Apollo CEO, co-founder Leon Black may have funneled as much as $75M to Jeffrey Epstein
New reports suggest that Apollo CEO Leon Black may have funneled as much as $75 million to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein before supposedly cutting ties in 2018.
The initial report published by the New York Times uncovers
a number of alleged payments from Black to Epstein made through several
companies.
A company that owned Black’s yacht wired $22.5 million to a
company in 2017 that managed Epstein’s private jet – a move that raised
questions at Deutsche Bank, the report said.
Other transactions passed through Black-owned businesses,
according to the report, including a company that Black used to buy much of his
billion-dollar art collection. The total amount of money that Black may have
funneled to Epstein is around $75 million, which may have allowed Epstein to
continue building wealth following his first criminal case.
Black owns roughly 23% of Apollo Management Group, according
to a Forbes profile on the financier. He also chairs the New York Museum of
Modern Art and serves as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Since the initial subpoena of Black in August, Apollo's
stock has steadily declined, falling from around $54 a share to around $42 a
share in late September. The stock started to rally over the past couple of
weeks, but these revelations may rock the stock's value again.
Apollo accordingly moved swiftly to distance both Black and
itself from Epstein’s dealings.
“Apollo never did any business with Mr. Epstein,” a
spokesperson for Black said in a statement to FOX Business. “We understand that
the U.S. Virgin Islands attorney general is seeking information from Mr. Black,
several major banks and others as third-party witnesses in a civil probe of
entities set up by Mr. Epstein in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Mr. Black intends to
cooperate fully with any such inquiry.”
U.S. Virgin Islands officials subpoenaed Black in August as
part of an ongoing lawsuit that Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise N.
George filed against the Epstein estate. The investigation renews allegations
of sexual misconduct by Epstein in the Virgin Islands as recently as last year
– up to his arrest in the summer of 2019.
The spokesperson noted that it is important to say that
Black is not being investigated for anything. He continues to be “appalled” by
Epstein’s conduct, which led to the 2019 criminal charges.
“He deeply regrets having any involvement with [Epstein],”
the statement added.
Black is the billionaire CEO and co-founder of Apollo Global
Management and was at least associated with Epstein over a period of six years.
He has been dragged into the Epstein lawsuit as a third-party witness due to
business ties between the two men over that period, which lasted between 2012
and 2018, reportedly ending “as a result of a fee dispute.”
Following Epstein’s 2005 arrest on allegations of unlawful
sex with minors and sexual abuse, a grand jury charged him with one count of
felony solicitation of prostitution, to which Epstein pled not guilty in August
2006.
Many of Epstein’s associates deserted him following that
case, but Black reportedly sought Epstein’s services in 2012, along with
“several financial and legal advisers” on a number of issues related to
“personal trusts and estates planning advice.”
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