embattled Wall Street billionaire Leon Black countered allegations on Monday that he intimidated and sexually assaulted a Russian model, saying instead that he was the victim of an extortion scheme
Wall Street billionaire and Jeffrey Epstein associate Leon Black has admitted to having an affair with a Russian model but furiously denied her claims that he raped and intimidated her - saying that she roped him into an extortion scheme by threatening to go public with their relationship.
Guzel Ganieva, 38, branded Black, 69, a 'violent, sadistic' sexual predator who raped and harassed her before coercing her into signing a non-disclosure agreement in a defamation lawsuit exposed exclusively by DailyMail.com last month.
Black, the married co-founder of Apollo Global Management, responded to the lawsuit in a scathing filing on Monday in which he branded Ganieva's case 'a work of fiction'.
Black said he and Ganieva had engaged in a consensual affair starting in 2008 until 2015 - when he claims she extorted him by threatening to take their relationship public.
In exchange for her silence Black said he agreed to forgive $1million in loans he made to her, and to make $100,000 monthly payments for 15 years.
Former model Guzel Ganieva accused Black of being a 'violent, sadistic' sexual predator who raped and harassed her then coerced her into signing an NDA
Black, 69, resigned his position as head of Apollo on March 22, just days after Ganieva went public with her claims that Black had 'abused' her 'for years.'
Black has denied that his resignation had anything to do with the series of tweets posted by Ganieva, which came after he was already under scrutiny for standing by pedophile financier Epstein for years.
His 52-page response to her lawsuit filed on June 1 includes text message exchanges between the two, and accounts of conversations based off of recordings he said he secretly made.
He said he had lavished Ganieva with millions of dollars in gifts including a Steinway piano, acting classes at Columbia University, a $40,000 commissioned portrait of her, rent for an Upper East Side apartment among many others, according to the suit.
In 2015, however, Black alleges that Ganieva had threatened to go public about their relationship, which led to him broaching a non-disclosure agreement with the Russian model.
Black is seen with his wife Debra Black in 2017
Ganieva asserted that the NDA had a vastly different goal. She claims it was reached after she alleged that on July 6, 2014, Black raped her when she was sick at home and so weak she could barely walk.
Her suit claims: 'Never a match for his physical size and strength on this day in particular Ms. Ganieva knew what fate was in store.'
It goes onto claim that, after he had finished, Black stated, 'Now I have f**** you,' before walking out leaving Ganieva naked and unable to move.
The following year Black allegedly offered 'forgiveness' on Ganieva's loans on condition that she signed an NDA.
'Disgustingly he used his extreme power and wealth to coerce her into signing a non-disclosure agreement in October 2015 because he knew what he had done to her was shocking, evil and exposed him to potential criminal charges,' she alleges.
Black dispute's Ganieva's side of the encounter, and in the suit includes text messages from before and after the alleged rape.
According to his suit, Black was aware Ganieva was ill, but that on July 2
