The New York State Court of Appeals on Thursday ruled in favor of billionaire investor Leon Black, rejecting a defamation lawsuit brought by a woman who also accused the co-founder of Apollo Global Management of rape and sexual abuse. I put it down.
In a 4-1 ruling, the Manhattan Appellate Division ruled that Guzel Ganieva's October 2015 non-disclosure agreement contained all charges against Mr. Black, including defamation claims that she said Mr. Black had tried to extort her. He said that the charges include:
It also said that even though Ganieva signed the agreement under duress, she “ratified” it by receiving $9 million from Black, including $100,000 per month, before filing the lawsuit in June 2021. said.
“We recognize the trauma associated with sexual abuse,” the majority wrote. “However, we do not agree with the objection that the same principle should permit plaintiffs to reject contractual arrangements after accepting benefits for more than five years.”
Mr. Black denied Mr. Ganieva's claims.
The dissenting judge said Ms Ganieva, a former Russian model, continued to receive “similar ongoing duress” until March 2021, when she spoke for the first time about her six-year relationship with Mr Black, which ended in 2014. He said he had the right to sue.
Ganieva's lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Mr. Black had no immediate comment.
The lawsuit stems from a March 2021 interview in which Black admitted to having a consensual relationship with Ganieva and said she blackmailed him by threatening to make it public.
He was responding to a Twitter post in which Ganieva accused him of years of sexual harassment and abuse.
The first instance judge had dismissed Ganieva's request in May 2023.
Mr. Black, 73, is worth $17.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
He is also involved in a Manhattan lawsuit filed by an autistic woman who claims he raped her in 2002, when she was 16, at the mansion of the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. I am also defending myself.
Lawyers for Black said the woman's claims were “completely false” and “malicious defamation.”
Mr. Black resigned as Apollo's chief executive in 2021 after an investigation by an outside law firm found that he paid Mr. Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning purposes.
The case is Ganieva v. Black, New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, No. 2023-05694.
