Leon Black, the chairman and chief executive of private equity giant Apollo Global Management, told investors Monday he will step down as CEO "on or before my 70th birthday in July," after an independent review revealed that he paid disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein $158 million over a five-year period ending in 2017. The amount Black paid Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex-trafficking charges, was larger than expected. Black will stay on as chairman.
Apollo's board had ordered the inquiry at Black's request in October, after The New York Times reported he paid Epstein at least $75 million, bringing unwelcome scrutiny to the company. The review, conducted by the law firm Dechert LLP, found no evidence that Black had participated in any of Epstein's criminal activities or been introduced by Epstein to any underage girls. Black viewed Epstein as a "confirmed bachelor with eclectic tastes," the report found, and believed he deserved a second chance and had "served his time" after pleading guilty to a prostitution charge with a teenage girl in 2008.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Black confounded Apollo with two younger partners, Marc Rowan and Joshua Harris, in the early 1990s from the ashes of notorious junk bond financier Michael Milken's investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert. In an unexpected move, the semi-retired Rowan will take over as CEO when Black steps down. Harris had urged Black to resign immediately in a series of meetings Sunday, arguing that his poor judgment in consorting with Epstein and funding his depraved lifestyle posed an urgent risk to Apollo's reputation, the Times reports.
-
Disney bets big on AI but not everyone sees a winnerTalking Points The company will allow users to create their own AI content on Disney+
-
The Beast in Me: a ‘gleefully horrible story’The Week Recommends Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys star in a ‘gleefully horrible story’
-
Comey grand jury never saw final indictmentSpeed Read This ‘drove home just how slapdash’ the case is, said The New York Times
-
US mints final penny after 232-year runSpeed Read Production of the one-cent coin has ended
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
