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Leon Black From the Ashes

For the first time since his controversial departure from Apollo, Black speaks about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and his tumultuous final year at the firm he created.

leon black
How did the brilliant Leon Black concede such vital, complex, and personal estate planning matters to a college drop-out, former Dalton math teacher who would go on to be exposed as one of the most despicable scumbags in modern memory? Photo: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo
William D. Cohan
April 3, 2024

On a recent afternoon, Leon Black and I were sitting at his family office, Elysium Partners, on the top floor of a nondescript building on Park Avenue, near 57th Street. He said he chose the space not for the building’s architecture, but rather because it had a big wrap-around balcony that was lovely in the warmer months. We were having a light lunch, along with his P.R. team, of deli sandwiches, making small talk before engaging in the matter at hand—discussing how Black’s extraordinary career had been upended by his seemingly inexplicable relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.