Jeffrey Epstein Earned Millions from Wall St. Titan Leon Black

New emails show how the financier Jeffrey Epstein profited immensely from his close ties with Leon Black, his longtime friend and client, whom he consistently pressured to fork over millions of dollars for financial services and advice on how to handle scandals, Matthew Goldstein, David Enrich, Steve Eder, and Jessica Silver-Greenberg reported for The New York Times.

Black, then the chairman of the board of Apollo Global Management, had tried to avoid paying Epstein $40 million a year for various advisory work after Epstein’s first Florida indictment related to charges of underage sex. (Screenshot: Milken Institute) 

For years, Epstein had relied on the billionaire Black as his primary source of income, advising him on everything from taxes to his world-class art collection. But by 2016, Black seemed reluctant to keep paying him tens of millions of dollars a year.

Black, then the chairman of the board of Apollo Global Management, had tried to avoid paying Epstein $40 million a year for various advisory work after Epstein’s first Florida indictment related to charges of underage sex, Adam Lynch also reported for AlterNet.

“So Mr. Epstein threw a tantrum,” The Times reported.

“The typo-strewn tirade was one of dozens of previously unreported emails … in which Mr. Epstein hectored Mr. Black, at times demanding tens of millions of dollars beyond the $150 million he had already been paid.”

Epstein wrote that one of Black’s other financial advisers had created “a really dangerous mess.”

Another was “a waste of money and space.” He even attacked Black’s children as “retarded” for supposedly making a mess of his estate.

“The two men had been personally entwined for more than two decades. When a former girlfriend accused Mr. Black of sexual assault, he turned to Mr. Epstein for advice about paying her millions of dollars to keep it quiet,” The Times reported.

“Another woman said in a lawsuit that Mr. Black had raped her at Mr. Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse. She eventually dropped the lawsuit.” Black also wired hundreds of thousands of dollars to at least three women who were associated with Epstein.