Happy Monday, unless you work at Apollo Global.
In that case, you’re probably still grimacing from that time last Friday when you learned that your boss had broken his silence on the revelations of his decades-long private business relationship with convicted sex offender and alleged sex trafficker/financier Jeffrey Epstein. And you’re probably still grimacing because his statement via memo to you –entitled “Recent Press Coverage”– was…[tugs on collar and moans softly.]
The New York-based firm conducted an internal review into its involvement with Epstein, a registered sex offender since 2009, to ensure that any ties go no further than the firm’s co-founder, people with knowledge of the matter said. They looked at emails and records to determine there was no connection between the company and Epstein, one of the people said.
Black said in a memo sent to employees that “Apollo has never done any business with Mr. Epstein at any point in time.”
Epstein has “provided professional services to my family partnership and related family entities, involving tax, estate planning and philanthropic advice,” Black said in the memo. He added: “I was completely unaware of, and am deeply troubled by, the conduct that is now the subject of the federal criminal charges brought against him.”
See? All better!
Well, there is one thing:
Over the years, the associations between Black and Epstein deepened. Epstein was a director of the Leon Black Family Foundation from at least 2001, according to disclosure forms filed with the U.S. government. His name appeared on these forms until 2012. That was an administrative error, according to a statement from a spokeswoman for Black. Epstein was asked to resign in 2007, but records weren’t kept up to date, she said.
“On a few occasions, I donated money to certain charitable organizations with which Mr. Epstein was affiliated and he made contributions to certain charitable organizations that are meaningful to me,” Black said in the memo.
But, hey, these are just the personal finance decisions of a guy who runs a $250 billion hedge fund, it’s nothing to get too worked up about if you just see it through the right context and just focus on your own business. Take it from Leon himself:
“I am sorry if this recent media attention has been a distraction or caused you any concern.”
Exactly, this Epstein stuff in the media is clearly gonna die down soon enough so just go back to managing one of the last hedge funds in 2019.
Apollo Scrambles to Distance Itself From Leon Black’s Ties to Epstein [Bloomberg]