Leon Black and Apollo Global Management
Leon Black co-founded Apollo Global Management in 1990. Apollo grew into one of the largest private equity and alternative asset management firms in the world, managing hundreds of billions of dollars. Black served as CEO and was the firm’s most prominent figure for decades.
Black had a longstanding personal and professional connection to Jeffrey Epstein dating back years before Epstein’s 2008 Florida conviction. Both men moved in similar elite social circles, and Black was among the prominent figures who attended dinners at Epstein’s New York mansion.
The Payments: Amount and Claimed Purpose
Following Epstein’s 2019 arrest and death, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the media began investigating the financial relationships between Epstein and wealthy clients. In 2021, the New York Times reported that Black had paid approximately $50 million to Epstein for advisory services — a figure that Black’s lawyers subsequently revised upward to approximately $158 million as the full scope of the payments became apparent through an ongoing investigation.
Black and his representatives characterized the payments as compensation for legitimate financial advisory services, including:
- Estate planning advice
- Tax optimization strategies
- Epstein’s review of trust structures
- Advisory work on philanthropic vehicles
Black maintained that the payments were for services Epstein genuinely provided and that they represented fair market value for sophisticated financial advisory work.
Independent Review
Under pressure from Apollo’s board, Black agreed to the appointment of an independent third-party law firm — Dechert LLP — to review the payments and determine whether they had been improperly made or represented conflicts of interest. The Dechert review was completed and reported to the Apollo board in early 2021.
According to summaries of the Dechert findings, the review found that the payments were made for legitimate services but acknowledged that the relationship with a convicted sex offender raised reputation concerns and that the volume of payments was unusual. The review did not find that Black had engaged in criminal conduct related to the payments.
Connections Between the Payments and Epstein’s Activities
Critics, journalists, and subsequent litigants in civil cases were skeptical of the advisory services explanation. Points of concern included:
- The payments totaling $158 million were extraordinarily large relative to the claimed services
- Epstein’s documented expertise was primarily social brokerage and connection-making, not sophisticated tax or estate planning
- The payments continued years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction
- Similar “advisory” payment arrangements occurred with another financial figure, Leon Black’s partner at Apollo, raising questions about whether such payments were a pattern
Black’s Resignation
Following the publication of the Dechert review’s conclusions and the continued public controversy, Leon Black announced in March 2021 that he would step down as CEO of Apollo, accelerating a previously announced transition plan. He cited the distraction of the controversy and the reputational concerns about Apollo as the reasons.
Black has continued to deny any knowledge of or participation in Epstein’s criminal activities.
Broader Significance
The Black-Epstein financial relationship was the largest documented financial transaction between Epstein and a named client. It provided the clearest evidence that Epstein had a substantial income stream from at least one ultra-high-net-worth individual that could be quantified in litigation, and it demonstrated the potential scope of the “advisory services” business model that may have supplemented or replaced his purported hedge fund income.