NEW YORK — A Latest York state judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit accusing Apollo Global Management Inc. co-founder Leon Black of defaming a girl by falsely claiming she tried to extort him after accusing him of rape.
Judge David Cohen said the accuser, Guzel Ganieva, couldn’t pursue her claims after receiving $9.5 million from Black in a confidentiality agreement that followed their six-year relationship that led to 2014.
Black, 71, denied having raped or misbehaved with Ganieva, who’s about three a long time younger.
Black left Apollo in 2021.
Cohen said Ganieva’s acceptance of Black’s payment and decision to not challenge the non-disclosure agreement prevented her from claiming she signed it under duress.
A Manhattan judge also found no evidence that Ganieva, a single mother and former Russian model, misunderstood the agreement.
“The NDA clearly and unambiguously covers all claims arising out of the parties’ relationship, past or future,” Cohen wrote.
Ganieva fired her law firm in March and selected to represent herself, court records show.
She didn’t immediately reply to a message left on the phone number listed for her home in Manhattan.
“I made it clear from the start that Ms Ganieva’s allegations against me were false,” Black said in an announcement. “I’m glad the reality has come out and justice has been done.”
The lawsuit stemmed from a March 2021 interview by which Black said he had “stupidly had an affair” with Ganieva and that she had forced her threats to go public.
He was responding to Twitter posts by which Ganieva accused him of sexually harassing and abusing her through the years.
Black is price $8.8 billion, in line with Forbes magazine.
He continues to be facing a lawsuit from one other woman, Cheri Pierson, who accused him of raping her 20 years ago on the mansion of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein in Manhattan.
Susan Estrich, Black’s lawyer, in an interview after Cohen’s decision, said Pierson’s lawsuit, like Ganieva’s, had no merit and “probably will likely be dismissed.”