Key takeaways:
- Leon Black is scheduled to appear Friday before the House Oversight Committee in its investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.
- Black paid Epstein roughly $170 million between 2012 and 2017, which his representatives say was for tax and estate-planning services.
- Black has denied wrongdoing, and an Apollo-commissioned Dechert LLP review found no evidence he or Apollo employees were involved in Epstein’s criminal activities.
Billionaire financier Leon Black is scheduled to testify behind closed doors Friday before the House Oversight Committee as lawmakers investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s network and finances.
Black, the co-founder and former chief executive of Apollo Global Management, has faced years of scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein, the deceased sexual abuser. The committee is expected to release a transcript of the interview later, as it has with prior witnesses.
At the center of lawmakers’ questions are roughly $170 million in payments Black made to Epstein between 2012 and 2017. Black and his representatives have said the money was for tax advice, estate planning and other financial services. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has pressed the committee to question Black about those payments, writing this month that he did not believe Black had given “a credible explanation as to why he paid Epstein amounts that vastly exceeded those paid to other professional advisors involved in his tax and estate planning.”
Asked Thursday whether Black had responded to an earlier letter seeking answers, Wyden told CBS News, “He stonewalled repeatedly. We just haven’t gotten the answers that are responsive.”
Black’s lawyers have denied wrongdoing. In an April letter to Wyden, an attorney for Black said documents released this year under the Epstein Files Transparency Act “do not contain any credible evidence that Mr. Black was aware of, or involved with, Mr. Epstein’s then-ongoing criminal activities.” Another attorney told CBS News in December that an internal Apollo investigation “concluded that Mr. Black paid Epstein for estate planning and tax advice, no more, no less.”
Apollo hired the law firm Dechert LLP in 2020 to review Black’s relationship with Epstein. The firm said it examined more than 60,000 documents and interviewed more than 20 witnesses. Its report found “no evidence that Black or any employee of the Family Office or Apollo was involved in any way with Epstein’s criminal activities at any time,” and said there was “no evidence that Epstein ever introduced Black, or offered to introduce Black, to any underage woman.” It also found no indication Apollo used Epstein’s services or that Epstein invested in any Apollo-controlled fund.
The review did find that Black and others at Apollo and his family office knew Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida state prostitution charges, including procuring a person under 18 for prostitution. It said Black and Epstein maintained a social relationship from the mid-1990s until 2018, and that Black retained Epstein to advise him and his family office on trust and estate planning, taxes and philanthropy.
Documents released in the Epstein disclosures have raised additional questions. The Guardian reported that a Justice Department document titled “PROMINENT NAMES,” part of the FBI’s Epstein investigation, included Black and listed allegations involving massages and sexual conduct. The document does not state that investigators verified the allegations. Black has denied the allegations and any wrongdoing.
Three women have sued Black alleging sexual abuse. He has repeatedly denied the claims. One suit was dismissed, one was withdrawn and one remains pending. Black’s lawyers told The Guardian the allegations were false and that “subsequent events have established with certainty that Mr Black’s account was truthful, and his accusers’ claims were not.”
The Guardian also reported that another Justice Department document said the Manhattan district attorney’s office began looking into allegations against Black. No charges have been brought. Separately, Black agreed to pay $62.5 million to settle a civil investigation by the U.S. Virgin Islands into his ties to Epstein and several women; the agreement stated it could not be cited as evidence of wrongdoing.
Black is one of several wealthy and prominent figures interviewed by the committee, including Bill Gates, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and businessman Les Wexner. Others expected to be interviewed include former Goldman Sachs executive Kathy Ruemmler, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz and former JPMorgan Chase executive Jes Staley.
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