Woman drops lawsuit against Leon Black alleging rape at Jeffrey Epstein mansion

• A woman who had accused Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black of raping her at the New York mansion of the late sex predator Jeffrey Epstein has agreed to drop her civil lawsuit against Black.
• The suit by the woman, Cheri Pierson, was "discontinued with prejudice and without costs to any party as against the other," a Manhattan Supreme Court filing Friday reveals.
• Black, in a statement provided to CNBC, said, "I have never met Ms. Pierson. I have no further comment."

A woman who had accused Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black of raping her at the New York mansion of the late sex predator Jeffrey Epstein has agreed to drop her civil lawsuit against Black.

The suit by the woman, Cheri Pierson, was "discontinued with prejudice and without costs to any party as against the other," according to a Manhattan Supreme Court filing Friday signed by her lawyer and Black's attorney.

That notation means that Pierson cannot resurrect her legal claims against the billionaire investor Black in connection with the purported attack at Epstein's Upper East Side residence in 2002.

It also means that Black did not make a payment to settle the case.

Black had denied Pierson's allegation, filed in November 2022, that he had raped her in a suite at Epstein's mansion, where she had gone "believing that she would give Black a massage and receive the money that had been promised her in exchange," according to her complaint.

Black, in a statement provided to CNBC on Monday, said, "I have never met Ms. Pierson. I have no further comment."

Black's lawyer, Danya Perry, in her own statement, said, "This matter has been dismissed with prejudice. I will make no further comment."

A spokeswoman for Wigdor LLP, the law firm that had