Leon Black told the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Friday that he had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes during the years he paid the convicted sex offender tens of millions of dollars, according to a copy of his prepared remarks.
The interview was conducted behind closed doors and was transcribed, and the committee is expected to release a transcript at a later date.
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote to the committee demanding they ask Black about roughly $170 million in payments to Epstein between 2012 and 2017, and said, "He stonewalled repeatedly. We just haven't gotten the answers that are responsive."
An attorney for Black wrote in an April letter that documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act "do not contain any credible evidence that Mr. Black was aware of, or involved with, Mr. Epstein's then-ongoing criminal activities." The law firm Dechert LLP, which conducted an independent review for Apollo, said it found "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" and reported it examined tens of thousands of documents and interviewed more than 20 witnesses.
Dechert also concluded that Black paid Epstein $158 million and reported that the tax work Epstein performed produced billions of dollars in savings and had been vetted by reputable law and accounting firms; Black said he had believed the net fees he paid over five years were $95 million but that the actual amount was $158 million and that Epstein had told him the fees were tax-deductible "60-cent dollars," a claim Black said later proved false and that he was duped out of more than $60 million in advisory fees.
In his prepared remarks Black said he knew Epstein for 18 years before he began paying him in 2013 for tax and estate planning, acknowledged he was aware of Epstein's 2008 sex crime conviction and said Epstein told him it was an isolated incident resulting from a fake ID; Black said he gave Epstein a second chance five years after the conviction and fired him in 2018 after growing tired of what Black called Epstein's relentless pursuit of more money and his failure to repay most of a $30 million demand loan.
House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) told reporters he believed Black's testimony had "the potential to be the most groundbreaking" of anything the panel has heard in its long-running Epstein investigation and said the committee had reason to believe Black had signed nondisclosure agreements with some of Epstein's victims. Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, said there are "numerous allegations of real abuse by women." A judge recently found that the law firm representing some of Black's accusers and a plaintiff in one case had been engaged in "serious, sanctionable misconduct," though that lawsuit was allowed to proceed.
Emails released by the committee show Epstein was involved in Black's personal matters while advising on wealth management; one Epstein email suggested, "Choose method of message delivery, my choice. - two highly respected former ---- fill in the blank, immigration, scotland yard. sfo. . who may knock on her door and present the terms."
Court records show Black had a six-year affair with a former Russian model that ended in acrimony and allegations of abuse, and that Black prepared a nondisclosure agreement in 2015 that later broke down, leading to lawsuits and countersuits; court filings show he discussed the agreement with Epstein and a private investigator.
A Justice Department document titled "PROMINENT NAMES" listed allegations under Black's name, including that "Epstein told [name redacted] to give Black a massage while Black was naked" and that "another female gave Black a massage and he made her perform oral sex," and the document did not indicate investigators had verified the allegations.
Three women have sued Black for alleged sexual abuse; one suit has been dismissed, one withdrawn and one remains pending. Black has denied the allegations, and his lawyers said the claims were false and that the released documents showed Epstein had "embellished, exaggerated and lied about Mr Black."