A Democratic senator and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee is calling for a probe into the embattled financier and Museum of Modern Art trustee Leon Black over payments he made to sex predator Jeffrey Epstein.
Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden accused the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of failing to audit financial transactions between the former chief executive of Apollo Global Management and Epstein. In a letter sent last month to Trump-appointed IRS Commissioner Billy Long, Wythe suggested that an investigation by the agency could have revealed that Epstein was not a financial expert, raising questions about his clients’ willingness to pay him millions of dollars for advice.
Black paid Epstein $158 million between 2012 and 2017 for alleged “tax ‘solutions,’” Wyden said, despite the fact that Epstein “lacked any professional training or certifications in accounting or tax law.” The figures Epstein raked in under these services, including $100 million in “ad hoc” payments from Black, far exceeded “expected compensation” for tax planning services, the letter alleges.
Days after the letter was sent, Trump removed Long as IRS commissioner and replaced him with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Black stepped down as chairman of MoMA’s board of trustees in 2021 amid backlash to reports of his financial relationship with Epstein. Over 150 artists, including Nan Goldin and Michael Rakowitz, signed a letter published in Hyperallergic urging the museum to cut ties with Black. He is still on the board, according to MoMA’s website. The museum did not respond to a request for comment.
In 2023, Black was accused of raping a minor who had a developmental disability in Epstein’s townhouse, a charge he vehemently denied. He has also faced two additional accusations of sexual misconduct, which he also denied.
Reached by email, a spokesperson for Black denied any wrongdoing in the billionaire’s relationship with Epstein, citing the findings of an “independent review” by the law firm Dechert ordered by Apollo Global Management’s board in 2020.
“They spent several months reviewing 60,000 documents and interviewing more than a dozen individuals. It concluded that Mr. Black had not engaged in any wrongdoing, had no awareness of Epstein’s criminal activity, and all of the fees paid were for legitimate tax, estate, and philanthropy planning services and were vetted and approved by outside law firms,” Black’s spokesperson said.
However, Wyden claimed Epstein’s work for Black was bereft of legitimate business contracts in his July letter.
“Perhaps most glaring, the majority of the payments from Black to Epstein, approximately $100 million, were made on an ‘ad hoc’ basis without any form of written contract or business services agreement,” Wyden said in his letter.
Some of this money was allegedly used to fund Epstein’s activities in the US Virgin Islands, where the billionaire owned a private island that he allegedly used in his sex trafficking operation. Black, in a settlement, paid $62.5 million in exchange for his release from future legal actions related to his relationship with Epstein in the US Virgin Islands.
