Mr. Black said Apollo had hired a law firm, WilmerHale, to look into its reputational risk management practices and suggest improvements. And a wealthy person would pay dearly for good advice on such trusts. Leon Black, above, Apollo Global Management’s chairman and chief executive, paid $158 million to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein over the last decade of Mr. Epstein’s life. Apollo Global management CEO Leon Black paid sex predator Jeffrey Epstein $158 million for financial advice, but an outside law firm says Black wasn't involved with Epstein… Mr. Harris, who is an owner of the Philadelphia 76rs basketball team and the New Jersey Devils hockey team, said he would “fully support” Mr. Rowan as chief executive. The months-long review found that a number of larger-than-expected payments to Epstein were justified. Marc Rowan, center, the third Apollo founder, will replace Mr. Black as chief executive. And all three men — who have much of their net worth tied up in the company — have a vested interest in the stability of the firm. CalPERS — the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, one of Apollo’s biggest clients — had said it expected its outside investment managers to follow the fund’s own values. Mr. Black intends to remain chairman of the New York firm, which manages $455 billion for institutional investors, including pension plans and sovereign wealth funds. on or before my 70th birthday in July and remain as chairman,” he said in a statement. It proposed using a proprietary “database of financial information” to analyze and evaluate estate planning matters for the executive. Another Apollo founder, Marc Rowan, will take over that role, and Mr. Black will remain the company’s chairman. The Dechert report does not identify who drew up what it described as the problematic trust for Mr. Black, except to say the person was a tax and estate expert whom Mr. Epstein had recommended. The $63 billion Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System had said it would not invest any additional money with Apollo until the review was complete. The private equity titan was willing to overlook that Epstein … And not just to Mr. Black, the private equity chief executive who was his main benefactor in his later years. Marc Rowan will become the firm's CEO, while Black will continue as Apollo's chairman. In 1997, he made Epstein one of the original trustees of what is today the Debra and Leon Black Foundation. Leon Black, above, Apollo Global Management’s chairman and chief executive, paid $158 million to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein over the last decade of Mr. Epstein’s life. The executive and Mr. Epstein had never discussed any payment, according to the representative, so the executive was surprised when Mr. Epstein sent his own bill — for a sum that was 10 percent of the tax dollars saved. But when Apollo held its most recent earnings call in late October, there were already signs his dealings with Mr. Epstein were causing ripples, both in the firm and among investors. The review, conducted by the law firm Dechert, began after The Times reported that Mr. Black had paid Mr. Epstein at least $75 million in the years after his 2008 case in Florida. He had also lent Mr. Epstein more than $30 million, only $10 million of which was paid back, the report found. In his three-page letter to investors on Monday, Mr. Black acknowledged that “heightened media scrutiny of Apollo has generated unwelcome attention” for those investors. This news is a direct result of 18+ months of dogged reporting by @nytimes @MattGoldstein26, whose stories led Apollo to launch an outside review of Black’s ties to Epstein. Mr. Rowan was the driving force behind Apollo’s thriving insurance business and its insurance subsidiary, Athene Holding, which has fueled the Wall Street’s firm earnings in recent years. Mr. Black has repeatedly said all of Mr. Epstein’s work was thoroughly vetted by outside lawyers and accountants. These trusts permit a person to keep collecting income from assets of all kinds — including stocks, real estate and art — and then hand them off to family members without paying the large gift or estate taxes normally associated with such transfers. It was said his services were available only to billionaires, whose affairs he handled mostly from a tropical island hideaway. The two men did not communicate after 2018, according to the review. The $150M figure means Leon Black was almost singlehandedly supporting Epstein for years before he died. An inquiry’s finding that Leon Black, the billionaire boss of Apollo Global Management, paid the convicted sex offender $158 million touched off an attempt to remove him. Dechert’s review found that Mr. Epstein had provided “legitimate advice” on trust and estate planning, tax issues and matters related to Mr. Black’s extensive art collection, and other subjects. Mr. Rowan, who built Apollo’s insurance business but had largely stepped away from the firm’s day-to-day operations in recent years, will take over when Mr. Black steps down. It found there was no evidence that Mr. Black had participated in any of Mr. Epstein’s criminal activities, or that Mr. Epstein had ever introduced Mr. Black to any underage girl. On Monday, Mr. Black announced that he would step down as Apollo’s chief executive this year after the review found he had paid Mr. Epstein $158 million over five years for his services. In building Apollo into a global financial powerhouse, Mr. Black has made himself and his co-founders immensely rich: His personal fortune is estimated at more than $8 billion, and he owns a massive private art collection — including a version of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” — and is the chairman of the Museum of Modern Art. Mr. Epstein did not invest in any Apollo-managed funds, according to the report, but it found that his companies had bought more than 200,000 shares in the private equity firm’s initial public offering and held that stake until at least September 2019 — a month after Mr. Epstein died. In the case of Mr. Black, the chief executive of Apollo Global Management, his advice could have been worth as much as $2 billion in savings, according to a law firm’s review of Mr. Black’s business dealings with Mr. Epstein. One of the people said Mr. Harris believed that Mr. Black showed poor judgment in consorting with Mr. Epstein, and that the new findings would further hurt Apollo’s reputation. One person who did business for Mr. Epstein over the past decade said the disgraced financier’s “biggest thing was GRATs.” The person, who stopped working with Mr. Epstein in 2018 but spoke on the condition of anonymity because he continues to advise wealthy clients, said Mr. Epstein had bragged about using GRATs to save money for a small group of clients, including Mr. Black. Mr. Epstein’s detection of a problem in a trust set up in 2006 and his proposed solution were “the most valuable piece of work” that he performed, the report said. It also laid out Mr. Black’s plan to donate $200 million to charities that support gender equality and fight sex trafficking. (Bloomberg) -- Leon Black viewed Jeffrey Epstein as a “confirmed bachelor with eclectic tastes, who often employed attractive women.”The private equity titan was willing to overlook that Epstein had served 13 months in a Florida jail after soliciting an underage prostitute. Also, Mr. Black believed that Mr. Epstein had “served his time” for that case and deserved a second chance, the report said. FILE PHOTO: Leon Black, Chairman, CEO and Director, Apollo Global Management, LLC, speaks at the Milken Institute's 21st Global Conference in … What Jeffrey Epstein Did to Earn $158 Million From Leon Black. Many of Apollo’s biggest clients — including major pension funds, charitable foundations and sovereign wealth funds — had been awaiting the results of the report. “You could be the best lawyer in Manhattan working on the most complicated trusts and estates and it would never come anywhere close to that kind of money,” he said. And the reason he paid EPSTEIN as you say a convicted paedophile 158 million was because he … Mr. Epstein frequently functioned as an ideas generator who would then outsource some of the work to high-powered law firms or to his clients’ current financial and tax advisers, according to five people familiar with the arrangements. After pleading guilty to prostitution charges that year, he continued to earn huge fees by showing wealthy clients how to lower their taxes. Guerrilla Girls Canceled Phaidon Book Deal Over Ties to Leon Black, Jeffrey Epstein Associate ... increasing pressure to part ways with the chairman of its board of trustees, Leon Black… He styled himself as a math whiz and “financial doctor” to the rich — even though he was a college dropout who had only a brief tenure at a traditional Wall Street firm. Dechert said the value of the tax savings to Mr. Black was at least $1 billion and possibly as much as $2 billion. Ms. McCaffrey, who is widely acknowledged as a leading expert on GRATs, said, “We will not comment on any issues relating to Jeffrey Epstein.”. Joshua Harris, another Apollo founder, tried to unseat Mr. Black more quickly during the weekend. Jeffrey Epstein in 2008. After that, they entered a series of agreements that netted Mr. Epstein more than $100 million more before the two men parted ways in 2018. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Leon Black said on Monday he would relinquish his chief executive post at Apollo Global Management Inc following the buyout firm's independent review of his ties to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein… In the end, Mr. Harris’s objection fell on deaf ears, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss private deliberations. The details of their financial dealings — Mr. Epstein’s advice was worth perhaps $2 billion in tax savings to Mr. Black, according to the report — created friction between Mr. Black and one of Apollo’s other founders, Joshua Harris, according to three people briefed on the discussions. Mr. Black ultimately paid Mr. Epstein $20 million for that transaction, which involved loans between Black family trusts to achieve a tax benefit for Mr. Black’s children, the report said. The answer: help rich people pay less in taxes. The letter also informed clients of other proposed governance changes, including adding four more independent directors. The executive believed Mr. Epstein was offering his services as a favor to a friend, because Mr. Epstein referred much of the work to a large law firm, which billed the executive for the assignment. The review — ordered by the firm’s board at Mr. Black’s behest in October, after The New York Times detailed at least $75 million in payments — found that Mr. Black had paid Mr. Epstein $158 million in a five-year period ending in 2017. Uma Sanghvi/Palm Beach Post, via Associated Press, the father of former President Donald J. Trump. Other pension funds — in Texas, Illinois and Ontario — also said they would be watching the investigation closely. It did not describe what sort of information the database contained. On Monday, Mr. Black announced his plan to step down as chief executive this year. In 2019, Mr. Epstein killed himself inside a Manhattan jail cell while facing federal sex-trafficking charges. The Dechert report — 22 double-spaced pages delivered to Apollo’s board — cleared Mr. Black of any wrongdoing, but he said he would step down as chief executive by the time he turned 70 in July. The relationship began to deteriorate in 2016, the report said, amid a payment dispute over tens of millions of dollars in fees. In the years after 2008, when Mr. Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to prostitution charges involving a teenage girl, he often advised clients on the use of grantor retained annuity trusts, or GRATs, according to three people familiar with his work. Mr. Harris will continue in his current role as a senior managing director, focused on the firm’s financial performance and working closely with Mr. Rowan, according to the letter, the contents of which were reviewed by The Times. In an unusual move, Mr. Black read a brief statement about the Epstein matter before handing over the meeting to Mr. Harris and Mr. Rowan. Leon Black will step down as chief executive of Apollo Global Management following an independent review into his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. At one time, both Mr. Rowan and Mr. Harris were seen as the heirs apparent to Mr. Black. The report provided no details about the problems with the GRAT or Mr. Epstein’s fix, said William LaPiana, a professor and associate dean at New York Law School and a trust and estates expert. The Dechert report conceded that the compensation that Mr. Black had paid to Mr. Epstein “far exceeded any amounts” paid to his other professional advisers. Leon Black will resign as chief executive of investment fund Apollo Global Management following an independent review of his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. But with Mr. Rowan’s decision to pull back from day-to-day affairs, many on Wall Street assumed the job would fall to Mr. Harris, who has the run the nuts and bolts of Apollo’s vast buyout operation. Leon Black's got a fortune of about 10 billion dollarsand the law firms. Mr. Epstein’s specialty was suggesting ways for wealthy clients to use sophisticated trusts and other investment vehicles to reduce their tax liability while passing on assets to their children, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times and interviews with 11 people familiar with his work. In recent months, Apollo investors had begun openly questioning the financial ties between Mr. Black and Mr. Epstein, who died in 2019. Apparently, Epstein’s big break for Black came in 2012 when he solved what the report says was a mounting problem in a grantor trust that Black had established in 2006, with the help of … In 2013, Mr. Epstein sent the executive a six-page engagement letter, which The Times reviewed. … In Mr. Black’s case, according to the review by the law firm Dechert, the savings were enormous: about $1 billion for a single GRAT. For this service, Mr. Epstein proposed $10 million in fees for 10 months of work. As the only three members of Apollo’s executive committee, the founders hold considerable sway over the company. That was how it worked when Mr. Epstein advised a technology executive on a tax matter, according to a representative of the executive who agreed to discuss the matter on the condition of anonymity. The founders of Apollo Global Management, one of the world’s biggest private equity firms, engaged in a brief power struggle this weekend over control of the firm, a rift that opened up after an inquiry revealed that one founder — Apollo’s chief executive and chairman, Leon Black — had paid more than $150 million to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. So what did Jeffrey Epstein do to earn hundreds of millions of dollars from a handful of wealthy clients like the private equity billionaire Leon Black? Although Mr. Black started Apollo with his younger partners — Mr. Harris is 56 and Mr. Rowan 58 — he has been long been the face and voice of the firm. Leon Black to retire as CEO of Apollo following review of his ties to Epstein. The executive turned him down, according to a representative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. It also is one of Apollo’s main outside law firms. Although Mr. Epstein frequently took his compensation as a percentage, he also offered services at a flat rate — a fee structure he suggested as part of a pitch to a New York real estate executive that was otherwise short on details.