Roy Black, the prominent criminal defense attorney who helped secure Jeffrey Epstein’s 2008 plea deal, has died at the age of 80, his family confirmed.
Black passed away at his home in Coral Gables, Florida, on Monday after battling an illness, his wife Lea Black told People magazine.
“Thank you for all your blessings,” the Real Housewives of Miami alum wrote on Instagram on Tuesday. “We will be announcing details for a tribute and celebration in a few weeks.”
Black first gained national attention in 1991 when he secured an acquittal for former President John F. Kennedy’s nephew, William Kennedy Smith, in a high-profile rape trial – a watershed moment for criminal defense, as the proceedings were broadcast live on national television.
The attorney went on to play a central role in Epstein’s legal defense as the financier was investigated in 2006 for multiple sex crimes involving dozens of underage girls.
Rather than face federal indictment, Black and Epstein’s lawyers negotiated a non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in 2007, which was finalized in 2008.
Under the deal, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution with a minor and received a 13-month jail sentence and was registered as a sex offender.
Black had represented a string of high-profile clients ranging from pop star Justin Bieber to race car driver Helio Castroneves. Most of the time, he was on the winning side, as noted by the Associated Press in their reporting.
His clientele and courtroom success made him a regular on the Today Show and Larry King Live.
Prominent attorneys and Black’s former colleagues have praised him for his exceptional legal skill and courtroom expertise.
“Roy Black was the greatest criminal lawyer of our generation, perhaps in American history, achieving acquittals over a span of 50 years in some of the most challenging and notorious cases of all time,” partner of three decades at Black Srebnick, Howard Srebnick, told the Miami Herald.
Srebnick’s colleague David O. Markus said that Black was the “GOAT” – greatest of all time – among Miami’s criminal attorneys.
“This one really hurts,” he wrote on his Southern District of Florida blog. “He was 80. And he really was the GOAT of criminal defense lawyers. There are so many of us that want to be Roy in the courtroom – commanding, persuasive, funny. “
