Between 2012 and 2017 - after Jeffrey Epstein got out of prison - billionaire Leon Black paid him roughly $170 million. Black has not provided a credible explanation as to why he paid Epstein amounts vastly exceeding those paid to other professional advisors - and instead of sitting down to explain it to Congress on Thursday, he sued the House Oversight Committee. 

Recall, Black:

• Paid Epstein $158 million per Dechert, the law firm Apollo hired, or $170 million per Sen. Ron Wyden's investigation.
• Stepped down as Apollo CEO in 2021 after a Dechert review "cleared" him, which we called bullshit at the time.
• Wrote the 2003 birthday book poem about "Blond, Red or Brunette, spread out geographically," signed "Love and Kisses."
• Paid roughly $20 million to a dozen women, some via Epstein; at least three have accused him of assault.
• Says he signed Guzel Ganieva's 2015 NDA because she was extorting him; her rape suit was dismissed.
• Paid $62.5 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2023 to settle Epstein-related claims before any were made public.
• Used Epstein to help structure his $106 million Picasso purchase through Narrows Holdings, as we reported in February.
• Told Congress in June "I knew Jekyll. I didn't know Hyde," then walked out rather than discuss his NDAs.

The committee went ahead with a closed-door session anyway, with ranking Democrat Robert Garcia demanding an 'immediate' contempt vote against Black. Chairman James Comer (R) said that if it were up to him, "I would hold him in contempt right now," but he wanted to discuss Black's lawsuit with the committee's lawyers first so as not to jeopardize the thing the committee actually wants: non-disclosure agreements that Black allegedly signed with several women. 

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington against the committee and Comer, argues that the two subpoenas issued June 26 (one for Black's sworn testimony, one for "all the NDAs" he is party to) are "invalid to the extent they exceed" the committee's "delegated authority in seeking private information that bears no legitimate connection" to its legislative purpose. Producing the agreements, the suit says, "would also expose women who value their privacy, who have no known or public connection to Epstein." Black's lawyer Susan Estrich called the probe "a fishing expedition" and said, "This is no longer about finding the truth about Epstein. It is about trying to destroy Mr. Black."

Comer hit back - saying that Black is "hiding behind litigation rather than provide answers to the American people."

Black is the first Epstein witness to sue the committee rather than show up. Jes Staley and Kathy Ruemmler both sat for questions this summer. Which makes the timing of Thursday's other Leon Black story hard to improve on.

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"You hired me to produce a work of art"

A few hours before the empty chair, Bloomberg Law published a piece about a May 2016 email in which Epstein described the tax plan he sold Black as, literally, art.

"Leon, you hired me to produce a work of art. it was not inexpensive. the value far exceeds any other piece in your collection.- by FAR . It took me 30 years to be able to craft such a work. I understand your desire to modifiy my work, in doing so you have brad telling me , just a bit more red., here let me show you, you yourself pick up a brush a add some strokes... however Im aware that you own the work and you have the right to paint over it. tear it up , put it in the closet in the basement . its yours."

And on the price:

"Unfortunatley for us both, the price for my works has not changed since day one. 40m per year, I m willing to discount it to 35 as I did give you a bad number when asked and should pay an embarassment fine."

And a weird line:

"you recently seemed shy to discuss certain things. , please be assured I make no judgement on any of your activities , whether or not i agree with them . not my role I am always on your side on the table. I hope your personal life quiets. you've had a rough 15 months."

The price list

Black told the committee in June that Epstein "solved a massive estate problem for me, that none of the experts and lawyers I consulted had been able to solve," and that "the tax work was responsible for billions of dollars in savings." He also said Epstein duped him. The fees were supposed to be tax-deductible "60-cent dollars," Black testified, so "what I believed to be $95 million of net fees paid to him over five years was actually $158 million." The Dechert report Apollo commissioned said in 2021 that Black was under a "misconception," based on Epstein's advice, that the payments were deductible. Dechert counted $158 million from 2012 through 2017, including a $10 million donation to Epstein's charity, plus $30.5 million in loans in early 2017. Sen. Ron Wyden's four-year investigation puts it at $170 million, which he says is 60 times what Black paid any other adviser on the same work. Garcia said Thursday it was "over $180 million." Pick a number.

The emails show how the number was built. April 11, 2013, Epstein to Black, itemizing:

"considering there is only 8 more to be paid this year in oct , for the job now almost completed, total of 23. that was agreed only for history fix... moving forward , 40 per year ,( approx 1 percent ) for three years, to be credited against an agreed formula. Im open to suggestions total approx 120 for new workover 3 years , benefits to you over the next 20. 5 , can consider interests other than cash as payment. ?"

So: $23 million for the "history fix", which is the repair of the 2006 trust that, per the Dechert report as summarized by Wyden, kept roughly $1 billion in gift and estate tax out of the Treasury. Then $40 million a year for three years, "approx 1 percent" of something. Epstein's own description of the something, from February 2015: "You and your family are a 6 billion dollar corp. with an income between 250 -500 million dollars per year." The "agreed formula" was a cut of the tax savings.