US court ends civil case against billionaire Leon Black after plaintiff cites medical inability to continue
A federal judge in New York has dismissed a civil lawsuit against private equity billionaire Leon Black after the plaintiff said she was medically unable to continue. Black denies the allegations and separately faces a contempt-of-Congress referral over the Epstein investigation.
A US federal court in the Southern District of New York has dismissed a civil lawsuit against Wall Street private equity billionaire Leon Black. The suit was filed in July 2023 by a woman known only as Jane Doe, who alleges that Black raped her in 2002, when she was a teenager. The case ended after she asked the court to dismiss it, saying her health no longer allowed her to continue. It matters because the case is tied to the wider fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking scandal.
The plaintiff's request
Doe claims Epstein "handed her off" to Black, who then sexually assaulted her. She had recently been acting without a lawyer. In a filing submitted on 12 October, she wrote that she was "medically incapable of continuing" and at risk of an acute psychiatric crisis, including suicide. She stressed the request was not a retraction or an acceptance of Black's positions. Doe said she is autistic and has post-traumatic stress disorder, and that her treating physician had repeatedly advised her to disengage.
Both sides had been ordered to review thousands of pages of documents due to be unsealed and propose redactions. Judge Jessica Clarke suggested Doe contact a pro bono legal service, but Doe concluded that neither extra time nor limited help would address the danger. Her former lawyers at the Wigdor firm withdrew in April 2025. That same month the judge sanctioned Doe and her former lawyer for misconduct, while allowing the case to proceed.
Black's side
Black's lawyer Susan Estrich said the suit should never have been brought and called it a "work of fiction". Another lawyer, Michael Carlinsky, said the request was made voluntarily, without any settlement or inducement. The case was dismissed with prejudice, so it cannot be brought again. Black's team intends to continue litigation against Wigdor over legal fees.
Congressional investigation
In September the US House of Representatives voted unanimously to hold Black in criminal contempt for defying two subpoenas from the House oversight committee. The matter has been referred to the Department of Justice, and it is unclear whether prosecution will follow. Epstein provided financial services to Black from 2012 to 2017, and according to a Senate finance committee review, Black paid him roughly $170m in fees.
