Two dozen people stood outside the Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday and asked the museum to drop Leon Black from its board. MoMA said nothing.
Black is still a trustee three weeks after the House held him in contempt. He skipped a Sept. 3 deposition about Jeffrey Epstein, the House voted unanimously on Sept. 16 and sent the referral to the Justice Department, and Black sued the committee to block the subpoenas. He denies every allegation against him and has never been charged or convicted.
The Justice Department had already looked at him. On May 30, 2023, a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York emailed colleagues about "a potential new minor victim of Epstein, Maxwell, and Leon Black." A colleague wrote back that "multiple women" had reported "victimization by Black/GM/JE a while ago," that a prosecutor who reviewed them "determined it was not viable for our office to pursue," and added: "I agreed with her assessment."
Seven weeks later Jeanne Christensen, a lawyer for Black accusers, wrote to prosecutors that "it's outrageous that criminal charges have not been brought against him," and added: "I've heard one lawyer represents ten women that he sexually assaulted." That is a lawyer passing on what she had heard. Black denies every allegation.
On Dec. 15, 2023, an outside office told SDNY it had "continued to investigate our case against Leon Black with this newest victim." SDNY answered five days later: "Sorry for the late response, I have been on trial." The chain ends there. No charge followed.
