Who is Leon Black?

The uber-successful private equity giant has made headlines over his links to Jeffrey Epstein, but who exactly is the financier and art behemoth?

Bloomberg has called him “the most feared man in the most aggressive realm of finance” but this week the 69-year-old co-founder of $414 billion Apollo Global Management has made headlines for different reasons; his links to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

First reported on by the New York Times, Black was found to have paid at least $50 million to Epstein after Epstein had been convicted of soliciting sex from a minor in 2008. According to the article, at least one of the transactions was flagged as ‘unusual’ by Deutsche Bank.

Epstein first pleaded guilty to state prostitution offences in 2008 and is believed to have solicited hundreds of underage girls for prominent figures in business and politics. He was arrested last year on charges of sex trafficking but died from what has been ruled a suicide in August 2019 while awaiting trial.

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