Leon Black, billionaire financier, has charged Josh Harris with inventing a’malicious attack campaign’ to discredit his Apollo partner. This was in response to a failed attempt by the firm’s founders to take control of the company. The model from Russia accused Harris of rape and planted negative stories about him.
For months, Black has claimed that ‘someone secretly bankrolled’ Guzel Ganieva, 38, – who made the rape allegations early last year – in order to stage a coup to oust him from Appollo Global Management.
Ganieva alleged Black is a ‘violent, sadistic,’ sexual predator who raped and harassed her then coerced her into signing an non-disclosure-agreement. In June, she filed a lawsuit against Black.
The allegations were detailed in a new motion filed in court this week as Black, the 70-year-old friend and client of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, continues to fight civil claims against Ganieva.
Apollo was resigned by Black last March, after an internal investigation revealed Black’s business connections with Epstein. He’d also paid Epstein $158million in fees for professional services’.
Black files a name for Harris, naming him as one of the mysterious financial backers who supported Ganieva’s lawsuit after losing “a multi-billion dollar succession fight” to succeed Black last year as Apollo’s CEO. Harris left the company after he was passed for the top position.
In the filing this week, Black states that Harris was ‘enraged’ that Apollo passed him over for the CEO position, so he then ‘forged ahead with a malicious campaign to take Mr. Black down.’
Leon Black, a billionaire financier and Apollo founder has accused Josh Harris of creating a “malicious campaign” in an unsuccessful attempt to take over investment company by teaming up with a Russian model. He accused Harris of using his rape allegations against him to create negative stories in the media
Model Guzel Ganieva 38 (pictured) claimed that Leon Black 70 tried to set up a ‘wedge” between her, the Wigdor LLP legal firm and Leon Black with a lawsuit.
Black names Josh Harris, Apollo cofounder and one of the mysterious financial backers who helped Ganieva after losing the’multi-billion-dollar succession battle’ for Black to become Apollo’s CEO. In June, Harris left the company after being selected for the highest job.
According to the filing, Harris was alleged to have worked alongside Steven Rubenstein, a public relations specialist, in order for negative stories about Black to be published in the media as part of an alleged smear operation.
Black’s attorneys are now attempting to subpoena phone records for Rubenstein and Ganieva, insisting that the documents could ‘show communication between Ms. Ganieva’s camp and Mr. Rubenstein’s camp—between his accuser and the public relations team that works for his archrival—further demonstrating that Ms. Ganieva’s claims are nothing but fabrications stitched together from whole cloth.’
Black’s attorneys stated that it was not unreasonable to infer from Black’s lawyer’s statements, “that someone with deep pockets supports her/or this case.” Black can investigate the inference and make it clear.
A representative for Harris told Fortune that the the accusations are ‘desperate and absurd.’
A Rubenstein attorney stated that Ganieva has no relation to the PR specialist.
In a lawsuit filed in June, Ganieva accused Black of being a ‘violent, sadistic’ sexual predator who raped and harassed her then coerced her into signing a non-disclosure-agreement.
Black denied all allegations, saying he had a consensual relationship with Ganieva from 2008 to 2015. He claims that she threatened him with making their relationship public by demanding $100 million.
Epstein was also charged with trying to arrange an intimate relationship between Epstein and her in 2008, according to Epstein. His net worth is $10.5 million. Epstein committed suicide in prison in 2019, while waiting for trial on a series of sexual-trafficking allegations.
Black (right), close friend to the prominent financier Jeffrey Epstein (left), first was publicly charged in March with sexual abuse and rape by Ganieva
Guzel Ganieva accuses Black of rape, as well as a history of long-standing sexual abuse. Ganieva (left) is shown with her friends Natane Mason and Claudia Mason, in 2011.
Ganieva claimed that Jeffrey Epstein, the ex-CEO of Apollo Global Management made her fly to Florida in order to satisfy his sex cravings at his Palm Beach villa.
Black sued Ganieva LLP and Wigdor LLP for defamation. They were accused of running a criminal enterprise’ that involved an unknown financing source, public relations representative and other means to extort Black and ruin his reputation.
Ganieva and Wigdor, who were seeking to dismiss Black’s claims, said they had not conspired against him.
The law firm used a term to describe PR professionals, and stated, “Simply put there are no funders or flacks.”
In an interview, Susan Estrich, Black’s lawyer, stated that her client provided ‘incontrovertible proof’ of Ganieva’s claims and that her’scurrilous allegations have no other purpose than to embarrass and humiliate Mr. Black by lying.
Both suits stemm from the relationship between Ganieva & Black, which Black called consensual but “regrettable”.
Ganieva alleged that Black forced her to sign the nondisclosure agreements and made defamatory claims about her attempts to extort him.
Black previously confessed to having had a six year affair with Ganieva. He claimed it was consensual and that he paid Ganieva $100,000 per month over 15 years.
The financier is now married to Broadway producer Debra Schwarz and has refuted all allegations of sexual abuse against him.
Ganieva had filed her original lawsuit in June. Ganieva later amended it to include Jane Doe’s accusations. Jane Doe alleged that she was brutally raped at Jeffrey Epstein’s New York apartment in 2002.
Leon Black is married to Debra Black (pictured together). He has denied all sexual abuse allegations.
Ganieva’s legal team claimed Jane Doe’s experiences prove that, contrary Black’s narrative that he knew “nothing” about Epstein’s sexual misconduct, which is alleged that Black perpetrated his own sexual crimes at Epstein’s home back in 2002.
Going a step further, the motion alleges that Black had a, ‘long-standing relationship with Epstein for years…. That included arranging massages for women to get money at Epstein’s house.
The amended suit states that Jane Doe first met Epstein “around 2000”, when Epstein was introduced to her by a Ukrainian acquaintance.
Jane Doe claimed that Black assaulted her shortly after she had given Epstein a massage in NYC.
According to the suit, a “huge” Black of more than 600lbs and standing over 6ft 4in tall, brutally raped her before she paid her off.
Jane Doe is described as a single mother of ‘limited financial means’ and, it is alleged, Black, ‘believed that his money could…silence [her]’
Black regrets publicly his actions with Epstein. Epstein killed himself while waiting for trial on charges of sex traficking.
Black left Apollo in April after Epstein discovered that he paid $158 Million to him for tax and estate planning. But, Black was not involved any criminal activity.