Billionaire’s Son with Epstein Ties to Join Trump Admin

The nominee’s father, private equity firm Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black, was “friendly” with Epstein, paying him least $158 million for advice on tax issues, philanthropy, estate planning and other matters related to “the operation of the Family Office,” according to a 2021 report by the law firm Dechert LLP.

The report was commissioned by Apollo Global Management’s board of directors following New York Times reports of Black’s payments to Epstein. It found “no evidence that Black or any employee of the Family Office or Apollo was involved in any way with Epstein’s criminal activities at any time.”

The amount Black paid is likely $12 million higher than indicated in Dechert LLP’s report, Senate Finance Committee staff found in a review of federal government records and other evidence.

Leon Black also entered into a $62.5 million settlement with the U.S. Virgin Islands granting him immunity from any claims related to the Epstein sex trafficking investigation, the NYT reported in 2023. Epstein’s private Little St. James island in the U.S. Virgin Islands is where his alleged child sex trafficking operation took place.

The settlement should not be “taken as or construed to be an admission by Black of any liability or of any violation of any law,” the document states.

Benjamin Black began as an analyst for Goldman Sachs, was an associate at his father’s firm Apollo Global Management and later founded his own firm, Fortinbras Enterprises, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has expressed a hope to shift resources from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to DFC to focus on creating a “pro-market” culture through investments.

In a January column with Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Benjamin Black said much of the current foreign aid budget “is waste and should be cut given our massive deficit.”

“But if we are going to spend money abroad, let’s do so with an investment-driven model focused on strategic project finance initiatives, and pro-market SBA-like loans and equity for small business entrepreneurs,” Lonsdale and Black wrote.