An appeals court declined to revive billionaire Leon Black’s racketeering suit alleging a conspiracy to destroy his reputation by his Apollo Global Management Inc. co-founder Josh Harris and ex-model Guzel Ganieva.
(Bloomberg) — An appeals court declined to revive billionaire Leon Black’s racketeering suit alleging a conspiracy to destroy his reputation by his Apollo Global Management Inc. co-founder Josh Harris and ex-model Guzel Ganieva.
The federal appeals court in Manhattan on Thursday said it wouldn’t overturn a lower-court ruling in June that found racketeering claims by Black “glaringly deficient.” It upheld the decision by US District Judge Paul Engelmayer, who threw out the case and ruled that Black wouldn’t be able to fix it in an amended complaint.
“These allegations regarding Ganieva’s relationship with Harris are conclusory, vague, indirect, clever and cute,” Engelmayer had said in his 63-page opinion. “They are not factual, specific, declarative or trustworthy.”
A three-judge panel of the appeals court let his decision stand, ruling that Black had failed to show any abuse of discretion by Engelmayer.
Read More: Leon Black’s Conspiracy Suit Tossed as ‘Glaringly Deficient’
The case was spurred by a suit Ganieva filed in New York state court alleging Black had sexually assaulted her — claims that were first revealed in tweets in March 2021 and that he has denied. Those claims followed reports of his paying $158 million to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for tax advice and financial services. That led to a round of litigation between Ganieva and Black.
Thursday’s appeals court decision comes just days after Black urged the judge in the New York state case to throw out Ganieva’s suit, arguing that the two had a consensual affair for six years and that an agreement that she signed in October 2015 clears him of all of her allegations. Ganieva was promised $21 million under the agreement and received $9.5 million, Black’s lawyers told the judge.
Read More: Apollo’s Billionaire Founders Brawl, Shunting Aside Josh Harris
Susan Estrich, a lawyer for Black, called Thursday’s decision a “procedural ruling” that doesn’t contradict her client’s allegations in the federal suit.
“We are confident that a review of the evidence in Mr. Black’s New York state court suit, including the signed agreement and Ms. Ganieva’s own words,” will vindicate Black, she said in a statement.
In the federal suit, Black, 71, claimed Harris, Ganieva and public relations executive Steven Rubenstein all violated civil racketeering laws by conspiring to destroy him personally and professionally. He alleged they sought to do so by wresting control of Apollo from him. Engelmayer threw out the case against all the defendants, including Rubenstein.
Black also accused the three, along with Ganieva’s lawyers at Wigdor LLP, of defamation, breach of contract and unjust enrichment. He later dropped the claims against the Wigdor firm.
The case is Black v. Ganieva, 22-1524, 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals (Manhattan).
–With assistance from Chris Dolmetsch.
(Updates with context on New York state suit in sixth paragraph and statement from Black’s lawyer in seventh and eighth.)
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