Leon Black’s decision to refuse a sworn deposition and sue the House Oversight Committee over its Epstein investigation has become a brutal illustration of the power imbalance that has haunted the case from the beginning. Black has every right to challenge congressional authority in court, and he continues to deny wrongdoing connected to Epstein, but the broader picture is impossible to ignore: this is a billionaire who paid Jeffrey Epstein $158 million for financial and estate-planning services now forcing Congress to defend its own subpoenas before it can even get the answers it says it needs. For ordinary Americans, that spectacle is almost surreal. Most people do not have the money, lawyers, or institutional muscle to turn a government subpoena into a prolonged constitutional battle. Congress talks endlessly about accountability, but when it finally encounters someone with the resources to fight back aggressively, the entire process suddenly slows down, becomes more cautious, and starts looking remarkably fragile.
That is also why the constant question about why more Epstein survivors did not come forward earlier is so dishonest. If Leon Black is willing and able to take on the United States Congress itself, imagine what an ordinary survivor might believe she is facing when deciding whether to confront someone with enormous wealth, elite legal representation, and the ability to litigate every inch of the process. Coming forward can mean years of depositions, attacks on credibility, legal expense, public scrutiny, and emotional devastation, while the person on the other side may have resources that are effectively limitless. None of that proves Black committed any Epstein-related crime, but it demonstrates exactly how intimidating the machinery surrounding powerful people can be. If Congress cannot quickly enforce its own demands against an Epstein associate with Black’s resources, then nobody should sneer at survivors for being reluctant to enter that same battlefield alone.
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