025 and January 2026, the Department of Justice released over 3 million documents relating to Epstein and his dealings in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Black’s name appears thousands of times in the files, which includes correspondence between Epstein and Black from 2012 and 2017, during which time Black paid Epstein $170 million for “tax and estate-planning services.”
One of the subpoenas Black did not fulfill ordered him to provide the committee with any nondisclosure agreements he was involved in and any agreements tied to Epstein or Epstein’s associate and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. The other required Black to return and testify under oath in front of the committee on July 16 for a sworn deposition, which was later pushed to Sept. 3.
On Sept. 3, Black filed a lawsuit against the committee and Comer, claiming that “there is no justification here for such a sweeping and intrusive subpoena served upon a private citizen.”
Black’s attorneys Susan Estrich and Aaron Cutler wrote that holding Black in contempt was “outrageous” and “ignores the facts and the truth about Mr. Black.” They asserted that Black has cooperated with the committee by “voluntarily appearing to answer questions in a transcribed interview.”
“Despite being misled about the intent of that interview, he then fully complied with the Committee’s subpoena related to Epstein,” they wrote. “Mr. Black provided the Committee with the only confidentiality agreement that Jeffrey Epstein knew about … We also told them that Ghislaine Maxwell had absolutely nothing to do with any of the agreements.”
In a Sept. 15 address at the committee meeting where the resolution was passed, Comer said that Black is “hiding behind litigation to delay having to provide answers to the American people.”
“A little over two months ago, Mr. Black appeared before the Committee for a transcribed interview,” Comer wrote. “But only an hour into the interview, he began refusing to answer questions, so we issued two subpoenas to him. Mr. Black did not appear for his scheduled deposition on Sept. 3, 2026, and only produced one NDA to the Committee, despite his counsel indicating there were many more.”
Comer wrote that the committee’s subpoenas were “not suggestions.”
Black’s attorneys wrote that the committee’s questions and subpoenas were “looking for information that does not exist.”
“They are looking to ask questions about every NDA Mr. Black ever signed, including with business partners over his 50-year career and also with individuals who he never met,” his attorneys wrote. “They even asked him to give the names of individuals in his social circle who have NDAs.”
Black served as a Trustee between 2002 and 2011. In 2012, the Black Family Foundation donated $48 million to fund the Black Family Visual Arts Center’s construction at Dartmouth.
Black has also faced multiple lawsuits accusing him of sexual harassment, abuse or rape. He has denied all allegations of wrongdoing, and the three lawsuits have since been dismissed.
In 2021, Black stepped down as chief executive officer and chairman of private equity firm Apollo Global Management — which he co-founded in 1990 — amidst public scrutiny and an internal investigation into his relationship to Epstein. The investigation, conducted by Dechert LLP, found that Black had a “social relationship” with Epstein from the mid-1990s to 2018, and the “professional services” between them occurred from 2012 to 2017.
In November 2025, a College spokesperson told The Dartmouth that the College has “no current financial relationship” with Black. They declined to comment on Black’s June testimony and his being found in contempt.
In April, Dartmouth Student Government and the Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault issued a joint statement calling for the College to rename BVAC. Alumni group Women of Dartmouth did so as well.
After moving to establish a trustee ad hoc committee on naming policies in their April meeting, the Board of Trustees “continued to carefully consider the topic of naming across campus, including recent feedback from the community about the Black Family Visual Arts Center,” according to Dartmouth News.
In June, the Dartmouth Board of Trustees officially established an ad hoc naming policy committee that aims to “review and make recommendations to the board regarding the university’s policies and principles for honorary naming and re-naming consistent with the board’s fiduciary responsibility.” It will also review “any future decisions” about honorary naming.
A College spokesperson wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth that the naming committee has been “meeting regularly since June to develop an institution-wide framework with consistent standards, processes and decision-making principles to guide Dartmouth on naming matters pursuant to their charge.”
They added that this will be discussed at the October board meeting and that “any relevant updates will be included in the board’s regularly released report following the meeting.”
Black’s attorneys wrote in their statement that Black “has repeatedly said that he feels terrible for Epstein’s victims and that he regrets ever doing business with Epstein.”
The committee’s decision to hold him in contempt is “politically motivated and completely retaliatory by a Chairman who is focused solely on himself and his own political ambitions without any regard for the truth and the law,” they added. “We intend to pursue our litigation challenging this action and will hold the Committee and Chairman Comer accountable in the courts.”
Alex Klee ’29 is a reporter from Woodbridge, Conn. He plans to major in economics and minor in math. He enjoys live music, skating and climbing.
