Leon Black Finally Opens Up About His Pal Jeffrey Epstein

Billionaire Leon Black is speaking out about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein for the first time since resigning from his private equity firm, claiming the famous men in the sex-trafficker’s circle likely didn’t know “that Jeffrey was a pedophile.”

The ex-Apollo CEO—whose relationship with Epstein tarnished his name and led to lawsuits accusing him of sexual abuse—exclusively sat down with Puck’s William Cohan to defend his reputation amid continued scrutiny over his relationship with the late sex offender.

Cohan wrote that the 72-year-old mogul grabbed a piece of paper from his suit jacket in the middle of their lunch with his PR team and “scribbled a bunch of names of people who had also hung out with Epstein at one time or another.” Black listed former presidents Clinton and Trump, billionaires Mort Zuckerman, Reid Hoffman and Tom Pritzker, as well as Epstein’s old JPMorgan buddy Jes Staley and academic Noam Chomsky.

Read more at The Daily Beast.