Leon Black

Billionaire co-founder of Apollo Global Management, one of the world's largest private equity firms. Between 2012 and 2017, Black paid Jeffrey Epstein at least $170 million for tax and estate planning advice, all after Epstein's 2008 sex crime conviction. Payments flowed to two Epstein-controlled entities in the U.S.

Virgin Islands: Southern Trust Company and Financial Trust Company, averaging roughly $8 million per wire transfer. The $170 million figure was identified by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee in March 2025, exceeding the $158 million found by the independent Dechert LLP review Apollo's board commissioned.

That review concluded Epstein's advice generated over $1 billion in value for Black but did not examine whether the payments constituted taxable gifts rather than deductible expenses. Black stepped down as Apollo CEO in January 2021 and departed as chairman in March 2021. In January 2023, he paid $62.5 million to the USVI Attorney General and obtained criminal immunity from prosecution for himself and his agents in the territory.

The settlement agreement states that "Jeffrey Epstein used the money Black paid him to partially fund his operations in the Virgin Islands." EFTA emails show Epstein brought Black to Harvard in April 2012 to meet evolutionary biologist Martin Nowak. After Harvard banned direct Epstein donations, Epstein brokered $9.5 million from outside donors to Nowak's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics and George Church's lab. Black and his family foundation contributed $7 million to Nowak after an Epstein introduction, with no prior relationship.

DOJ Dataset 9 emails released January 2026 reveal Epstein coordinated a $5 million gift from the Leon Black Family Foundation to MIT Media Lab; in an April 2014 email to Media Lab director Joi Ito, Epstein wrote "he is head of Apollo, will be giving the media lab 1million very soon." MIT's The Tech reported in February 2026 that the 2020 Goodwin Procter investigation had missed this email evidence. An FBI FD-302 report records a 2020 witness interview alleging Black sexually abused a model in 2008 and flew her to Epstein's Florida residence. Cheri Pierson filed suit in 2022 accusing Black of rape at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse; the case was discontinued in 2024.

Guzel Ganieva alleged in 2021 that Black took her to meet Epstein in Palm Beach around October 2008; her suit was dismissed. Black appears in 82 documents alongside Minor Victim 4 in the EFTA record. On March 2, 2026, a shareholder securities class action was filed in the Southern District of New York against Apollo, Black, and co-CEO Marc Rowan, alleging they concealed Epstein business ties from investors.

On March 11, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff ruled that Black could be deposed by Epstein survivors in their civil lawsuit against Bank of America, which alleges the bank ignored suspicious $170 million payments Black sent to Epstein from Bank of America accounts. That trial is scheduled for May 2026.

Black denied all allegations and pledged $200 million toward survivor-support initiatives. Epstein also coordinated financial arrangements between Black and Ukrainian art adviser Anastasiya Siroochenko. Between 2011 and 2015, Black or his entities transferred at least $2.5 million to Siroochenko, classified as "gifts," while she simultaneously served as his art adviser through Sublime Art LLC.

Epstein oversaw the documentation and tax treatment of these transfers through at least 2018, according to EFTA records and reporting by OCCRP.