The Coach, the Accuser, and the Epstein Network Allegation

A woman suing Leon Black alleged that, when she was a teenager, her cheerleading coach “Elizabeth” groomed her and sent her into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s orbit, where she claims she was later trafficked to Black and raped at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse in 2002. Black denied the allegations and moved for sanctions against the woman’s lawyers, arguing that her claims were not properly vetted. As part of that fight, a former cheerleading mentor who believes she is the “Elizabeth” named in the lawsuit filed a declaration denying that she abused, groomed, threatened, housed, or trafficked the woman. She said the accuser never mentioned Epstein, Maxwell, Sarah Kellen, or Leon Black during the time she knew her and said she had no reason to believe the woman ever met any of them.The accuser’s lawyer pushed back, calling Black’s sanctions effort an attempt to intimidate a woman who says she was a minor when Black violently assaulted her. The lawyer argued that a denial from the alleged facilitator does not prove the claims are false, especially when that person could face serious consequences if the allegations were true. Black’s lawyer, Susan Estrich, said the coach’s declaration and statements from others supported Black’s position that the lawsuit was fabricated. The dispute became another ugly front in the broader legal fallout from Black’s Epstein ties, which had already included revelations that Black paid Epstein $158 million for financial advice, stepped down from Apollo after scrutiny of that relationship, and paid $62.5 million to settle claims with the U.S. Virgin Islands connected to its Epstein investigation.to contact me:[email protected]