Leon Black, the co-founder of Apollo Global Management, paid $62.5 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands in January 2023 to settle potential claims arising from the territory’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.1According to a March 2025 report by the Senate Finance Committee The four-page agreement released Black from the territory’s claims and stated it was not an admission of liability. It did not end his legal exposure: as of mid-2026, Black faces a federal civil lawsuit alleging he raped a 16-year-old trafficked to him by Epstein, a congressional referral to the House Oversight Committee, and continued questions about roughly $170 million he paid Epstein between 2012 and 2017.
What the Virgin Islands Settlement Covered
The agreement was reached in January 2023 and disclosed publicly that July. In exchange for $62.5 million in cash, the territory released Black from any potential claims tied to its three-year investigation of Epstein. The document stated that nothing in it should be construed as an admission of liability.
Two provisions later drew congressional attention. The agreement acknowledged that “Jeffrey Epstein used the money Black paid him to partially fund his operations in the Virgin Islands.” It also granted immunity from criminal prosecution in the territory not only to Black himself but to his “attorneys and individuals acting as his agents.” Senator Ron Wyden, who led a Senate Finance Committee investigation into Black’s financial ties to Epstein, characterized the deal as Black paying to avoid criminal prosecution.
The settlement resolved the Virgin Islands’ claims only. It did not touch federal civil suits, congressional inquiries, or the New York proceedings against Black, and it did not address the underlying question of what Black’s payments to Epstein were actually for.
The Payments Behind the Settlement
Between 2012 and 2017, Black paid Epstein approximately $158 million to $170 million, depending on the source and method of accounting. The money went to Epstein’s firm, Southern Trust Company, routed through Bank of America in large wire transfers, often in installments of $10 million or $20 million. The rough annual breakdown: $50 million in 2013, $70 million in 2014, $30 million in 2015, nothing in 2016 during a fee dispute, and a final $8 million in 2017.
Black has consistently said the payments were for legitimate tax and estate planning services. A 2021 review by the law firm Dechert, commissioned by Apollo’s board, identified the central service as Epstein’s restructuring of a flawed 2006 Grantor Retained Annuity Trust. Outside counsel described the solution as a “grand slam” that resolved an estimated $500 million to more than $1 billion in potential estate tax liability. Witnesses in that review estimated Epstein’s advice created between $1 billion and $2 billion in total value for Black. The Dechert report concluded there was “no evidence” that Black was involved in Epstein’s criminal activities and that all fees were for “bona fide tax, estate planning and other related services.”
Senator Wyden’s four-year Senate Finance Committee inquiry, launched in 2022, reached a different framing. Wyden described the payments as “inexplicably large; well in excess of what Black paid any other financial advisors and far higher than the median compensation of Fortune 500 CEOs at the time.” The committee found Epstein’s rates were roughly 30 times higher than those charged by Black’s other elite advisors.
What the Senate Investigation Found That the Settlement Did Not Resolve
The Finance Committee’s findings extended well beyond the tax-advice narrative and are the basis for the ongoing congressional pressure on Black.
In October 2015, Black agreed to a $20 million fee arrangement with Epstein. Half went to Southern Trust Company; half was directed to Gratitude America, an Epstein-controlled 501(c)(3) that had no funds before the transaction. Epstein’s accountant, Richard Kahn, advised routing the donation through an LLC that owned Black’s yacht to “avoid public disclosure” of Black’s name and “maximize deductions.” Wyden stated that intentionally disguising payments for professional services as charitable contributions to claim a tax deduction would constitute tax fraud.
Emails obtained by the committee indicated Black used Epstein as an intermediary to pay millions of dollars to women. In Epstein’s records, these payments were labeled “gifts,” raising questions about compliance with federal gift and estate tax laws.
The investigation also found that Epstein and Brad Karp, then-chairman of the law firm Paul Weiss, coordinated to surveil women on Black’s behalf. Epstein separately provided the Russian government with the locations of women on Black’s payroll, for reasons that remain unclear. When Guzel Ganieva threatened in 2015 to go public with abuse allegations, Epstein suggested Black enlist Nardello & Co. to run surveillance on her and orchestrated a plan to secretly record meetings between Black and Ganieva at New York restaurants.
Internal documents showed that between 2006 and 2012, trustees of a Black family trust overpaid Black by $141 million. Wyden flagged that if the trust is ruled defective, the multi-billion-dollar assets within it could be pulled back into Black’s taxable estate.
In June 2026, Wyden referred these findings to the House Oversight Committee, recommending further investigation into the basis for the payments, the specifics of the Virgin Islands settlement, and the use of Epstein as a payment intermediary. Black was scheduled to testify before the committee on June 26, 2026. On April 13, 2026, Black had submitted a written response to Wyden’s inquiries, which the senator characterized as failing to provide any answers.
Black’s representatives have maintained throughout that the transactions were “lawful in all respects” and were “conceived of, vetted and implemented by reputable law firms and tax and other advisors.” His attorneys have said Epstein “embellished, exaggerated and lied about Mr. Black,” and that evidence of emails being sent to Black “is not evidence that he read, agreed with or followed advice in those messages.”
Civil Lawsuits Still in Play
Jane Doe Federal Suit
In July 2023, an anonymous plaintiff filed suit against Black in the Southern District of New York, alleging that Epstein trafficked her to Black at his Manhattan townhouse in the spring of 2002, when she was 16 years old. The complaint, brought under the New York City Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, alleges that Black threw her onto a massage table, abused her with sex toys, and raped her. According to CNBC’s reporting, the plaintiff was born with mosaic Down syndrome and had a developmental age of approximately 12 at the time. Black has denied ever meeting her and called the allegations “entirely fabricated” and “vicious and defamatory lies.”
The case has been procedurally turbulent. In an April 2026 ruling, Judge Jessica Clarke sanctioned both the plaintiff and her former attorney, Jeanne Christensen of Wigdor LLP, for what the court called “serious, sanctionable misconduct.” The judge found that Christensen “lied repeatedly to the Court and to opposing counsel” and directed the plaintiff to destroy a social media account relevant to her claims. The plaintiff was found to have falsified sonogram images in personal journals that were referenced in the complaint.
Christensen and Wigdor were ordered to pay Black’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs for bringing the sanctions motion. The plaintiff was barred from using the falsified journals at trial, and the judge indicated she would instruct any future jury that portions of the journals were falsified. Judge Clarke denied Black’s request for case-terminating sanctions, concluding that the fabrications did not directly bear on the central question of whether the alleged assault occurred. Discovery is stayed pending a Second Circuit ruling on the timeliness of the plaintiff’s claim.
In a related proceeding, Judge Jed Rakoff reversed a $2.5 million award previously allocated to the same plaintiff in a separate JPMorgan Epstein class action after Black’s legal team privately contacted the judge to challenge her credibility. She later received a smaller settlement in that case.
Ganieva Defamation Suit
Guzel Ganieva sued Black for defamation in June 2021, alleging that his public statements characterizing their relationship as a “consensual affair” and accusing her of extortion were false. She alleged forced sexual misconduct, including rape in July 2014, and said Black had used his wealth and power to coerce her into a 2015 nondisclosure agreement. Under that agreement, Black had agreed to pay her $100,000 per month for 15 years, forgive a $1 million loan, and provide £2 million for UK legal status, in exchange for an NDA stating her prior allegations were “not true.”
New York State Supreme Court Justice David B. Cohen dismissed the lawsuit, ruling the 2015 NDA enforceable. The court found Ganieva had received approximately $9.5 million under the agreement over six years, had not attempted to repudiate it, and had failed to prove it was signed under duress.
Criminal Exposure
Both federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office investigated allegations against Black connected to Epstein. Neither office brought charges. A June 2024 FBI timeline of the Epstein investigation referred to the Manhattan DA’s inquiries into Black in the past tense, suggesting the criminal investigations are no longer active. Black has never been charged with a crime. His attorney, Susan Estrich, has said there is “no truth to any of the allegations against Mr. Black.”
Where Black Stands Now
Black resigned as CEO and chairman of Apollo Global Management on March 22, 2021, effective immediately, citing his own health and his wife’s. Co-founder Marc Rowan succeeded him as CEO, and former SEC chairman Jay Clayton became nonexecutive chairman. Black remains Apollo’s largest individual shareholder, holding approximately 7% of the firm’s shares, and serves as a director at SiriusXM Holdings. As of mid-2026, Forbes estimates his net worth at $13.8 billion. His scheduled appearance before the House Oversight Committee, pursuing the lines of inquiry referred by Senator Wyden, is the next open front in a matter the Virgin Islands settlement closed only in that one jurisdiction.