Billionaire Raped Woman At Epstein's UES Townhouse, Suit Alleges

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A second woman has accused the billionaire Leon Black of raping her in an Upper East Side home — this time alleging the assault took place at Jeffrey Epstein's infamous townhouse, according to new court documents.

The anonymous woman, identified only as Jane Doe, alleges that Black, co-founder of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, raped her around the year 2002 in Epstein's home at 9 East 71st St., near Fifth Avenue.

A single mother living in New Jersey and working at a low-wage job, the woman was introduced in 2000 to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who died by suicide in 2019 amid accusations that he had trafficked minors and assaulted "dozens" of underage girls. About two years later, the woman met Black in a hallway at Epstein's 71st Street mansion, she says.

Her allegations were revealed in a court filing late Monday, amending a lawsuit filed in June by Guzel Ganieva, a former model originally from Russia.

Ganieva first met Black in 2008, when he "picked" her out of a crowd at an International Women's Day event held at an Upper East Side home, she says. Pitching himself to Ganieva as a career mentor, Black began a yearslong campaign of abuse and intimidation that accused sexual assault, her lawsuit alleges.

In one 2014 incident, Black showed up at Ganieva's apartment on East 77th Street, "barged in" and violently raped her, the suit claims.

Black has denied Ganieva's claims and the new accusation, calling them "complete fiction" and a "baseless smear campaign." He previously said the initial claims were an attempt by Ganieva to extort him based on her threats to publicize their extramarital affair.

Much of the legal battle has centered around the Upper East Side, where Black also lived, according to Ganieva. In one instance, Ganieva said she and Black were walking near Black's studio apartment on East 72nd Street and Park Avenue when they encountered Black's wife, who was walking towards her car. During the run-in, "Black did not act surprised or worried in any way," she says — evidence against his extortion claim, since their affair was so out in the open.

The second woman alleges that Black raped her in a "massage room" at Epstein's home, where Black offered the woman $300 for a massage before assaulting her, the suit says.

Black stepped down as CEO of Apollo Global management in March after his ties to Epstein emerged more fully.

Epstein's townhouse on East 71st Street sold for $51 million in March to a finance executive.