Russian model accused ex-CEO of investment company Apollo of rape

Russian model Guzel Ganieva has filed a lawsuit against the ex-CEO of investment company Apollo Global Management, 69-year-old Leon Black, accusing him of rape and subsequent manipulation, writes the Financial Times. Black denies all charges.

Ganiyeva's lawsuit alleges that Black met her in 2008 at an event in New York when she was in her early 20s. Soon, the financier allegedly brought her to an empty apartment, where he "subjected her to violent sexual acts of a sadistic nature."

The relationship of “coercion and intimidation,” the lawsuit says, continued for several years. Moreover, Black was aware of their improper nature and resorted to significant monetary compensation for silence (in the amount of about $ 960 thousand in outstanding loans), and in 2015 forced Ganieva to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Also in 2014, he allegedly organized deliberately fruitless interviews with Ganiyeva for hiring at Goldman Sachs, and one of the interlocutors was the current head of the entire investment banking department, Alison Mass.

Black's side calls the lawsuit completely fabricated, all of his claims are false. Earlier, he stated that "foolishly he was in a voluntary relationship with Ganiyeva, which ended more than seven years ago." Black claimed that Ganieva extorted significant amounts from him for several years (which the model’s lawsuit called a preventive slander strategy).

Who is Leon Black

Black was one of three co-founders of alternative investment giant Apollo Global Management in 1990 (with current assets under management of over $400 billion).

In March of this year, Black was forced to step down as CEO of the company after his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sexual exploitation of minors, were established. It turned out that Black in 2012-2017 transferred $ 158 million to Epstein for financial services. The latter came down to an advanced tax optimization strategy, the benefits of which were estimated at $ 2 billion, the investigation did not reveal criminal ties.