News has emerged from a New York state court, uncovering the rejection of Leon Black’s request to sanction the lawyers representing a woman who accuses him of sexual assault. Black, founder of Apollo Global Management, has a significant legal battle on his hands.
According to New York State Supreme Court Judge Suzanne Adams, it is premature in these proceedings to consider Black’s motion for sanctions against attorneys from the New York law firm Wigdor LLP. The trial is in response to a lawsuit from Cheri Pierson who asserts that Black assaulted her in 2002 at a New York location associated with the discredited financier Jeffrey Epstein. The case was permitted under a New York law that temporarily suspends the statute of limitations on crimes relating to sexual violence.
Leon Black denies having ever met Pierson and alleges that the lawyers from Wigdor LLP, Douglas Wigdor and Jeanne Christensen, are aware that they are pursuing frivolous accusations against him instigated by Pierson and other accusers to harass him.
There was resistance from the Wigdor lawyers against the sanctions motion, and they made counter-motions for sanctions against Black. However, Judge Adams stated that neither side substantiated their motions in a case yet to enter the discovery phase. “There is no basis in the record for the court to conclude that any or all allegations or claims by either side are demonstrably false as a matter of law,” Adams wrote.
Judge Adams also denied Black’s request to dismiss Pierson’s lawsuit. The full details of the case can be referred in Pierson v. Black, N.Y. Sup. Ct., 952002/2022, 10/24/23.
The legal implications and future outcomes of this case will be of interest to legal professionals across the world, given its intersection of high-profile figures and discussions of sexual assault allegations.
For more information on this matter, visit Bloomberg Law.