Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
Black had a friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. For Epstein's 50th birthday greeting album that was compiled in 2003 by Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell, Black contributed a "handwritten poem with a rhyme scheme" which included the acronym "V.F.P.C." which stood for "Vanity Fair Poster Child". This was in reference to a profile of Epstein that was being written for the magazine. The poem contained the lines "Blonde, Red or Brunette, spread out geographically/With this net of fish, Jeff’s now The Old Man and The Sea". He signed the poem "Love and kisses, Leon".
In 2009, Black contributed $60 million in a settlement with Huntsman Corporation after Apollo was sued for backing out of a merger the previous year. In 2021, Black stepped down as CEO and chairman after Dechert LLP, which had been retained several months earlier by Apollo to investigate Black's dealings with Epstein, published a report finding that Black had paid $158 million to Epstein between 2012 and 2017 for advice on taxes and estate planning. In 2022, Black included Josh Harris in a civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) lawsuit, alleging that he led a group within Apollo attempting to tarnish his reputation after his ties to Epstein were reported. Federal judge Paul Engelmayer dismissed the suit for lack of evidence, with an appeals court upholding the decision in 2023.
In 2019, Black stated that he maintained a "limited relationship" with Epstein. However, Epstein's calendar showed that between 2013 and 2017 he had more than 100 meetings with Black, typically held at Epstein's townhouse.
In 1997, Black appointed Epstein as one of the trustees of his Foundation. In his 2020 letter to Apollo investors, Black said that Epstein provided him with "estate planning, tax and philanthropic advice" to his "family partnership and other related family entities". The New York Times reported that Black had paid Epstein at least $50 million for such services from 2012 to 2017. Black did not at the time confirm the $50 million sum reported by The New York Times, but said that he paid Epstein "millions of dollars annually for his work". In October 2020, Black requested that the Apollo board conduct an independent review of his relationship with Epstein, and it retained the law firm Dechert LLP to do so. Black has said that he "deeply regrets" his relationship with Epstein.
The review conducted by Dechert LLP was released on January 25, 2021. It showed that Black had paid Epstein around $158 million from 2012 through 2017 for financial services. Using Epstein's tax avoidance strategies, Black saved at least $1.3 billion in taxes. Black pledged his intention to donate $200 million to women's initiatives. In 2023, Black paid $62.5 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands to be released from claims related to Epstein. In July 2023, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee made public that it was investigating Black's tax strategies and dealings with Epstein.
In July 2025, Senator Ron Wyden, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, called on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate potential tax evasion related to Black's payments to Epstein, urging the Justice Department to subpoena Epstein-related records from Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Deutsche Bank. In March 2026, Wyden released new information establishing that Black had paid Epstein a total of $170 million (not $158 million as previously reported) after Senate investigators discovered an additional $12 million in transfers that had been missed by the earlier Apollo-commissioned Dechert review.
According to a 2026 report by the New York Times, Black had paid Epstein a total of $170 million by 2017 for what Black said were tax and estate work. According to the Times, the sum far exceeded what "elite" law or accounting firms charge for such work. The Times reported that Epstein did not just provide tax and estate work, but helped Black dispense money to women, with at least $20 million going to a dozen women, with some of whom Black had sexual relations.
In June 2026, Black appeared voluntarily for a closed-door transcribed interview before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Black told the committee that Epstein had "duped and deceived" him and denied knowing about Epstein's sex-trafficking activities. He declined to answer broader questions concerning non-disclosure agreements involving women, and the interview ended before the committee had completed its questioning. Committee chairman James Comer subsequently issued two subpoenas, one requiring Black to produce the agreements and another compelling him to return for a deposition. The committee released the transcript of the interview on July 17. Comer has threatened to hold Black in contempt of Congress if the latter does not produce more NDAs.
In July 2026, a committee spokesperson said that Black's attorney had confirmed he would appear for the subpoenaed deposition on September 3, 2026, and would produce the agreements; Comer had said the deposition would be videotaped and taken under oath. Black did not attend the deposition and did not produce the agreements, suing the committee instead. However, on September 3, 2026, Black filed a lawsuit against the House Oversight Committee, stating that the committee was overstepping its authority, and that he would not appear before them or turn over nondisclosure agreements between himself and women.
On August 31, 2026, Representative Thomas Massie named Black, in a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, as one of fourteen people he said had aided Epstein in his crimes, and pressed the Justice Department to release more than three million files it had withheld. Massie said that "perhaps hearing these names will shame the Department of Justice into delivering justice", and described those he named as co-conspirators. PBS News Hour noted that inclusion in the released Epstein files does not in itself indicate wrongdoing.
In September 2026, the financial journalist William D. Cohan published Money to Burn: The Unvarnished Truth About Leon Black, Apollo, and the Rise of a New Wall Street, a biography drawing on interviews with Black that were first published in Puck. Cohan's account attributes Black's downfall to his own conduct and credulity rather than to complicity in Epstein's crimes, and Cohan described the book as in part a rebuttal of the press coverage of Black. A spokesman for The New York Times said the paper had "covered Leon Black fairly and accurately, and the reporting has stood up through all the Epstein revelations that followed". Cohan noted that the congressional scrutiny of Black's payments to women emerged late in the book's production.
