Epstein files truck parks at MoMA in protest over Leon Black
A truck packed with 440 bound books of Epstein files parked near the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York on 6 October, in a direct call for the museum to cut ties with billionaire trustee Leon Black.
The one-day popup brought survivors, activists and paperwork to the doorstep of one of the world's most visited museums. It stayed for a day.
The vehicle, called the Bookmobile, is run by the Institute for Primary Facts. Survivors attended alongside organisers from that group and from the advocacy organisation UltraViolet, according to The Art Newspaper in its report published on 7 October 2026. Organisers hung a banner that set out Black's ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including a US$158 million payment for tax work.
Black is a longtime MoMA trustee, a board member who helps govern the museum, and a former chairman of its board. In September 2026, the House of Representatives in Washington found him in contempt of Congress, a formal penalty for refusing to cooperate, after he did not take part in an inquiry into his relationship with Epstein.
The Bookmobile is the travelling version of a reading room that opened in Tribeca, New York, in May 2026 with 3.5 million documents relating to Epstein and US President Donald Trump. The truck includes volumes focused on references to Trump. It began a US tour in Dallas, with stops in Texas, Iowa and Nebraska, and organisers planned talks and performances by artists, politicians and survivors around the displays.
More than two dozen people gathered down the street from MoMA on 6 October calling for Black's removal, Hyperallergic reported. Those protesters accused the museum of helping to clean up his public image.
It was not the first such demonstration. In September, protesters outside MoMA handed out zines, small self-published pamphlets, that laid out Black's links to Epstein and described several sexual assault allegations against Black. Those allegations were presented by protesters and have not been determined by a court. MoMA's own publications list Black across several years as a donor and as a member of trustee committees on education and learning.
For visitors, this means the argument is about governance, not galleries. Who sits on the board decides budgets, appointments and policy for the collection the public sees.
