Sen. Wyden Sets Deadline for Leon Black on $170 Million Epstein Payments

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) set an April 13 deadline for Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black to respond to detailed questions about $170 million in payments Black made to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, the Senate Finance Committee announced.¹

Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee, said his investigation had uncovered evidence suggesting that some of the payments may have been used to fund hush money payments to women and that the overall payment structure raised indicators of possible money laundering.¹

The Payments

Black has previously acknowledged paying Epstein approximately $158 million for tax and estate planning services between 2012 and 2017. However, Wyden’s investigation identified additional payments that brought the total closer to $170 million, a figure Black’s representatives have not publicly disputed.¹

In a letter to Black released by the Finance Committee, Wyden wrote that the committee had obtained financial records showing a pattern of payments that “do not appear consistent with legitimate advisory services.”

The letter cited specific transactions in which funds moved from Black through entities controlled by Epstein and then to third parties, including women who had interactions with Epstein. Wyden said the committee had evidence that at least some of these payments constituted “hush money intended to prevent the disclosure of damaging information.”¹

Money Laundering Concerns

Wyden’s letter detailed what the committee described as structural features of the payments that are commonly associated with money laundering, including the use of multiple intermediary entities, payments broken into amounts designed to avoid reporting thresholds, and transfers routed through offshore accounts.

“The payment pattern we have identified raises serious questions about whether these transactions were designed to conceal the true nature and purpose of the funds,” Wyden wrote.¹

The committee said it had referred its findings to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network for review.

Black’s Position

Black has maintained that his payments to Epstein were for legitimate professional services related to tax strategy and estate planning. In 2021, an independent review commissioned by Apollo’s board concluded that Black’s relationship with Epstein was “characterized by genuine advisory work.”

However, that review was conducted before the more recent document releases under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which provided additional financial records and communications.

A spokesperson for Black did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wyden’s deadline. Black stepped down as Apollo’s CEO in 2021 amid scrutiny of his Epstein ties and also gave up the chairman role. Jay Clayton succeeded him as chairman.

Implications

Legal experts said that if the committee’s findings were substantiated, they could expose Black to potential criminal liability for money laundering or conspiracy, regardless of whether the underlying payments were initially for legitimate services.

Financial crime analysts noted that the scale of the payments — $170 million to a single individual for advisory services — was itself unusual and warranted scrutiny even without the additional structural concerns identified by Wyden.

As of the April 13 deadline, the Finance Committee had not publicly indicated whether Black had complied with the request for information.¹

References

1. Senate Finance Committee — “Wyden sets deadline for Leon Black on Epstein payments”