Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Mega Edition: Why Did Wall Street Enable Jeffrey Epstein? (7/11/26)

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Mega Edition: Why Did Wall Street Enable Jeffrey Epstein? (7/11/26) · The Epstein Chronicles

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey, what's going on? Everybody? Happy Friday and greetings from
0:04
Sin City. Tonight on the program, we're going to discuss
0:10
the dick bag Leon Black a little bit more, because
0:15
guess what, it's not just us who aren't buying as bs.
0:19
Nobody on Wall Street's buying it either. There's a new
0:24
article out in Vanity Fair, and that's basically the gist
0:28
of this article that we're going to dig into tonight. Now.
0:33
I've reached out to a couple of people I know,
0:36
ex colleagues who work in the financial sector, work in Manhattan,
0:42
down on Wall Street, and they say that it's been
0:48
an absolute coup in that boardroom, according to word on
0:52
the street, meaning there is no way that Leon Black
1:00
can play this off like he was not pushed out
1:02
by Joshua Harris. This wasn't like some kind of consensus thing.
1:07
Leon Black was forcefully pushed out here. And word on
1:12
the street is he's not going to be chairman either
1:17
for very much longer. Now, again, those are unsubstantiated rumors,
1:21
just scuttle butt from people in the industry, but these
1:25
folks are usually pretty spot on when they're talking about
1:29
stuff like this. You know, when we're dealing with big
1:33
trust funds or hedge fund hedge fund managers, and there's
1:38
a injury quote unquote, or you know somebody looks like
1:42
they're weak. Well, it's just like in nature, sharks in
1:46
the water when they smell blood, what happens. They go
1:48
in for the kill, even if it's one of their own.
1:52
So it's no different at this ultra high level of
1:57
the financial sector. It's a kill or be killed kind
2:01
of world. And Leon Black is floating around right now
2:06
with his dorsal fin hardly intact. So you know that
2:11
the sharks are in the shallows as we speak, and
2:15
that Leon Black most certainly, most certainly has not heard
2:21
the end of this. The bit of him sticking around
2:25
as chairman is that was his way of trying to
2:30
make it not look as bad, in my opinion, right
2:32
to try and save as much face as possible. But
2:37
even that is going to be ripped from him relatively soon,
2:42
because at the end of the day, no one's buying
2:46
what Leon Black is selling anymore. Our article tonight is
2:51
from Vanity Fair headline what a sad Tale of Picophants.
2:57
Wall Street isn't buying Leon Black. Epstein's story decads report
3:03
on the Apollo co founders decades long dealings with the
3:06
late convicted sex offender Pedophile, including payments of one hundred
3:10
and fifty eight million dollars, is raising eyebrows and more
3:15
questions on Wall Street. One lawyer dismissed it as a whitewash. Well,
3:22
who could Let's let's go back in time. Pretty sure,
3:26
that's what I say about every single one of these
3:28
so called impartial investigations that are initiated by the company
3:35
who's in trouble. Oh yeah, that's exactly what's gonna happen.
3:38
The people that you're paying are gonna go out and
3:41
find they're gonna dig extra hard for that dirt or
3:44
are they going to just try and dig deep enough
3:47
to make it look like they did their job while
3:50
at the same time saving you the embarrassment and the
3:55
eventual black eye of your real transgressions and your real actions.
4:01
And I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels
4:03
like that. I'm glad that this lawyer feels the same way,
4:05
because I'm certainly not a lawyer, right, I'm just your
4:08
average everyday person like the rest of you folks. You know,
4:13
no enough to be dangerous about most of the world, right,
4:17
But sometimes when you look at something and it doesn't
4:21
make sense, and people try and tell you that an
4:25
Ostrich is a duck, Well, I'm not gonna believe the gaslighting.
4:30
I'm gonna go with what I know and what I
4:32
can see in what I can prove, And folks, Leon
4:36
Black is a duck most certainly isn't an Ostrich. This
4:41
article was authored by William D. Cohen. Nice try, Leon,
4:51
You must think we are pretty stupid, goible, or insane
4:55
to believe the tail you spun to Deckert the Wall
4:58
Street Firm about your decades long involvement with Jeffrey Epstein,
5:02
the late convicted pedophile. Well, I for one am not
5:06
buying it, not any of it, and neither are many
5:09
other smart Wall Streeters. What a sad tale of sickophants
5:13
was the way one longtime Wall Street banker explained it
5:16
to me, added a Wall Street lawyer. It's preposterous. And
5:21
I'm telling you, folks, that's what my people were telling
5:23
me too, that this is a bunch of bs. Right.
5:25
This is the kind of thing that only Leon Black
5:29
or somebody as powerful of as him could try and
5:31
pull off. This is such so brazen and so ridiculous
5:38
that he's trying to actually make us the force feed
5:41
us this narrative. It is straight up gaslighting. We all
5:46
know the truth and the score. Look the receipts don't lie.
5:49
You're not paying this due to one hundred and fifty
5:51
eight million dollars to come over and yap about you know,
5:56
the state of the stock market. Give me a break.
6:00
Nobody's buying any of that shit. So, really, Leon Black,
6:04
the real question is your ginormous dick bag, what was
6:08
the money really for? Leon? Is? Of course Leon Black
6:15
one of the billionaire co founders of Apollo Global Management,
6:18
the publicly traded private equity and investment firm with around
6:23
three hundred and fifty billion under management. Two on that
6:27
number for a little while, folks, three hundred and fifty
6:32
billion dollars. That's the capital that is under his control.
6:40
I mean wow. So this guy's in control of all
6:44
of that money, he's in control of a bunch of
6:47
different pensions, and in control of all kinds of different
6:53
financial futures for people. But yet he's relying on the
6:57
Coney Island hot dog salesman Jeffrey Epstein that's what he's
7:02
relying on. Huh. I'm sure that that just instills all
7:07
sorts of confidence in the people who entrusted their money
7:12
to him. Let me tell you, I would have my
7:15
money out of there so quickly that you wouldn't even
7:20
know what hit you if you were Apollo Global. According
7:27
to Bloomberg, Black has a net worth of nearly ten
7:30
billion dollars. That's with the b folks, of course. He
7:33
has a private jet and a luxury yacht and lots
7:37
of fancy homes. In twenty twelve, he paid nearly one
7:41
hundred and twenty million dollars for one artwork, one of
7:44
the four versions of Edward Munch's eighteen ninety five pastel
7:49
The Scream. Well, now that he's out over at Apollo,
7:54
him and his art collection will have a lot of
7:57
time to console each other. He has a world class
8:02
art collection cost about a billion dollars. It doesn't say
8:04
it here in this article, but that's what the estimated
8:08
worth of his art collection is. Now think about that
8:11
for a minute. One billion dollars in art. It's just obscene.
8:19
He is also the chairman of the board of Trustees
8:21
at the Museum of Modern Art, his wife's Deborah is
8:25
on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He
8:28
is rich and powerful. That means he can hire what
8:32
appear to be reputable law firms to put their stamp
8:36
of approval on a version of the truth that is
8:39
not likely to be independently verified by anyone not getting
8:43
paid by Black or by Apollo. That's not the same
8:48
as transparency, folks. It's almost as if the author here
8:53
has been digging around in my head and coming up
8:56
with some different ideas, because this is all the same
9:00
stuff I talk about all the time. This is BS
9:03
and the way that these people get away with it,
9:06
with these independent investigations that they're paying for, it's absolutely ridiculous.
9:14
I'll tell you what. If we've learned anything anything lately
9:18
with Wall Street Bets, it's that we have the power.
9:21
The power of the people is still what works, folks.
9:24
You know, I always say one that can be ignored,
9:27
but ten million, well that's a different story. And you're
9:30
seeing that with Reddit and with Wall Street. And you know,
9:36
when we come together and we work towards a common goal,
9:40
even the richest and most powerful amongst us have to
9:44
take heed. And that's why I am always railing about
9:48
us fighting with each other. It's ridiculous. It has to stop.
9:51
The tribalism and shit has to stop. These people, folks,
9:55
are the real problem, These hedge funders, these financial banker types,
10:03
who are legitimately working on a daily basis to make
10:07
our lives worse. Don't you remember Occupy Wall Street, when
10:11
all of these hedge funders were literally looking down at
10:14
people sipping from their glasses of champagne after they've literally
10:19
bankrupted the whole entire country. How many companies were ruined,
10:23
how many people's pensions were ruined. I know personally more
10:28
than a handful of people who still have not recovered.
10:32
And yet these banksters, these dick bags like Leon Black
10:35
and the rest of them, sit there and sip there,
10:38
bubbly eat their caviaart, and continue to enable sick bastards
10:43
like Jeffrey Epstein. In October, the Conflicts Committee of the
10:51
Apollo Board of Directors, which is three people, by the way,
10:54
hire Decker to conduct the thorough investigation into the relationship
10:58
between Black and Epps after The New York Times reported
11:02
that Black had paid Epstein at least fifty million for
11:06
Epstein's services and again, props to the New York Times
11:10
for actually going the extra mile here, and I get
11:13
it right, they're going they did it because they don't
11:15
like Leon Black. He's a dick bag, and you know,
11:18
it's always nice to slam a scumbag billionaire's face in
11:24
their own waist, right, So I get why they went
11:28
after him, or they're going after him, But I'd love
11:31
to see this kind of zeal with other people involved
11:33
in this case. And it doesn't matter who. Go after
11:37
them all Trump, Minuchin, Clinton, you name it, go after them, Wexner.
11:44
Let's see that zeal from these journalists. Let's see them
11:48
earn people's trust back, because it's at an all time low.
11:53
Nobody trusts the media. It doesn't matter what side of
11:56
the aisle you're on. And it's because they make shit
11:58
bag moves. It's because people look at them like they're
12:02
corrupt or they're tilted one way or the other. Here's
12:08
an idea, how about you just to report the facts
12:12
and follow the evidence wherever it leads. Over the years,
12:21
there has been a lot of bad press about the
12:23
relationship between Black and Epstein and many rumors, but the
12:27
Times report appeared to be the last straw for some
12:30
of the members of the Apollo board. The Conflict Committee
12:34
comprises Michael Doocey as chairman, a consultant and something of
12:38
a professional board member, ap Buzzy Kronguard, the former CEO
12:43
of Alex Brown and Sons, the defunct investment bank and
12:47
a former executive director of the CIA, and Pauline Richards,
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a former insurance executive like Doucey, a professional board member.
12:55
Isn't that nice? Huh? Got yourself a nice a former
12:59
executive director of the CIA. That's exactly what we need,
13:03
the financial world and the CIA holding hands and playing
13:07
patty k kah. Do you understand yet, folks? Do you
13:11
see why I'm always railing about the CIA. It's not
13:16
just some sort of half cocked rant. These people are
13:22
involved in everything, everything, and they shouldn't be. During its
13:32
three month investigation, Deckert reported that it reviewed more than
13:35
sixty thousand documents voluntarily provided to it by Black, his family, office,
13:40
Apollo executives, and by Apollos outside council Paul Weiss. Deckert
13:46
said it spoke with more than twenty individuals, some more
13:49
than once, including Black, and also on a voluntary basis.
13:55
Deckert did not have the ability to subpoena either document
13:58
or witnesses. Yeah, no, it wasn't through the court. Of
14:02
course they didn't. They make it. They act like it
14:04
was this big investigation, But Deckardhart, they had no power
14:08
to compel Leon Black to turnover documents or to be
14:14
completely honest. So how can anyone believe what the hell's
14:20
going on over here? Give me a break. I said
14:22
it from the beginning, folks that this was a gigantic
14:26
game of bs, and that's what it was. That's what
14:29
this investigation was. And even with them being in the
14:33
bag for Leon Black and Apollo, they still found one
14:37
hundred million dollars that Leon Black wasn't honest about when
14:42
it comes to his financing Jeffrey Epstein or being in
14:45
bed with Jeffrey Epstein financially. So if you're lying about that,
14:49
what else are you lying about? According to the Decker Report,
14:57
which was dated January twenty second and then filed with
15:00
the Securities and Exchange Commission, Black and Epstein had a
15:04
social relationship from the mid nineteen nineties to two thousand
15:08
and eighteen. Are you kidding me? Right now? From the
15:11
mid nineties to two thousand and eighteen. That's right around
15:14
the time that Jeffrey Epstein started visiting Bill Clinton in
15:17
the White House, isn't it? Yeah? I think it is.
15:21
So This dude, Leon Black was friends with Jeffrey Epstein
15:27
for all of these years. He knew that Jeffrey Epstein
15:30
was a sick pervert. He knew that Jeffrey Epstein was
15:32
trying to not only recruit and groom underage girls, but
15:38
he was also abusing them. Unless you lived under a rock,
15:43
or on Mars, or in a place without any sort
15:46
of internet service or news service, you knew exactly what
15:50
Jeffrey Epstein was up to. They were introduced by an
15:55
unnamed mutual friend. An unnamed mutual friend. Huh, I wonder
15:59
who that could be. That'll be a fun investigation to
16:03
go on, folks. That's your homework assignment for the weekend.
16:07
Who's the mutual friend? Black viewed Epstein as someone who
16:13
was very intelligent and knowledgeable regarding issues relating to estate
16:16
planning and taxation, the report allowed. In nineteen ninety seven,
16:21
Black appointed Epstein to be one of the initial directors
16:24
of the Black Family Foundation, established to facilitate his charitable giving.
16:30
I mean, does this sound like somebody who really wasn't
16:33
too connected to Jeffrey Epstein, Folks, Sure doesn't sound that
16:37
way to me. Sure sounds to me like this is
16:40
somebody who was very much connected to Jeffrey Epstein. Sounds
16:45
to me like somebody who knew all of Leon Black's secrets,
16:51
and somebody who Leon Black well, you know, fellow travelers
16:56
them all. Black apparently was impressed that David Rockefeller had
17:07
appointed Epstein to the board of Rockefeller University, a scientific
17:12
research university on the East side of Manhattan. Yeah, because
17:15
the Rockefeller family is just fantastic human beings as well
17:20
another group of so called elites that I could do
17:24
without that I've had a belly full of. According to
17:28
the Decer report, Black's understanding was that Epstein was extremely
17:32
knowledgeable about science and technology, as well as a strong
17:36
proponent of scientific research and development. Epstein had somehow convinced Black,
17:42
one of our most gifted financial engineers, that he was
17:46
the ultimate autodiadect, exceptionally skilled in both the arcane rules
17:52
of tax structuring and the state planning, and also scientific research.
17:57
Oh yeah, because you know, Jeff Epstein was all of
18:00
those things, right, and he had the resume to prove it.
18:04
So what Leon Black wants us to believe is anybody
18:07
could just walk into his office and start railing about
18:11
what they've done or what they've accomplished and get the job.
18:17
Because he certainly didn't have the resume to get this
18:20
kind of job. That's certainly the case. He didn't go
18:25
to any graduate from any fancy college. What was he
18:28
ever involved in that would garner him that kind of
18:32
respect from somebody like Leon Black? According to the Decker Report,
18:40
Epstein introduced Black to well regarded researchers at MIT and Harvard.
18:45
Epstein stayed on the Black Family Foundation board for about
18:48
ten years until he resigned in the mid two thousand
18:51
and seven, the year before his conviction for pedophilia, because
18:55
of an oversight. The foundation reported to the IRS that
18:58
Epstein remained on it's bored until twenty twelve. When the
19:02
mistake was discovered. In twenty thirteen, the reporting was changed.
19:08
Oh yeah, I'm sure that was just a mistake, that
19:10
is all that was. Folks. Come on, how dare anyone
19:14
think that they would keep sick ass Jeffrey Epstein on
19:17
their board after his arrest? Not Leon Black because Leon
19:21
Black is such a pillar of the community, such an
19:24
upstanding citizen. Black's reputation on Wall Street was as a
19:30
ruthless deal maker. He learned his craft at Drexel Burnham Lambert,
19:35
the defunct investment bank, and from its superstar banker Michael Milkin,
19:39
a recently pardon convicted criminal who helped create the junk
19:43
bond market. Michael Milkin was an absolute scumbag, another scumbag
19:48
financial jerk. D Well, guess what another jerk from the
19:54
financial sector, or I guess you should say, from the
19:57
so called elite sector. Well, he just pardoned them. Black
20:03
was head of mergers and acquisitions at Drexel before it
20:05
blew up, and one of Apollo's earliest deals it negotiated
20:09
to buy at a significant discount, the bond portfolio of
20:13
Executive Life Insurance Company, which had failed after, among other things,
20:18
buying too many Drexel underwritten junk bonds. Boy, isn't that ironic? Huh?
20:25
The irony never ceases to amaze me. So this company
20:30
who bought a bunch of underwritten junk bonds from Drexel,
20:33
where Leon Black worked, went defunct because of those junk bonds,
20:38
and then Leon Black went in and bought them all up.
20:43
Hell of a guy, that Leon Black. How about we
20:46
have him over for dinner. Black was highly adept at
20:52
fighting for the last penny in deals and was one
20:54
of Wall Street's most feared vulture investors, the people who
20:58
buy bonds of distressed companies at a discount and then
21:01
get control of companies by converting the debt they own
21:05
to equity hostile takeover. And what they would do is
21:08
then they would liquidate that shit. And they don't care
21:12
if people lose jobs or careers or whatever. Doesn't matter
21:15
to them. When they say vulture investor, there should be
21:19
a picture of Leon Black in the dictionary. As Apollo grew,
21:25
Black and his growing team engineered bigger and bigger deals.
21:29
Among its biggest successes are Lion Del Bassel, a chemical company,
21:34
ADT the security company, and among its biggest flops or
21:38
Caesar's Entertainment and Linen's and things. I remember with the
21:42
Caesars Entertainment situation, and that didn't turn out well for
21:46
them at all. Caesar's has been on a decline for
21:49
quite some time now, and even mister dick bag Leon
21:54
Black couldn't stop that. For reasons that Deckert does not
22:00
completely make clear. Black, the rapacious financier Bloomberg once referred
22:05
to him as the most feared man in the most
22:07
aggressive realm of finance, had a soft spot for Epstein
22:11
even after his two thousand and eight guilty plea for
22:14
soliciting prostitution and procuring a person under the age of
22:18
eighteen four prostitution. Oh no, it wasn't a soft spot.
22:22
These dudes were connected, they were buddies, and it wasn't
22:28
about a soft spot. It was about Leon Black willing
22:31
to overlook Jeffrey Epstein's behavior because they had themselves a nice, disgusting,
22:39
parasitic relationship. According to Decker, Black believes in rehabilitation and
22:49
giving people second chances. Yeah, how many felons does he
22:52
have working for his company? How many ex felons are
22:56
working for Apollo Global in the financial sector, I'm guessing
23:00
not many. So how many people have you given second
23:04
chances to by giving them jobs? Dick bag Black? That's
23:09
also why Deckert wrote, Black has stayed friendly with both
23:13
Milkin and Martha Stewart, who have spent time in prison
23:16
for financial crimes. You asshole, Okay, you can come back
23:20
from that financial crimes. While it makes you an absolute
23:23
piece of shit, you can come back from You can
23:25
be sorry about it. You can rehabilitate yourself, you can
23:29
make amends. There's no coming back from sexual assaulting children.
23:35
There's no coming back from human trafficking. Apparently, Black seemed
23:40
to be converted to a pushover for two other reasons. First,
23:44
Black believed Epstein when he said he had only solicited
23:46
a minor for prostitution once, and that Epstein mistakenly understood
23:51
the prostitute in question. Well, hold on the prostitute in question.
23:55
You mean the little girl in question. Okay, let's get
23:58
our words right. Vanity Fair. You've done enough to hurt
24:03
the people involved in this case with your two thousand
24:05
and three puff piece, so don't even get me started
24:08
on you, Vanity Fair. Prostitute, This was a little girl
24:13
in question was older. And Second, because so many other
24:17
rich and influential people, including CEOs and Nobel laureates, still
24:22
hung out with them, So you know, if your friends
24:25
are doing it, you should do it too, because that's
24:27
a great idea. I know, when I was younger, my
24:29
mom used to say something to me all the time,
24:32
and she would say, if your friends all jumped off
24:34
a cliff, would you follow him and do the same thing?
24:37
And it's the same thing here, Leon Black, what your
24:39
mom never told you? That one never gave you that
24:42
old adage. This guy's an absolute douche. And the fact
24:48
that these CEOs and Nobel laureates are hanging out with
24:51
Jeffrey Epstein and helping him refurbish his image, don't you
24:56
see that's part of the problem, dick bag Black? So
25:02
how about for once, you idiots in the financial sector
25:07
stop being part of the problem. Oh, it was just
25:13
so cozy. Black viewed Epstein as a friend worthy of
25:17
his trust. According to Deckert, they attended social events together,
25:21
Black confided in Epstein on personal matters, and Black introduced
25:25
Epstein to his family. Black regularly visited Epstein's townhouse in
25:29
New York to either discuss business or to meet other
25:32
prominent guests who were visiting Epstein, including well known businessmen,
25:36
political figures, diplomats, scientists, and celebrities. Well, did you ever
25:42
get a massage there, mister Black? That's the question that
25:45
should really be asked. I want to know, did Leon
25:48
Black ever get a massage at Jeffrey Epstein's point blank period.
25:53
Is anyone ever going to ask him that maybe I
25:56
should shoot him an email and see what he has
25:58
to say. In general, one on one breakfast meetings between
26:04
Black and Epstein would be more common for business meetings,
26:08
whereas afternoon meetings with other guests would be more common
26:11
for social visits. Black invited Epstein to his son's thirtieth
26:16
birthday party in the Hamptons in twenty and fifteen. According
26:19
to someone who was there these days, Apparently Black is
26:23
contrite and would not have given Epstein a second chance
26:26
had he known more about Epstein's criminal activity. According to
26:30
the Decer report, such bs okay, nobody believes you, not
26:36
the Penguins, not the polar Bears. Nobody believes you, and
26:41
you're another one inviting Epstein to your son's birthday party
26:45
in twenty and fifteen. It was well established what Jeffrey
26:49
Epstein was by twenty and fifteen. Who in the hell
26:54
actually believes this? Turns out, according to The Times, was
27:01
off by more than one hundred million in its estimates
27:03
of payments from Black to Epstein in the years between
27:06
twenty twelve and twenty and seventeen, that is, after his
27:10
Second Chance started, and after a twenty eleven report in
27:14
The Daily Mail about Epstein's continued atrocious behavior, Black paid
27:19
Epstein one hundred and fifty one hundred and fifty eight
27:23
million dollars for advice on issues including tax, estate planning
27:28
and structuring. That Deckert wrote saved Black between one billion
27:32
and two billion dollars one hundred and fifty eight million
27:36
dollars for his advice. That's what they want you to believe.
27:41
I do not believe that somehow we are supposed to
27:45
believe that Jeffrey Epstein, a college dropout who taught math
27:49
for about two years at the Dalton School on the
27:52
Upper East Side and then worked at bear Stearns before
27:55
being fired, is responsible for between ten percent and twenty
28:00
percent of Leon Black's net worth. What did I say
28:04
the other day? I mean, maybe I should start writing
28:07
some articles. I guess iTunes will probably find a way
28:10
to limit that as well, So maybe I'll just keep
28:13
to run in my fat mouth. But I've been saying
28:15
this for how long, folks. Everything that this gentleman is
28:17
saying in this article is all the stuff I've been
28:20
saying for literally months about Leon Black and Jeffrey Epstein
28:23
and how deep the ties ran. Apparently, Epstein's big break
28:30
for Black came in twenty twelve when he solved what
28:32
the report says was a mounting problem and a grannar
28:36
trust that Black had established in two thousand and six
28:39
with the help of a trust in. A state's attorney
28:41
recommended to Black buy wait for it, Epstein, But the
28:46
flaw on the trust, if not fixed, would have cost
28:48
Black between five hundred million to one billion or more.
28:52
Deckert wrote, there seems to be no plausible explanation for
28:57
how Black allowed this to happen or why attack expert
29:00
would make such a colossal mistake. Black tried to solve
29:04
the problem with all his experts, but he couldn't Alas,
29:08
Oh yeah, I'm sure all of his experts couldn't figure
29:11
it out. He had to go to Jeffrey Epstein. Jeffrey
29:13
Epstein is the man with the plan we're talking Remember
29:19
Russell Crowe's character in A Beautiful Mind just looks at
29:22
all the numbers and can figure out the equations right there,
29:26
no matter how big or long. That's Jeffrey Epstein. Obviously
29:30
we're talking about Albert Einstein reincarnated. Folks, If we only
29:35
would have known what a genius was amongst us, but
29:42
Epstein could. He claimed his solution was proprietary. According to Deckert,
29:47
Black asked outside legal counsel to vet Epstein's solution and
29:51
to watch over Epstein. Generally, why didn't Black's legal counsel
29:55
just do his tax and his state work for much
29:57
less money? One wonders, Yeah, why not all of these
30:02
people around him, this huge company Apollo, they don't have
30:05
tax people, They don't have some of the best people
30:08
in the world. You gotta go out and bring in
30:10
a mercenary like Jeffrey Epstein. Huh okay. According to Deckert,
30:18
Epstein hit a grand slam because his idea met all
30:21
of Black's financial and estate planning goals. In twenty thirteen,
30:26
Black and Epstein signed a contract for services, including the
30:29
implementation of Epstein's solution. Usually, Epstein told Black he would
30:35
charge a client forty million a year for his advice,
30:38
but he offered to give Black a break twenty three
30:40
and a half million, which was paid to Epstein in
30:43
two installments in twenty thirteen. Even by Wall Street standards,
30:48
the fees Black pay agreed to pay Epstein were preposterous.
30:52
You could buy a law firm for what Leon agreed
30:54
to pay Epstein. A retired CEO told me, no shit.
31:00
I'm telling you guys that forever, everybody I know that
31:03
works in the financial sector just shakes their head and
31:06
rolls their eyes when they see these kind of numbers
31:08
being thrown around. This is you gotta understand these people.
31:13
They don't want to let a scent leave their fingers.
31:15
So paying this kind of money for advice for these
31:18
narcissistic alphas like Leon Black, it just doesn't happen, folks.
31:34
Based on the Grand Slam, Black agreed to hire Epstein
31:37
again in mid twenty and thirteen for future services, agreeing
31:41
to abide by terms similar to the initial contract, but
31:45
apparently without assigned agreement. According to Decker, Black pat Epstein
31:50
in total of fifty million in twenty thirteen and on
31:54
an ad hoc basis another seventy million in twenty fourteen
31:59
and another thirty million in twenty fifteen. Wait, I thought
32:03
his few was only twenty three and a half million.
32:05
What's going on here? Why is it getting bumped up
32:08
all of a sudden? You don't get the homie hookup
32:10
no more? There, Leon, I'm gonna need the full thirty.
32:12
I'm gonna need fifty. I'm gonna need seventy. Pay up,
32:16
pay up, pay up, I mean really. Epstein went on
32:22
to advise Black about some loans he had made to
32:24
certain family trusts, which appeared to save Black some money
32:28
his art collection, his yacht, and his airplane, which apparently
32:32
unnerved a broker of private jets who was not pleased because,
32:36
according to Deckert, the broker knew Epstein was sophisticated when
32:40
it came to airplanes and that it would be hard
32:42
to negotiate against Epstein. Once again, we are asked to
32:47
believe that Jeffrey Epstein was a better negotiator than Leon Black. No,
32:52
I will not believe it. I am sorry, I will
32:55
not believe it. There's nothing that anyone can do to
32:59
prove to me or show me that Jeffrey Epstein's a
33:02
better negotiator than Leon effing Black. I know Leon Black,
33:08
I know his reputation, I know the way people think
33:12
of him on Wall Street, and I know that this
33:15
dude is not seeding power to Jeffrey Epstein, not today,
33:18
not yesterday, not in a thousand years from now. There
33:24
is more, of course, not all of it fully explained
33:27
twenty and a half million of unpaid loans to Epstein
33:30
from Black, a dispute between the two men over Epstein
33:34
wanting even more money from Black that led to their
33:36
falling out in twenty eighteen. But the report suggests that
33:40
it was all legit and that the value Epstein provided
33:44
to Black substantially exceeded the total compensation that Black paid
33:49
to him, while also noting that Black paid more in
33:52
fees to Epstein than he paid to any other professional.
33:56
Imagine that, huh, Of all the professionals, Leon Black's working with,
33:59
all the people in his realm and in his atmosphere,
34:04
Jeffrey Epstein was the person he paid the most money to. Why.
34:13
Concurrent with the release of the Decor report, Black agreed
34:16
to resign as Apollo CEO in July, around his seventieth birthday,
34:20
but will remain chairman of the board. Mark Rowan, one
34:24
of Apollo's founders, will succeed Black. Josh Harris, another Apollo
34:29
co founder who was reportedly angling to seceed Black, has
34:33
at least publicly endorsed Rowan as CEO. There's more going
34:37
on there, folks, right, I don't have any proof of that,
34:39
but there is a struggle going on behind closed doors.
34:43
Rowan had taken a step back. He was basically in
34:47
self imposed retirement, and now all of a sudden he
34:50
steps back up and into the plate and Harris is
34:53
getting pushed to the side again. Do you really think
34:55
that Harris is okay with that? I highly doubt it.
34:59
Black also agreed to donate two hundred million to initiatives
35:02
that seek to achieve gender equality and protect and empower women,
35:07
according to his statement, including those that help survivors of
35:10
sexual assault in human trafficking. Decker's report cleared him of wrongdoing.
35:15
Of course, these are not the droids you are looking for.
35:21
And it really is that, right, that's what they're trying
35:23
to do. They're trying to do the old Jedi mind
35:26
trick on us, right, wave their hands in front of
35:28
us and say, all right, this is it, no big deal,
35:31
it's all good. It was a bad judgment call by
35:35
Leon Black, that's all the Wall Street lawyer says, It's
35:41
all just a load of crap. He uses the words
35:44
whitewash and cover up. His unproven theory is that Black
35:47
was using Epstein to pass money to people who he
35:50
didn't want to be associated with by name. There's no
35:53
way Jeffrey Epstein was keeping one hundred and fifty eight million,
35:56
he says an Apollo spokesperson. Spokesperson did not respond to
36:00
questions about whether Black used Epstein as a conduit to
36:04
pay others in this manner, or if Black had had
36:07
any plans to return as the CEO after he gives
36:11
up the position in July. So again, what was that
36:15
money being used for? Why was Jeffrey Epstein being given
36:18
all of this money? Very possible that Jeffrey Epstein was
36:22
washing this money and laundering it and then distributing it
36:25
to people that Black was in business with that he
36:28
didn't want his name associated with in public. I know
36:32
it sounds like a movie and shit, right, but this
36:35
is reality, folks. And now that the drapes have been
36:39
pulled back, the curtains have been pulled back, and you
36:42
folks have gotten a little look behind. There's no going
36:45
back from this. There's only going forward. Apollos board allowing
36:55
Black to remain as chairman, reminds the lawyer of the
36:58
old street, the old wallst saw the King horse can
37:02
talk strategy. There's a plot against the King he explains.
37:05
The king catches the head plotter, He throws him in
37:08
the dungeon and says two weeks hence off with his head.
37:12
The plotter is down in the dungeon in the bottom
37:14
of the castle. He whispers to the guard, look before
37:17
the king kills me, he better realized that I can
37:20
make his horse talk. The guy says, yeah, sure, he goes, no,
37:24
I mean it. You better tell the king I can
37:26
make his horse talk. The guard wanders upstairs, sees the
37:30
king says, look, I don't know whether it make heads
37:34
or tails of this, but the guy says that he
37:38
can make your horse talk. The king says, hmm, let
37:42
me think about it. The guard goes back downstairs. The
37:45
guy says, what did the king say? The King said
37:49
he'd think about it, and the guy smiles. The guard said,
37:53
what are you smiling about. You can't make his horse talk.
37:57
He says, well, a lot of things can happen between
38:00
now and two weeks. Hence, the horse could die, the
38:04
king could die, and who knows, I might figure out
38:08
a way to make the horse talk. So Leon in
38:11
his mind has between now and July to make the
38:14
horse talk. Josh could die, Mark could die. Anything could happen, Yo, folks.
38:22
That little story there sums it up perfectly. That is
38:26
everything I've been telling you about this and the situation
38:29
that we find ourselves in with Apollo Global. I have
38:36
known Mark Rowan for more than twenty five years. I
38:39
used to cover him at Apollo when I was a
38:41
banker at Merrill Lynch. I used to try to present
38:44
him with actionable ideas companies that Apollo might want to
38:47
buy that were open to being bought. I shared with
38:50
him a bunch of ideas, a few of which Apollo
38:53
ended up doing. But Apollo never paid Merrill any fees.
38:57
As a result of my ideas, I get the sense
39:00
that Apollo was not the kind of firm that will
39:02
let anyone get a dollar out of them if it
39:05
could be avoided, let alone one hundred and fifty eight million.
39:09
Rowan is now a billionaire. In May two thousand and nine,
39:13
Rowan gave a talk to the Jewish and Richment Center.
39:15
He got to talking about people he worked for over
39:18
the years. I work directly for Dennis Levine, a former
39:21
Drexel m and a banker who went to jail and
39:24
then went to work for Marty Siegel. Another Drexel m
39:28
and a banker who also went to jail. I then
39:31
moved out to California to work for Mike Milkin, who
39:34
also went to jail. There are so many ethical dilemmas
39:38
you are presented with over your career. The choices you
39:41
make just determine who you are over time. And if
39:46
that's the case, then the person that Leon Black has
39:52
been determined to be over the course of time is
39:57
certainly not somebody that any of us would want to be.
40:02
Because this dude and his choices and his very very
40:10
strong relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is not just going to
40:14
go away. And for Leon Black to think that he
40:19
is just buying himself some time right now and waiting
40:22
to cruise right back into his position, well, I think
40:26
maybe he should give the Joe Exotic of the windsor
40:30
Family of phone call and see how that's going for him.
40:34
If you'd like to contact me, you can do that
40:36
at Bobby Kapuuchi at ProtonMail dot com. That's Bobby c
40:41
ap you Cci at ProtonMail dot com. You can also
40:47
find me on Twitter at Bobby underscore cap you Cci.
40:53
All of the links that go at this episode can
40:56
be found in the description box, and folks, make sure
41:00
that you are subscribed to the podcast at whatever platform
41:04
that you get it from. That way, you get it
41:06
as soon as it's uploaded. All right, everybody, enjoy your
41:11
Friday night. Please do not drink and drive, and I
41:14
will be back tomorrow. License. What's up everyone, and welcome
41:19
to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. A lot of
41:23
people like to pretend that the Epstein story just fell
41:26
out of the sky, like one day everyone woke up
41:29
and suddenly realized Epstein wasn't just a rich creep with
41:32
a jet and a guest list, but something far darker
41:35
and far more entrenched. That collective amnesia is convenient because
41:40
it lets a lot of people off the hook. It
41:42
lets institutions act surprised. It lets media outlets posture as
41:47
late arriving heroes instead of early enablers. And it lets
41:50
the same voices who mocked this story for years now
41:53
act like they discovered it on their own. What's happening
41:57
right now is in revelation. It's red mutation management. The
42:01
tone has changed, sure, but the framing is still careful,
42:05
still polite, still boxed in. We're getting long essays about money, connections, careers, origins.
42:11
We're getting safe questions with safe answers. What we're not
42:15
getting is the one question that makes everyone uncomfortable. How
42:19
did this man keep surviving things that should have destroyed him?
42:22
Not once, not twice, but over and over again, across decades,
42:27
jurisdictions and scandals. Now some might want to call that
42:30
a coincidence. Me, I see a pattern. Epstein didn't just
42:35
slip through the cracks. The cracks don't work like that.
42:38
He walked through doors that should have been locked, guarded,
42:41
and bolted shut. Every time consequence is loomed, they softened.
42:45
Every time exposure threatened, it dissipated. Careers ended around them,
42:50
but his never did. Investigations stalled, but his lifestyle never changed.
42:55
That kind of consistency doesn't come from charm or luck.
42:59
It comes from something structural, something systemic, something people are
43:03
still afraid to name out loud. And that's why the
43:06
current wave of coverage feels both overdue and incomplete. You
43:10
can write ten thousand words about where someone worked, who
43:13
they knew, or how their money moved, and still missed
43:16
the point entirely, because the real story isn't how he rose.
43:20
It's how he was allowed to stay standing. It's how
43:23
the rules bent without breaking. It's how alarms rang without
43:27
anyone responding until we start asking why that kept happening.
43:31
We're not investigating history, we're just curating it. So enjoy
43:35
the sudden interest. Enjoy the glossy retrospectives and recycled timelines.
43:40
Just understand this. If the conversation never crosses from how
43:44
did he make it? Till why did he survive it,
43:47
then we're still being fed a version of the story
43:49
designed to protect someone. And if there's one lesson Jeffrey
43:53
Epstein taught us, it's that protection. Real protection never happens
43:57
by accident. And what you're watching now is not an
44:01
awakening so much as a delayed reckoning. The people who
44:04
once rolled their eyes at the Epstein story are suddenly
44:07
acting like they've stumbled onto bury treasure, when in reality,
44:10
they've arrived at a crime scene that's been taped off
44:13
for decades. The shift didn't come from courage or curiosity.
44:17
It came from pressure and embarrassment. When the story refused
44:21
to die, when survivors kept speaking, and when documents kept leaking,
44:25
legacy media finally realized silence was no longer an option.
44:29
That doesn't mean they're telling the whole truth now. It
44:31
means they're telling a version of it that feels safe
44:34
enough to publish, And that distinction matters more than most
44:37
people want to admit, because what's being presented is new.
44:41
Reporting is often just recycled, surface level material, stripped of
44:45
its most dangerous implications, and The New York Times is
44:49
a perfect example of this phenomenon. Suddenly we're getting long
44:53
form features about Epstein's early career, his time around bear Stearns,
44:57
and the mystery of his money. On its face, that
45:00
sounds like progress. In reality, it's an exercise in historical laundering.
45:05
These are stories that could have been written years ago,
45:08
when Epstein was still alive and actively abusing girls. Instead,
45:12
they arrived now, when the central figure is safely dead
45:15
and incapable of contradicting anyone. That timing is not accidental.
45:19
It's much easier to write boldly about a monster when
45:22
the monster can no longer implicate anyone else. And it's
45:25
even easier when the most explosive questions are politely left unasked.
45:30
For years, people like you and me were told we
45:33
were exaggerating. We were called conspiracy theorists for suggesting Epstein's
45:37
crimes extended beyond individual depravity into institutional protection. The idea
45:43
that powerful systems enabled them was dismissed as paranoid fantasy.
45:48
Yet here we are watching those same outlets gingerly approach
45:51
the edges of that very conclusion. The difference is they
45:55
still refuse to name the mechanism. They'll describe the smoke endlessly,
46:00
but they won't say who lit the fire. Instead, they
46:02
fixate on money trails, social connections, and career antidotes. Those
46:07
details matter, but they are not the core of the story,
46:10
and the Barristern story is a perfect case study in misdirection. Yes,
46:14
Epstein's exit from bear Sterns is suspicious, Yes, it raises
46:18
legitimate questions about how a college drop out with no
46:21
formal credentials ended up managing money for billionaires. But focusing
46:25
solely on that chapter, obscure is something far more important.
46:29
Plenty of shady operators wash out of Wall Street under
46:32
clouds of misconduct and never recover. Epstein didn't just recover,
46:36
He ascended. He didn't disappear into obscurity or face lasting
46:41
professional consequence. He landed on his feet every single time,
46:45
often in wighs that defied logic and precedent. That pattern
46:49
demands and explanation far beyond luck or charm, and this
46:53
is where the mainstream narrative consistently collapses under its own weight.
46:58
Journalists ask how Epstein may his money, but they rarely
47:01
ask how he survived as scandals. They catalog as social network,
47:05
but they don't interrogate why those connections never abandon them
47:09
when red flags piled up. They marvel at his resilience
47:12
without questioning what force might have been cushioning his falls.
47:16
That omission is not accidental or benign. In journalism, what's
47:22
not asked is more revealing than what is, and in
47:25
Epstein's case, the unasked questions all point to the same
47:28
uncomfortable direction. The central issue is not Epstein's financial genius,
47:35
because there's little evidence he had any. It's not his
47:38
social brilliance either, because plenty of social climbers are exposed
47:42
and discarded once their utility fades. The real story is
47:46
Epstein's immunity. Over and over again, he encountered situations that
47:50
should have ended his freedom, his fortune, or at the
47:53
very least his access to victims. Instead, consequence is dissolved investigations, stalled,
48:00
charges were softened, delayed, or quietly abandoned. That kind of
48:04
consistency does not happen by accident. It happens when someone
48:09
is deemed more valuable protected than prosecuted. This is where
48:13
the allegation that Epstein functioned as a confidential informant becomes unavoidable,
48:18
regardless of how uncomfortable it makes people. I'm not presenting
48:22
this as a proven courtroom fact, because that bar has
48:25
never been allowed to be tested. I'm presenting it as
48:28
the most coherent explanation for a decades long pattern of
48:31
inexplicable leniency. Law enforcement agencies routinely cultivate informants who are
48:37
morally reprehensible because usefulness often outweighs ethics. Drug traffickers, arms dealers,
48:44
money launderers, and traffickers themselves have all been protected at
48:48
various times in exchange for information. That's not speculation, that's
48:53
documented history. The idea that Epstein could have occupied such
48:57
a role is not extraordinary. What would be extraord dinary
49:00
is pretending that the pattern doesn't fit if Epstein was
49:03
flipped early. Many pieces suddenly fall into place. His ability
49:07
to move freely across borders despite allegations, his repeated brushes
49:11
with law enforcement that never seemed to stick, the remarkable
49:14
deference shown to him by prosecutors in Florida, the reluctance
49:18
of federal authorities to pursue them aggressively even when victims
49:21
were begging to be heard. Informants are not treated like
49:24
ordinary criminals. They're assets, and assets are managed, not destroyed.
49:30
When you view Epstein through that lens, the story becomes
49:33
grimly coherent. And of course, this also reframes the two
49:37
thousand and eight non prosecution agreement in a far more
49:40
disturbing light. That deal wasn't just lenient, it was aberrational.
49:46
It protected unnamed co conspirators, concealed agreements from victims, and
49:50
short circuited federal oversight. People often attribute this to a
49:54
prosecutorial cowardice or a corruption, and those factors may have
49:58
well played a role in Orman status provides a structural
50:01
explanation for why so many safeguards were overridden. It explains
50:06
why DOJ leadership signed off, It explains why the FBI
50:09
appeared disengaged, and it explains why Epstein emerged from the
50:13
scandal not diminished, but emboldened. After two thousand and eight,
50:17
Epstein didn't retreat, he expanded. He continued abusing girls with
50:22
apparent confidence that the system would not stop them. That
50:26
confidence didn't come from arrogance alone. It came from experience.
50:30
He had learned repeatedly that consequences did not apply to
50:33
him the same way they applied to others. When someone
50:37
behaves that brazenly, it's usually because past behavior has been rewarded,
50:41
not punished. That's a psychological reality, not a conspiracy theory,
50:46
and it's one that journalists still struggle to confront. Honestly,
50:50
the media's fixation on Epstein's money conveniently avoids this reality.
50:54
Money safe territory, you can trace accounts, speculate about shell companies,
50:59
and analyze investments without challenging the legitimacy of federal institutions.
51:04
But once you ask how Epstein survived criminal exposure, you're
51:08
forced to examine law enforcement itself. You're forced to consider
51:12
whether the FBI failed catastrophically or acted deliberately. Neither possibility
51:18
reflects well on the institution, So instead we get endless
51:22
articles about Bear Stearns and billionaires, as if wealth alone
51:25
explains immunity, it doesn't look. It's also important to acknowledge
51:30
the role of skepticism here, because skepticism was selectively applied.
51:35
When survivors spoke, they were doubted. When independent researchers raise questions,
51:39
they were mocked. When journalists outside of lead circles connected dots,
51:43
they were ignored. But when legacy outlets finally approached the story,
51:48
their skepticism evaporates. Their assumptions are treated as serious inquiry,
51:53
even when they trail far behind what is already known.
51:56
The double standard is not accidental that shit's structural authority
52:00
is granted based on platform, not accuracy. And for me,
52:05
what's particularly galling is that Epstein operated in their backyard.
52:10
New York, was not some distant jurisdiction where oversight was difficult.
52:14
He lived openly, hosted lavish gatherings, and moved in elite circles.
52:19
His name circulated for years alongside rumors that were treated
52:22
as impolite rather than urgent. That kind of wilful blindness
52:27
doesn't happen without institutional permission. Journalists had access editors had leads.
52:33
The silence was a choice, and choices have consequences, especially
52:38
when they enable abuse. Now that the tone is changed,
52:42
we're supposed to applaud the effort without questioning the delay.
52:46
We're supposed to act grateful that the story is finally
52:48
being taken seriously. But gratitude is not accountability. Lake coverage
52:53
does not absolve earlier in neglect. If anything, it demands
52:57
harder questions about why that neglect occurred. Was it fear
53:00
of lawsuits, fear of powerful advertisers, fear of government sources
53:05
drying up, or was it something more insidious, like why
53:09
a pressure not to dig too deep? Those questions still
53:13
haven't been answered. The informant question says at the center
53:17
of all of this, like a live wire. It explains
53:20
why the Epstein case feels unfinished even after his death.
53:24
It explains why documents remain sealed or heavily redacted. It
53:28
explains why agencies speaking careful have sentences instead of clear denials,
53:33
and it explains why the narrative keeps circling the perimeter
53:36
without entering the core. You don't need secret knowledge to
53:40
see this, You just need pattern recognition and intellectual honesty. Unfortunately,
53:45
honesty is often the first casualty when institutions protect themselves,
53:49
Sometimes failure is functional, sometimes it serves a purpose, and
53:53
sometimes that purpose is invisible, precisely because acknowledging it would
53:58
shatter public trust. The tragedy, of course, is that survivors
54:02
paid the price for this protection. Every year Epstein remained
54:05
free was another year of abuse. Every delayed investigation was
54:09
another stolen childhood. These aren't abstract policy failures, they're human costs.
54:15
When media outlets dance around the real questions, they participate
54:18
in minimizing that harm. Intent doesn't matter nearly as much
54:22
as impact, and the impact has been decades of silence
54:25
punctuated by bursts of blated outrage. So when people ask
54:29
me why they waited until now, the answer is painfully simple.
54:33
They waited because they could. They waited because the risk
54:37
of silence outweighed the risk of truth only recently. And
54:40
they waited because confronting the full scope of Epstein's protection
54:44
requires confronting institutions they still rely on, and until that changes,
54:49
the story will remain incomplete no matter how many long
54:53
features get published. The real scandal isn't where Epstein started,
54:57
it's how he was allowed to continue again. And again
55:00
with help from those sworn to stop people like em.
55:05
All of the information that goes with this episode can
55:07
be found in the description box