(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The New York Times published an investigation Saturday into former Apollo Global CEO and billionaire Leon Black, revealing that he paid millions of dollars to at least eight women, including some alleged victims of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
It’s been known for years that Black paid Epstein $158 million between 2012 and 2017 for his advice on several tax and estate planning matters. Black has also been in the headlines in recent days for other Epstein-related matters, with someone suing him Tuesday for allegedly raping an autistic teenager at Epstein’s townhouse.
Black has vociferously denied the rape allegations, and there is no proof of that to date. But the Times’s investigation does show that he made payments to alleged Epstein victims, who weren’t named in the story.
“For reasons that are unknown, Mr. Black wired hundreds of thousands of dollars to at least three women who were associated with Mr. Epstein,” the Times reported, citing court documents and notes taken by congressional investigators, who discovered that “Black had paid millions of dollars to eight women.”
NYT published an investigation into billionaire Leon Black today, revealing that he paid millions of dollars to Epstein victims and other women.
NYT also published emails in which Epstein aggressively pushed Black to pay him. In one email, Epstein called Black's kids retarded. pic.twitter.com/UqTMSXTjGE— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) October 18, 2025
The Times also reported that authorities in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein had his infamous private island, also investigated Black for sex crimes.
“Lawyers working for the territory’s attorney general interviewed at least two women who claimed they had been sexually abused by Mr. Black after Mr. Epstein introduced them,” the newspaper reported.
“It is unclear whether the attorney general’s office substantiated those allegations. In 2023, Mr. Black agreed to pay the territory $62.5 million to end the investigation.”
Most of the Times’s investigation focused on Black’s financial relationship with Epstein, revealing that Epstein often demanded payment from his client in a bullying manner.
Sen. Ron Wyden investigated Black’s connections to Epstein for years. In July, Wyden said he handed the Justice Department with “actionable” information about Epstein’s relationship with a prominent billionaire and an untold number of Wall Street banks—but the DOJ hasn’t doing anything with the info. Wyden didn’t mention who the billionaire client was, but his description matched Black.
“I’ve handed the Trump administration a ready-made Epstein case involving a billionaire financier and Wall Street banks, and they have done nothing with it,” Wyden told All Rise News.
“I know for a fact that the Trump administration is sitting on an Epstein file that contains new actionable information,” Wyden reportedly added. “So I don’t blame anybody for asking what’s going on.”
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
