The Senate Finance Committee has sent a letter to Bank of America asking for details about the substantial payments made by private equity investor Leon Black to late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to The New York Times.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-OR, chairman of the committee investigating the tax evasion work Epstein did for Black, sent a letter addressed to the bank’s CEO, Brian Moynihan, questioning the extent of due diligence Bank of America conducted before processing the $158 million in fees that Black made to Epstein between 2012 and 2017. The committee believes that Epstein’s payments came from Black’s Bank of America accounts.
The letter sent April 4 also asked whether any bank employee raised red flags regarding the payments, which included the fees to Epstein for his advice on a trust saving Black over $1 billion in taxes. According to the rule, banks need to file suspicious activity reports with financial regulators for any questionable transaction.
Wyden also asked if the sale of any artwork involving both parties led to internal reviews raising concerns that “Epstein was acting as a straw purchaser or seller.” The Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender was the leading provider of art loans to Black, who has around $1 billion in a private collection.
“The transactions the committee reviewed were both lawful and conceived, vetted and executed by reputable law firms and tax advisers,” Whit Clay, a spokesperson for Black, told The New York Times, adding that his client paid all of the taxes he owed to the government.
Meanwhile, Wyden, in the letter, noted that the committee was trying to ensure that the schemes Epstein recommended to help Black save over a billion in taxes were “executed in a manner consistent with federal tax laws.” Epstein “was neither a licensed tax attorney nor a certified public accountant,” the committee noted.
The committee began investigating Black’s dealings with Epstein in 2022 following some “inconsistencies” in a review conducted by Dechert LLP, a company that Apollo’s board of directors appointed to examine the connection between the two parties.
Black, the co-founder and former CEO of Apollo Global Management, stepped down from his role in March 2021 — a few months after a NYT report in 2020 revealed that he allegedly regularly dined with Epstein and was the sex offender’s client. The billionaire had earlier said that he had “a limited relationship” with Epstein, according to the report. An internal review of his payments to Epstein did not find any wrongdoing on Black’s part with his transactions with Epstein, the publication noted.
Black has faced a series of sexual abuse accusations, with at least two separate cases filed against him. He has denied all allegations. However, Black agreed to pay $62.5 million in a settlement with the U.S. Virgin Islands to avoid a potential lawsuit. Epstein had two private islands in the U.S. territory that he allegedly used to traffic young women and girls for sex.
In June, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $290 million to the Epstein victims as part of a settlement to a class-action lawsuit. In May, Deutsche Bank said it would pay $75 million to Epstein’s victims to settle allegations that the bank knew Epstein was up to no good while benefiting from his financial wealth. Epstein died in prison in 2019.
A Bank of America spokesperson declined to comment to The New York Times.
