Russian sues in Ep sex scheme
Says billionaire investor flew her to perv
A former Russian model charged in a new lawsuit Monday that billionaire investor Leon Black forced her to fly to Florida to “satisfy the sex needs” of Jeffrey Epstein.
Guzel Ganieva, who sued Black in June alleging he was a perverted sadist, now claims the former CEO of private equity firm Apollo Global Management surprised her with a 2008 trip to Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion. There, she says, she walked into a room to find Epstein and Black sitting near each other in an office.
“Black and Epstein were situated close to one another, each facing Ms. Ganieva while in almost supine positions, as if they were waiting for her to get on top of them,” the lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court reads. “Indeed, Black indicated with his eyes that he wanted Ms. Ganieva to come and lay in between him and Epstein.”
Ganieva did not have sex with the men, and Black angrily told her to leave the room, according to the suit.
Black, 70, has characterized the relationship with Ganieva as “a consensual affair” and said she has been trying to extort him since it ended seven years ago. He resigned from Apollo in March amid questions about his friendship with Epstein.
Black repeatedly called Epstein his “best friend,” according to Ganieva’s suit.
After the creepy encounter in the office, Ganieva says, she spoke with one of Epstein’s alleged enablers, Sarah Kellen, in the living room of his mansion.
“You have to understand that [Jeffrey and Leon] are sex addicts,” Kellen allegedly explained to Ganieva.
“You have to let them do whatever they want with you, and you have to let them be with multiple sexual partners if that’s what they want,” Kellen said, according to the lawsuit.
“They are very powerful, and if you don’t do what they want you to do, there will be consequences that I do not want for you.”
Ganieva says the scary visit to the Sunshine State was unexpected. She’d expected to get lunch with Black, but he surprised her with a trip to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, where they hopped on a private jet, according to the suit.
“It is deeply concerning that Black’s scheme to bring Ms. Ganieva to Epstein’s home was something he planned, and did do, without her knowledge,” wrote Ganieva’s lawyers in court papers. “It was wholly without her consent and even worse, by the time he told her, Ms. Ganieva was powerless to do anything about it.”
At the time of the alleged encounter, Epstein was being monitored by sheriffs in connection with his 2008 guilty plea for soliciting an underage prostitute.
The visit only lasted two hours. At one point, Epstein referred to Ganieva as “love” during a conversation in Black’s presence, the suit says.
Epstein hanged himself in August 2019 while awaiting trial for underage sex trafficking.
Ganieva’s lawsuit alleges that Black, worth more than $9 billion, raped her, assaulted her and used his influence to bully her into silence after a yearslong affair built on coercive manipulation. She leveled the new allegations regarding Epstein in an amended complaint.
“Just like her June complaint, Ms. Ganieva’s story today is demonstrably and transparently false and betrays her willingness to say anything and fabricate a story in the hope that something will stick. It won’t,” Black’s attorney Whit Clay said.