Questions for Leon Black
One of Jeffrey Epstein's closest associates has a Friday date with the House Oversight Committee
TrueHoop is years into investigating the connections between Jeffrey Epstein and the NBA, and they run directly through Leon Black. The founder of Apollo Global—a firm with profound NBA ties—has magically avoided real accountability. He will at least testify under oath on Friday. I’ve read almost all of the House Oversight Committee’s interviews, and have found they haven’t helped our understanding much. We need insiders to narrate what DID happen, instead we get insiders obfuscating and wriggling off the hook. And I’m alarmed at how many potent topics don’t come up. With that in mind, here’s what I’d ask Leon Black.
Did you write this letter that appeared in Jeffrey Epstein’s birthday book?
What does this mean?
“By birds and by bucks, C’s and M’s are his key,
blonde, red or brunette, spread out geographically.”
Are those references to women?
What are birds? What are bucks? What are C’s? What are M’s?
“Wet dream and cauchemar, an architect’s wild spree
Moscow, Paris, Santa Fe, Alhambra East jamboree”
“Cauchemar” is French for nightmare. What is the nightmare you were referring to? Who is the architect you’re referring to? What was the spree?
What did you mean when you signed this “love and kisses”? Was that a common way for you to sign letters at the time?
Were you ever romantically involved with Jeffrey Epstein?
What caused you to bring up Moscow, Paris, Santa Fe, and Alhambra East? Are those places you went with Jeffrey Epstein?
Did you go to Moscow with Jeffrey Epstein?
When?
What happened there?
When you wrote this poem in Epstein’s birthday book in 2003, had you known him for a while?
Jesse Kornbluth wrote a book about Drexel Burnham Lambert, and told Craig Unger that you “spent a lot of time” with Epstein in the 1980s. Does that sound right?
A report commissioned by Apollo Global, and The New York Times, say you were introduced to Epstein in the 1990s. Can you clear that up?
Many people have testified that they didn’t see Epstein interact with women. You are different. You called Epstein a “lover” in writing, and discussed several different kinds of women, and wet dreams. It’s refreshing that it seems we finally have a witness who can testify to the nature of Epstein’s relationships with women. What did you witness that caused you to write those things in the birthday book?
How would you describe the interactions you saw Epstein have with women? Did any of them strike you as inappropriate?
What is “Maxwellian delight”?
In your $62.5 million settlement with the U.S. Virgin Islands, you acknowledged that Epstein used the money you paid him to partially fund his operations in the Virgin Islands. When did you come to understand what those operations were?
That settlement granted criminal immunity not only to you but to your attorneys and agents. What potential conduct by your attorneys or agents was that immunity intended to cover?
Senator Ron Wyden wrote you a letter asking if the money you said you paid Epstein for tax services was “a pretext for other more nefarious tasks Epstein performed on your behalf. Newly released emails between Epstein and your assistant suggest that Epstein was engaged in unseemly tasks on your behalf that ‘will need to remain unknown.’” What did you understand Epstein to be referring to when he emailed you that in 2004?
Bill Gates recently testified that he thought Epstein tried to blackmail him. Did you ever have the feeling Jeffrey Epstein was trying to blackmail you?
To your knowledge, did Epstein’s properties contain hidden cameras?
Did Epstein ever reference, or did you ever observe him holding, compromising material on any individual?
How did Jeffrey Epstein get rich?
In 2007, you announced that you had sold nine percent of Apollo Global to an investment firm from the United Arab Emirates. In the years to follow, the Financial Action Task Force said the Emirates “must take urgent action to effectively stop the criminal financial flows that it attracts.” Is it your understanding that sometimes the Emirates function as a passthrough for money that’s really coming from elsewhere?
Jeffrey Epstein had strong ties to the UAE. Was he ever helpful in connecting Apollo and the Emirates?
Do you know former Attorney General William Barr? When and how did you first meet?
You have appeared in photographs with Jared Kushner. When and how did you first meet? What is the nature of your relationship?
Justice department’s Epstein files show that you banked with Deutsche Bank. Why did you choose that bank?
The division that you banked with was known internally as “DBAB,” which stands for Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, to denote its roots in the bank Alex. Brown that Deutsche acquired in 1999. Did you know longtime Apollo boardmember A.B. Krongard led Alex. Brown? Did he play any role in your choice of bank?
Mr. Krongard was a former executive director of the CIA. Did his intelligence history convey any advantages in his role for Apollo Global? How so?
When Apollo acquired Constellis — the successor to Blackwater — in 2016, were you aware that Mr. Krongard had sat on Blackwater’s advisory board and, as a CIA executive, helped Blackwater win its first agency contract?
A review commissioned by Apollo’s Conflicts Committee and conducted by Dechert cleared you. Mr. Krongard was on the three-person Conflicts Committee. Are we right to assume that he participated in selecting and overseeing the Dechert engagement?
That investigation was led by Andrew Levander. Were you or the committee aware, when Dechert was retained, that Mr. Levander had a prior relationship with Epstein dating to 1982, when the two worked together on a financial-recovery matter?
Did you know that in July 2015, Epstein emailed your lawyer Brad Karp to suggest hiring Levander in a sensitive matter?
In 2014, Jeffrey Epstein emailed Melanie Spinella, your former assistant at Apollo Global, to say that he had arranged a $2.4 million payment to Melanie from your former partner Josh Harris. Can you explain?
Why did you give Jeffrey Epstein power of attorney over your account at Deutsche Bank?
The Epstein files include a list of the largest clients of Deutsche Bank’s private banking division. Reviewing it now, which of these individuals do you know personally or have done business with?
You seem to have a lot of ties to intelligence. Your father bought United Fruit. You started Apollo Global with billions from Robert Maxwell’s preferred bank. You had a former CIA executive director on the board of Apollo Global, and Apollo purchased the former CIA contractor Blackwater. You had deep ties to Jeffrey Epstein and funded his operations. You have been summoned to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee. What is the nature of your relationship with intelligence agencies?
You have said your relationship with Epstein was limited to tax and estate advice. But you are known as an aggressive dealmaker who’ll do whatever it takes to win a deal. Why did you not make use of Epstein’s network, which included world leaders and many powerful people?
Why did you go to Moscow with Donald Trump in 1996?
Journalist Craig Unger has reported that one of Robert Maxwell’s projects was to help the KGB move a large amount of money out of Russia before the fall of the Soviet Union, and that a lot of that money made its way into major financial institutions in the West. Have you ever heard a program like that?
Did Apollo Global raise a large amount of money from Credit Lyonnais?
Are you aware of reporting that one of Credit Lyonnais’s biggest customers was Robert Maxwell?
Did you know Robert Maxwell? What was the nature of your relationship?
To your knowledge, did Jeffrey Epstein know Robert Maxwell?
Did Jeffrey Epstein play any role in your business in Russia?
Apollo’s most-cited success—the LyondellBasell investment—was made alongside oligarch Len Blavatnik. How did you first meet Blavatnik? What is the nature of your relationship?
You testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee about meetings with Allen Vine, associated with oligarch Suleiman Kerimov. What was the nature of your business with Kerimov?
When oligarch Vladimir Potanin divorced, his wife filed documents suggesting Potanin owned stock in Apollo Global. What was the nature of your relationship with Potanin?
How did you come to be named to an advisory board of the Russia Direct Investment Fund? Are you still on that board?
Have you done any other business with Russian oligarchs or state actors?
A Senate intelligence committee report says that in September 2011, you “reportedly” met “one-on-one” with Vladimir Putin. What can you tell us about that meeting?
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