The billionaire financier Leon Black is scheduled to appear before the House committee on oversight. reform on Friday morning as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
The interview will be conducted behind closed doors. though the committee is expected to release a transcript at a later date, as it has done with previous interviews.
The former Apollo Global Management CEO has faced questions over his past ties to Epstein for years, with scrutiny intensifying after the justice department released millions of records related to Epstein late last year. earlier this year. In 2021, Black stepped down as chairman and chief executive of Apollo Global Management.
According to a report commissioned by Apollo several years ago, Epstein provided financial services to Black between 2012 and 2017. After Epstein pleaded guilty to Florida state prostitution charges in 2008. including procuring a minor, Black became Epstein’s largest client, paying him a total of roughly $170m in fees, according to an investigation by the Senate finance committee. Black has described his work for Epstein as tax and estate-planning services.
According to a copy of Black’s prepared remarks to Congress that was viewed by the Guardian. Black wrote that he is appearing “to set the record straight about my relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and, in particular, why I paid him the money I did”.
“I knew Epstein for 18 years before I paid him a dime,” the statement read, adding: “By the time I first paid Epstein in 2013, I knew him to possess an unrivaled network of relationships with individuals in finance, academia, science, politics,. more.
“I also knew him to possess a remarkable acumen about tax, insurance,. trusts and estates matters,” Black wrote, adding that he “paid Epstein for his bona fide advice on these matters, in addition to helping to manage and improve the operation of my nascent Family Office”.
“With the benefit of hindsight,” Black said. “I now know, as does the world, that Epstein was engaged in horrific, sordid activities. I feel terrible for Epstein’s victims.”
In his statement. Black wrote: “I did not know about this nefarious activity until Epstein was charged with trafficking in July 2019”. But Black acknowledged. he did know about Epstein pleading guilty in “2008 to state charges relating to prostitution involving a minor”.
“Epstein told me that it was an isolated incident resulting from a fake ID,” Black said. “Five years after his conviction, I gave Epstein a second chance, as did many others. I wish I had not.”
Among the documents released by the justice department earlier this year was a document titled “PROMINENT NAMES”, which included Black. The document was part of the FBI’s investigation into Epstein, though it is unclear for whom the presentation was prepared,. it does not indicate or state that investigators verified any of the allegations referenced within it against the named men.
Under Black’s name, the document lists several allegations, including one claim that “Epstein told [name redacted] to give Black a massage while Black was naked.” Another allegation states that “another female gave Black a massage. he made her perform oral sex.” Black has denied the allegations and any wrongdoing.
In his prepared remarks on Friday, Black wrote: “Let me state unequivocally that I have never abused a woman. I have never been with an underage woman. I have never engaged in sex trafficking. I have never paid Epstein for access to women. I was never blackmailed by Epstein. I was not involved with, and had no knowledge of, any of Epstein’s heinous conduct.”
Three women have sued Black for alleged sexual abuse, allegations that Black has repeatedly denied. One of the suits has been dismissed, one was withdrawn and one remains pending. Lawyers for Black have told the Guardian in a statement that the misconduct allegations raised against Black were false,. that “subsequent events have established with certainty that Mr Black’s account was truthful, and his accusers’ claims were not.”
Black denied the allegations against him in his prepared remarks on Friday, calling the lawsuits “demonstrably baseless”. claiming that the allegations were “entirely fabricated”.
Another justice department document in the Epstein disclosures stated. the “Manhattan district attorney’s office began looking into allegations against Leon Black.” No charges have ever been brought against Black.
Separately, the US Virgin Islands conducted a civil investigation into Black’s ties to Epstein and several women. In that case, Black agreed to pay $62.5m in a settlement to the territory. “The terms of this Agreement shall not be cited by any person as evidence of wrongdoing by Black,” the agreement stated.
The New York Times also reported this year that, according to the released justice department records, Epstein introduced Black to women on several occasions,. counseled Black on paying millions of dollars to several women while suggesting ways to obscure the payments.
A spokesperson for Black declined to comment to the Times on the payments. In a separate statement to the newspaper, Black’s lawyers said that the justice department documents “make clear that Mr Epstein embellished, exaggerated. lied about Mr Black” and said that Black was not aware of Epstein’s sex trafficking or that he paid any women on Black’s behalf.
In 2020, Apollo hired the law firm Dechert LLP to conduct an independent review into Black’s relationship with Epstein. The firm, which said it pored over 60,000 documents. interviewed more than 20 witnesses, claimed it saw “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”.
The report also concluded that there was “no evidence that Epstein ever introduced Black, or offered to introduce Black, to any underage woman”,. it said that there was “no indication” that Apollo used Epstein’s services or that he invested in any Apollo-controlled fund.
According to the report, Black and Epstein maintained a social relationship from the mid-1990s until 2018. Black, per the report, retained Epstein to provide advising services to him. his family office on issues such as trust and estate planning, taxes and philanthropy.
In his opening remarks, Black wrote, without providing additional detail, that “Epstein solved a massive estate problem for me, that none of the experts. lawyers I consulted had been able to solve,” adding: “It was a problem that would have destroyed enormous value for my family and in Apollo, the company I had founded.”
Black also wrote that Epstein had told him that “the fees I was paying him were tax-deductible. ‘60-cent dollars’, which I only learned years later was not true”.
“With hindsight, I now see that Epstein exaggerated, embellished, manipulated. outright lied – prolifically and without concern for me or my family,” Black stated.
Black says that he fired Epstein in 2018, “after growing tired of his relentless pursuit of more. more money from me for professional service, his mistruths and misrepresentations regarding the ‘60 cent fee’ payments, and his failure to repay most of a $30m demand loan that I had made to him”.
The House oversight. reform committee sent a letter to Black in March, asking him to sit for an interview as part of its investigation into Epstein. Later that month, Ron Wyden, a Democrat senator, alleged in a letter that the justice department records related to Epstein suggested that “Epstein may have served as a ‘fixer’ regarding women who were paid tens of millions of dollars in exchange for their silence,”. accused Black of using Epstein to conceal such payments.
In another letter from June that the Oregon senator sent to the leaders of the House oversight committee ahead of Black’s testimony, Wyden said that the committee’s “planned deposition of Mr Black under oath presents a unique opportunity to get answers from one of Epstein’s largest benefactors. a major source of funding for Epstein’s criminal network.”
Black’s representatives have rejected Wyden’s claims against Black, calling them “outrageous. false” and said that Wyden’s accusations were meant to serve “his own selfish political interests”.
“Mr Black paid Epstein for tax. estate planning work and he had no awareness of Epstein’s criminal activity,” a spokesman for Black told the Wall Street Journal in March. “He looks forward to answering the committee’s questions, providing additional clarity and furthering their work.”
In his prepared opening statement on Friday, Black concluded by saying that he wishes he “had never met Epstein”.
“I regret ever doing business with him,” he wrote. “My association with him, the frivolous but destructive litigation, the endless rumor mill, have created a toxic environment for my wife. family, which I deeply regret.”
“I am here to voluntarily answer questions about the work that Epstein did for me. for the services for which I paid him,” the statement read. “I am not here to answer questions about my personal life which would be hurtful to my wife, children. family.”
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