Leon Black to Testify on Epstein Ties After Paying $62.5 Million Settlement

Leon Black is scheduled to testify Friday before the House Oversight Committee on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. ” Black and Epstein began a business relationship in the 1990s after being introduced by a mutual friend. Epstein later served as a director of Black’s family foundation and as his financial adviser.

In a 2014 email, Epstein wrote to Black: “Leon, as you are well aware, there is little I won’t do for you or at least try to do as a friend. )” Black’s attorney Susan Estrich stated that an independent review commissioned by Apollo Global Management examined more than 60,000 documents and interviewed more than 20 people, including Black.

The review concluded that Black paid Epstein only for tax and real estate planning advice for his family office, that the work was vetted by law and accounting firms, and that Black had no awareness of Epstein’s criminal activities leading to his 2019 arrest.

Apollo Global Management disclosed that Black paid Epstein hundreds of millions of dollars for financial advice from 2012 through 2017. Black stepped down as CEO of Apollo in 2021. In 2023 he agreed to pay $62.5 million to the U.S.

Virgin Islands to settle a three-year investigation into Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. Sen. ” In one email cited by Wyden, Epstein provided the location of a woman on Black’s payroll to a Russian government operative.

Black faces ongoing civil litigation. A 2023 lawsuit by a woman known as “Jane Doe” alleging sexual abuse when she was a teenager remains active after a federal judge sanctioned the plaintiff and her attorneys in April for falsifying evidence but allowed the case to proceed.