A billionaire told the U.S. Congress on Friday that he paid Jeffrey Epstein $158 million, and that he had no idea what Epstein really was. "I knew Jekyll. I didn't know Hyde," said Leon Black.

Black, co-founder and former CEO of the private equity giant Apollo Global Management, was the 16th person to appear before the House Oversight Committee's investigation into the money and influence around Epstein. He stepped down from Apollo in 2021 over those very ties. Before the closed-door deposition, committee chairman Rep. James Comer called it potentially the most "groundbreaking" yet.

Leon Black, co-founder of Apollo Global Management
Leon Black, co-founder of Apollo Global Management

Here is what's actually confirmed. A 2021 review commissioned by Apollo found Black paid Epstein $158 million between 2012 and 2017 for "bona fide tax, estate planning and other related services." Black says he didn't learn of Epstein's "nefarious activity" until 2019, that he committed no crime, and that he hired Epstein partly for an "unrivaled network of relationships." "I gave Epstein a second chance, as did many others. I wish I had not," he said.

Now the part the viral version races past. Those payments started in 2012 — four years after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor. So the "I didn't know" defense covers the federal sex-trafficking charges of 2019, not the conviction that was already public when the money began moving.

The most explosive claim isn't proven. Sen. Ron Wyden referred a nearly four-year investigation to the committee, stating that "Epstein even appears to have acted as a middleman for Black to pay women on Black's behalf." That is an allegation. Black called the accusations against him "rank speculation," and said: "I have never abused a woman. I have never been with an underage woman. I have never engaged in sex trafficking." Online, Black is named as "one of the biggest funders of Epstein's operations" [1] — a characterization the verified record does not yet establish.

The internet's response was less forgiving than the financier's lawyers. The story landed on r/nottheonion, where the most-upvoted comment dismissed the whole defense in one line.

“You don't become rich as fuck while being dumb enough to let someone hustle you out of $158M. This guy knew exactly who he was dealing with.”
— YOSHIMIvPROBOTS on Reddit

What happens next is the open question. The New Republic reported the committee is pursuing Black after he "refused to answer questions or properly explain" the payments. [2] The deposition is closed-door; the transcript isn't public. For now, the $158 million is confirmed, the tax-services explanation is Apollo's, and whether Epstein moved any of it to women on Black's behalf remains an allegation a senator wants the committee to test.

Sources

Primary source: Billionaire Leon Black defends $158M paid to Epstein: 'I knew Jekyll. I didn't know Hyde'

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