Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Jane Doe Drops Leon Black Case Without Retracting Allegations (10/19/26)

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Jane Doe Drops Leon Black Case Without Retracting Allegations (10/19/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. Over the past few years, we've been following
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: a lawsuit that was filed against Leon Black. Well, that
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  Speaker 1: lawsuit has now been dismissed with prejudice after plaintiff decided
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  Speaker 1: that she no longer wanted to go through with it.
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  Speaker 1: Now Black has called it a fabrication and denied all
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  Speaker 1: the allegations against him. And now with her dismissing this
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  Speaker 1: with prejudice, that means she can't refile this lawsuit later on. So,
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  Speaker 1: let's dive into this article from The Guardian and let's
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  Speaker 1: see what's going on. Headline, case against Leon Black dismissed
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  Speaker 1: after plaintiff said she was medically incapable of continuing. This
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  Speaker 1: article was authored by Stephanie Kirchgeisner. A federal judge has
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  Speaker 1: agreed to dismiss a lawsuit brought against Leon Black after
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  Speaker 1: the plaintiff in the case, who had accused the private
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  Speaker 1: equity billionaire of rape, said that she was medically incapable
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  Speaker 1: of continuing and at risk of acute psychiatric crisis, including suicide.
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  Speaker 1: The woman, known only as Jane Doe, who claimed in
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  Speaker 1: a lawsuit that was first filed in July of 2023
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  Speaker 1: that she had been handed off to Black by his
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  Speaker 1: associate Jeffrey Epstein and then sexually assaulted by him, had
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  Speaker 1: been acting without a lawyer in the case. Doe was
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  Speaker 1: alleged that the assault occurred in 2002 when she was
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  Speaker 1: a teenager. Yeah, unfortunately, going against a guy like Leon
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  Speaker 1: Black without a lawyer, not really going to work out
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  Speaker 1: so well for you. And when your other lawyers have
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  Speaker 1: been hit with sanctions or have abandoned the case, it
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  Speaker 1: really doesn't bode well, right? And that's just the reality
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  Speaker 1: of the situation. And if Jane Doe feels like she
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  Speaker 1: doesn't want to go forward with the case, then that's
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  Speaker 1: the end of it. There's nothing more to say or
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  Speaker 1: do as far as this portion of it goes. Because
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  Speaker 1: once it's dismissed with prejudice, forget it. That's it. My
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  Speaker 1: request to dismiss the case with prejudice is not a
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  Speaker 1: concession concerning the truth of my allegations, a retraction of
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  Speaker 1: my statements, or an acceptance of defendants' disputed positions. It
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  Speaker 1: reflects only the medical reality that I can no longer
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  Speaker 1: safely pursue this litigation, Doe wrote in a legal filing
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  Speaker 1: submitted to the court on October 12th. As I've stated
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  Speaker 1: from the beginning, I don't know the truth. I wasn't there.
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  Speaker 1: But I certainly know that Leon Black and his team
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  Speaker 1: are very, very powerful. And if you're going pro se
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  Speaker 1: against Leon Black and Susan Estridge and Dania Perry and
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  Speaker 1: all these other people, it's not going to end up
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  Speaker 1: well for you. And you have to think that plaintiff
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  Speaker 1: Jane Doe must have been going through it mentally. She
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  Speaker 1: has no lawyer, no legal team, no paralegals. She has
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  Speaker 1: to file all these motions on her own. while at
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  Speaker 1: the same time still dealing with whatever else life throws
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  Speaker 1: at her. And we're talking about very complicated matters. We're
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  Speaker 1: not talking about, you know, litigating a fence that's too
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  Speaker 1: high that your neighbor built. We're talking about going after
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  Speaker 1: a guy like Leon Black. An attorney for Black, who
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  Speaker 1: has strongly denied those allegations, said his team was pleased
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  Speaker 1: that the judge had dismissed the lawsuit. Susan Estrich, Black's lawyer,
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  Speaker 1: said in a statement that the lawsuit should have never
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  Speaker 1: been brought in the first place and repeated earlier claims
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  Speaker 1: that Doe's complaint was a work of fiction filled with
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  Speaker 1: lies and fabrications. In a legal filing, Black's lawyer, Michael Karlinsky,
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  Speaker 1: said Doe's request to dismiss the case, which Black did
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  Speaker 1: not oppose. Yeah, no shit. He's going to oppose it? Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I think maybe we should keep this going. Has been
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  Speaker 1: made voluntarily by Ms. Doe without any settlement, compromise, or
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  Speaker 1: inducement by Mr. Black. Yeah? How about that $ 62. 5 million
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  Speaker 1: he shelled out to the U.S. Virgin Islands to get
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  Speaker 1: him out of the crosshairs? Any comment there, Mr. Karlinsky?
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  Speaker 1: The Wall Street billionaire, who was Epstein's friend and former client,
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  Speaker 1: has separately come under fire in Washington, where the U.S.
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  Speaker 1: House of Representatives voted unanimously in September, behold him in
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  Speaker 1: criminal contempt, for defying two congressional subpoenas ordered by the
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  Speaker 1: House Oversight Committee, which is investigating Epstein, his relationships to
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  Speaker 1: powerful people, and the government's handling of of the Epstein investigations. Well,
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  Speaker 1: there sure is a lot to investigate there, considering the
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  Speaker 1: way the government has handled this from the very beginning.
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  Speaker 1: And if that's really the case, that we're going after
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  Speaker 1: people that were involved in the decision-making, how come all
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  Speaker 1: their names are redacted? All those bureaucrats that made these decisions,
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  Speaker 1: they don't have the fucking courage to put their name
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  Speaker 1: behind it. Oh, let's redact the names. Why? I thought
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  Speaker 1: we had a free society. Out of the congressional subpoenas
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  Speaker 1: that Black was accused of violating would have forced him
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  Speaker 1: to hand over all nondisclosure agreements to which he was party.
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  Speaker 1: Black attended a voluntary closed-door interview with the Oversight Committee
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  Speaker 1: in June, but walked out shortly after it started and
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  Speaker 1: was accused by members of stonewalling. He then declined to
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  Speaker 1: appear for a subsequent congressional deposition. Black's lawyers have said
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  Speaker 1: that he was being targeted by a political witch hunt
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  Speaker 1: and filed a lawsuit against the Oversight Committee to block
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  Speaker 1: the subpoenas, claiming the committee was exceeding its authority. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: everything's a big witch hunt, right? Could it be that
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  Speaker 1: we just want to look at your finances for once?
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  Speaker 1: Can we just get a look at what you were doing?
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  Speaker 1: Because make no mistake, just because this lawsuit has been
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  Speaker 1: dismissed with prejudice, it doesn't mean that the investigation of
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  Speaker 1: Leon Black is over, especially if we're talking about the
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  Speaker 1: financial crimes. And that's always been my focus on Leon Black. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: these allegations, they're damning and we have to cover them.
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  Speaker 1: But until they're adjudicated and they're tried in a court
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  Speaker 1: of law, we're just going on speculation and what we
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  Speaker 1: can glean from the docket, right? But when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to Leon Black and the financials, there's a paper trail,
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  Speaker 1: a whole ass paper trail. And the fact that they've
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  Speaker 1: refused to follow it, that tells me everything I need
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  Speaker 1: to know. And I know it's not the popular thing
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  Speaker 1: to say, because everybody wants this to be something that
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  Speaker 1: it's not. People really pay attention when there is some salaciousness,
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  Speaker 1: when there are some names being revealed. But when you
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  Speaker 1: talk about the money trail, or the actual things that
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  Speaker 1: could be used against these people, their eyes glaze over.
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  Speaker 1: You know the old saying, if it bleeds, it leads.
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  Speaker 1: Even though it's the internet now, that's certainly the case still.
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  Speaker 1: But when you're talking about something like Epstein... There's so
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  Speaker 1: much more there than just the salacious nonsense. And if
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: you want to truly understand what he was up to
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  Speaker 1: and what he was, you have to understand the whole
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  Speaker 1: entire scope, not just bits and pieces. The contempt resolution
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  Speaker 1: has been referred to the U.S. Department of Justice, though
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  Speaker 1: it's not clear if the department will pursue criminal prosecution. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: they won't. Remember, his son is part of the administration.
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  Speaker 1: Black has emerged as a key target of congressional investigators
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  Speaker 1: because of his relationship with Epstein. who provided financial services
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  Speaker 1: to Black between 2012 and 2017. After Epstein pleaded guilty
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  Speaker 1: to Florida state prostitution charges in 2008, including procuring a minor,
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  Speaker 1: Black became Epstein's largest client, paying him a total of
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  Speaker 1: roughly $ 170 million in fees. According to an investigation by
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  Speaker 1: Senate Finance Committee's ranking member, Ron Wyden, and if you
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  Speaker 1: really want accountability, that's how you get it. Follow the money.
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  Speaker 1: In his statement before the Oversight Committee in June, Black wrote,
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  Speaker 1: I did not know about this nefarious activity until Epstein
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  Speaker 1: was charged with trafficking in July of 2019. But Black
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  Speaker 1: acknowledged that he did know about Epstein pleading guilty in
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  Speaker 1: 2008 to state charges relating to prostitution involving a minor.
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  Speaker 1: And you guys paying attention yet? The whole reason that
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  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein was charged at the state level and not
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  Speaker 1: the federal level was to give people like Leon Black cover.
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  Speaker 1: And that's all part of them controlling the blast radius, right?
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  Speaker 1: Epstein died in prison in 2019 after he was charged
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  Speaker 1: with sex trafficking. The dismissal of the Doe v. Black
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  Speaker 1: lawsuit comes at what could be a critical moment in
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  Speaker 1: the case, which was being heard in the Southern District
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  Speaker 1: of New York. Both sides had been ordered to review
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  Speaker 1: thousands of pages of documents that were due to be unsealed,
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  Speaker 1: which were related both to the case as well as
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  Speaker 1: separate class action lawsuit brought by Epstein victims against J.P. Morgan,
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  Speaker 1: in which Doe received a financial settlement. The review process
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  Speaker 1: required both sides to examine documents and propose redactions before
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  Speaker 1: they were made public. And she's doing this pro se,
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  Speaker 1: by the way. Remember Jane Doe representing herself? Like, come on, man.
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  Speaker 1: The review process required both sides to examine documents and
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  Speaker 1: propose redactions before they were to be made public. In
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  Speaker 1: a recent filing, Doe said she needed legal assistance to
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  Speaker 1: complete the task. In response to that request, Judge Jessica
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  Speaker 1: Clark suggested Doe contact the City Bar Justice Center, which
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  Speaker 1: is described as a pro bono legal service to low-income clients. Like,
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  Speaker 1: if I was a lawyer, I'd help her out for free. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not saying I would, you know, take the case,
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  Speaker 1: but I'd help her with her paperwork at the very least.
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  Speaker 1: In a later eight-page letter requesting the dismissal of her
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  Speaker 1: case against Black, Doe who said she is autistic and
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  Speaker 1: has post-traumatic stress disorder, said that on reflection, she believed
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  Speaker 1: neither additional time nor limited legal assistance could address the
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  Speaker 1: medical danger associated with my continued substantive participation. My treating
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  Speaker 1: physician has expressed serious concerns about the effects of the
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  Speaker 1: litigation over an extended period and has repeatedly advised that
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  Speaker 1: I disengage, she wrote. So look, I'm not going to
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  Speaker 1: judge this girl for taking a step back. but it
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  Speaker 1: gives Leon Black some ammunition, right? Oh look, another hoax.
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  Speaker 1: Another person that made some allegations that just weren't true.
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  Speaker 1: But as usual, there's more to the story. And according
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  Speaker 1: to her, it's for medical reasons, not because she doesn't
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  Speaker 1: believe what she said. Now obviously, You can believe that
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  Speaker 1: or not. Because it's subjective, right? We don't know the
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  Speaker 1: truth one way or the other. Though said that her
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  Speaker 1: autism and PTSD materially affected her ability to process complex, ambiguous,
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  Speaker 1: rapidly changing, and socially mediated information under adversarial pressure. She
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  Speaker 1: added that because she was representing herself in the case,
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  Speaker 1: she'd been exposed through the redaction process to thousands of
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  Speaker 1: pages containing graphic accounts of sexual trauma and intimate medical
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  Speaker 1: and familial information. Doe had initially been represented by lawyers
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  Speaker 1: at the Wigdorff law firm, which is known for representing
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  Speaker 1: sexual assault victims. Her former attorneys withdrew from the case
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  Speaker 1: in April of 2025. And I told you at that point,
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  Speaker 1: things were looking dire. When you have those kind of
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  Speaker 1: lawyers bounce from a case and you end up, you know,
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  Speaker 1: defending yourself pro se in this sort of matter, big trouble.
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  Speaker 1: And that's in the best of times. Black's legal team
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  Speaker 1: said that they intended to continue to pursue litigation against
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  Speaker 1: Wigdor over legal fees, which is a position Wigdor is
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  Speaker 1: expected to challenge. Doe faced significant setbacks over the course
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  Speaker 1: of her lawsuit against Black, but also some victories. Clark,
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  Speaker 1: the judge, who was presiding over the lawsuit, sanctioned Doe
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  Speaker 1: and her former lawyer at Wigdor in April for serious
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  Speaker 1: sanctionable misconduct in the case, and said the lawyer had
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  Speaker 1: repeatedly lied to the court and opposing counsel. but the
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  Speaker 1: judge also ruled at the time that the high-stakes lawsuit
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  Speaker 1: could proceed. And look, if that's the case and that's true,
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  Speaker 1: she was cooked from the jump. If Wigdor's out here
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  Speaker 1: lying about things, obviously, that's going to get caught eventually,
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  Speaker 1: especially when you're going up against someone like Susan Estrich.
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  Speaker 1: So you have to make sure that you're, you know,
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  Speaker 1: dotting all your I's and crossing your T's. The case
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  Speaker 1: was dismissed with prejudice, which means Doe cannot bring the
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  Speaker 1: matter to court again. The Guardian sought a comment from
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  Speaker 1: Doe But she did not reply to an email request.
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  Speaker 1: She's not going to and she shouldn't. At this point,
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  Speaker 1: she has nothing to gain. So if I was her,
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  Speaker 1: I wouldn't say shit to the media. As far as
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  Speaker 1: Leon Black, there's no sugarcoating it, right? This is a
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  Speaker 1: big victory for him. And now he can point back
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  Speaker 1: to this and say, look, you see, I told you
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  Speaker 1: I did nothing wrong. I'm the real victim here. And
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  Speaker 1: that's going to be the storyline and the narrative that
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  Speaker 1: Leon Black tries to push. Unfortunately for him, we all
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  Speaker 1: know better. And while this might close one chapter of
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  Speaker 1: the Epstein story for Leon Black, there are many other
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  Speaker 1: chapters that have yet to be written. And as the
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  Speaker 1: story plays out, like usual, we'll be here every step
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  Speaker 1: of the way. All the information that goes with this
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  Speaker 1: episode can be found in the description box.