- Apollo CEO Leon Black is resigning following an investigation into his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
- The independent review unearthed $158 million in payments to Epstein and his charity.
- It also concluded neither Black nor Apollo employees were involved in Epstein’s criminal activities.
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Apollo Global Management CEO Leon Black is stepping down following the results of an independent investigation into his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the firm announced Monday.
“Chairman and CEO Leon Black has informed the Board of Directors that he will retire as CEO effective on or before July 31, 2021 consistent with best-in-class governance practices,” Apollo said in a statement Monday, adding that co-founder Marc Rowan would take over as CEO, while Black would remain as Chairman.
The review, conducted by the law firm Dechert, found Black had paid $158 million to Epstein from 2012 to 2017 for a “variety of issues related to trust and estate planning, tax, philanthropy, and the operation of the Family Office.
Dechert’s investigation also found neither Black, nor any employees of Apollo or Black’s family office were involved with any of Epstein’s criminal activity, and that “there is no evidence that Epstein ever introduced Black, or offered to introduce Black, to any underage woman,” though it noted that Black and Epstein continued to communicate until October 2018.
Former financier Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in 2019 on suspicion of trafficking dozens of underage girls as young as 14 in the early 2000s, before dying while in federal prison.
Epstein was the sole director of Black's family foundation for more than a decade, and stayed on even after pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution in 2008.