A law firm that represented multiple women who accused former Jeffrey Epstein associate Leon Black of sexual misconduct alleged in a Manhattan civil suit on Monday that the powerful financier deployed “multiple frivolous and malicious lawsuits” as retaliation for representing these accusers.

Wigdor LLP claimed Black, who co-founded and formerly chaired Apollo Global Management, tried “to use his billions to buy his own form of justice” and “to weaponize the civil justice system to silence and destroy those who seek to hold him to account for alleged sexual assault”. Black has emphatically denied all wrongdoing.

Lawyers for Black also strongly disputed the claims made in Wigdor’s suit. “This lawsuit is another bogus attempt by Wigdor to attack Mr Black under false pretenses,” said Black’s attorney, Susan Estrich of Estrich Goldin.