Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Leon Black Is Set To Appear Before Congress Today To Explain His Relationship With Epstein (6/26/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:03Epstein Chronicles. On June twenty sixth, Leon Black is said
- 0:09to appear before the Congressional Oversight Committee to discuss his
- 0:14relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. And I wish I could tell
- 0:17you that I was confident that we're going to get
- 0:19to the bottom of something and that we're going to
- 0:21have some of our questions answered. But unfortunately it's going
- 0:24to be just another run around, another voluntary transcribed interview.
- 0:30That's exactly what Leon blackfear is. Huh, you know, an
- 0:34interview with no teeth. I'm sure that's keeping Leon Black
- 0:37up at night and he is just, you know, losing
- 0:40a ton of sleep over it said. Nobody, ever, do
- 0:44you really think a guy like Leon Black, who's as
- 0:47powerful as he is, cares about this kind of committee.
- 0:51He's going to get up there, he's going to bullshit around,
- 0:54and his lawyer is going to interject whenever he's in
- 0:56any kind of jeopardy, just like we saw with Sarah
- 0:58Kellen Vickers, just like we've seen time and time again.
- 1:02And that's the playbook, right, they all know the playbook,
- 1:06and that's why they all came in here under the
- 1:09guise of it being voluntary because they didn't want to
- 1:12have to answer questions under subpoena, because there's actually repercussions,
- 1:17or should be when you lie under oath. But when
- 1:21it comes to lying to Congress, who gives a shit?
- 1:25Just a bunch of liars being lied to. Today's article
- 1:29is from NBC News and the headline Lawmakers expected to
- 1:33press billionaire Leon Black about Epstein ties. This article was
- 1:38authored by Justin Goldman, Colleen Long, and Owen Hayes. Please
- 1:46call Leon Black. That phrase appears more than three hundred
- 1:50times in the Jeffrey Epstein investigative files released by the
- 1:54Justice Department. Some sent an emails to Epstein by his
- 1:58personal assistant. For years, a powerful billionaire Wall Street player,
- 2:03and Epstein had a business relationship stretching back decades. More
- 2:07than a business relationship. I would think that you have
- 2:11to be pretty close to somebody to call their kids
- 2:14retarded and not have any kind of knuckle sandwich coming
- 2:18your way. Then again, Leon Black just might be a pussy.
- 2:22Very possible. Imagine somebody calling your kids that and you
- 2:26still do business with them. I mean, I guess I'd
- 2:28have some business but not the kind Leon's used to. Leon,
- 2:33As you're well aware, there's little I won't do for you,
- 2:36at least try to do as a friend, Epstein wrote
- 2:38in one email to Black in twenty fourteen. And a
- 2:41great deal that I have already done, both known and
- 2:44some things that will need to remain unknown. And I'm
- 2:47sure a lot of that had to do with pressing
- 2:50the women over in Russia. Remember, Leon Black reached out
- 2:53to Epstein, and Epstein reached out to the guy in FSB. Well,
- 2:57we're going to make pretend that didn't happener. Did. Lawmakers
- 3:04are expected to press Black on Friday when he testifies
- 3:07before the House Oversight Committee investigating the federal government's handling
- 3:11of the Epstein case. They're hoping to uncover more about
- 3:15the financial web Epstein well off that funded his sex
- 3:18trafficking operation, and have said that they believe Black may
- 3:21have played a role. Oh well, what do you know?
- 3:25Welcome to the party, pal, And look, Leon Black's one
- 3:29of those people where I won't even say he didn't
- 3:32take part in the abuse, because there's allegations that he did.
- 3:36Now do I know for a fact that he did?
- 3:38I don't. I have no idea what actually occurred. But
- 3:42I will say this, he's being credibly accused, and when
- 3:46somebody's credibly accused, I think that those allegations should be investigated.
- 3:52And we know that for all these years that never happened.
- 3:56So I might have a lot to say about the
- 3:59Congressional commit But at least we're getting people like Leon
- 4:03Black on the record, right, So I'll give them credit
- 4:06for that. But besides that, the whole entire thing's been
- 4:09a dog and pony show, and there's no teeth, there
- 4:13is no enforcement arm. So why should anyone be scared
- 4:17to get up there and tell falsehoods, to tell lies?
- 4:20Oh you can't lie to Congress? Yeah, okay sure. The
- 4:25former CEO of Apollo Global Management is the latest in
- 4:29a line of America's powerful ruling class, including Bill and
- 4:33Hillary Clinton and Bill Gates, who've gone before Congress to
- 4:37discuss their ties to the men who preyed on women
- 4:40for years. Not only their ties, their protection, they're enabling
- 4:47the rebuilding of his whole entire persona. They all played
- 4:51a part in that. And when we were trying to
- 4:53expose that, places like NBC News, while they called it
- 4:57all conspiracy, theory. Well, is it a conspiracy theory now?
- 5:01NBC News. Black's attorney, Susan Estrich, said in a statement
- 5:07to NBC News that Black had called for an independent
- 5:10investigation of his relationship with Epstein. Yeah, not from the government.
- 5:16He brought in an outside law firm, and guess what,
- 5:20Whitewash City like usual, Estrich said. The former federal prosecutor
- 5:28reviewed more than sixty thousand documents and interviewed more than
- 5:32twenty people, including Black, as part of that investigation at
- 5:36the behest of Apollo, and found that Black had only
- 5:39paid Epstein for tax and real estate planning advice for
- 5:42his family office. Like, how do you prove that that's
- 5:46such bs? Oh, well that's what the paperwork said. Okay, yeah, sure,
- 5:51sixty two and a half million. Show me somebody else
- 5:54that paid that kind of money for the same kind
- 5:56of advice. You can't find somebody that paid that though.
- 6:01Nobody's paying that kind of money for that kind of advice.
- 6:04But Leon Black and his narrative were taken hook line
- 6:09and sinker for years. And I have no idea how
- 6:13anyone could look at what Leon Black paid out and
- 6:16not know that he was up to No good. The
- 6:19investigation further found that Epstein's work had been vetted and
- 6:22approved by best in class law and accounting firms, Etris
- 6:26said in the statement. It also found that he had
- 6:28no awareness of the criminal activity that led to Epstein's
- 6:31arrest in twenty nineteen. Have you guys gotten tired of
- 6:35this yet? It's the same bullshit every time we talk
- 6:38about one of these people. It's always the same excuse,
- 6:41I had no idea, I wasn't around. I forgot Bitch,
- 6:46you are around, you have an idea, and you've forgotten nothing. Okay,
- 6:51why everybody's so scared of Leon Black is beyond me.
- 6:55Leon Black is a straight up biach. Okay, nobody to
- 6:59be scared of. Just another one of these scumbags with
- 7:01a bunch of dough, big deal. So what it's about
- 7:06time people like Leon Black are held accountable for the
- 7:09bullshit they allegedly do. And when we're talking about Leon Black,
- 7:14by the way, how many financial crimes has this dude
- 7:16engaged in throughout the years? I'm guessing a whole bunch. Now,
- 7:21do I have evidence to prove it? No, But when
- 7:24you get to the level that Leon Black was at,
- 7:26and you're running a group like Apollo. Pretty sure your
- 7:29hands aren't clean. Black has denied any wrongdoing or knowledge
- 7:34of Epstein's criminal conduct, and he said he deeply regrets
- 7:37having had any involvement with him. With the benefit of hindsight,
- 7:41working with them was a horrible mistake on my part,
- 7:44he said in a statement when he stepped down from Apollo.
- 7:47Have you noticed all these rich ass dudes who run
- 7:49around telling us how smart they are, all of a
- 7:52sudden are claiming that they're ignorant. Well, I wonder why
- 7:56smart about everything else but not this. Black's reputation has
- 8:02already been tarnished by his longtime association with the wealthy
- 8:05sex offender. He was forced out of the company he
- 8:08co founded in twenty twenty one after Apollo revealed Black
- 8:12had paid Epstein hundreds of millions for financial advice from
- 8:15twenty twelve through twenty seventeen, arguing he did so despite
- 8:20knowing that Epstein had pleted guilty to soliciting prostitution from
- 8:24an underage girl in Florida in two thousand and eight.
- 8:27And this is what it all comes back to, that
- 8:29bullshit prosecution in Florida. The whole purpose was so Epstein
- 8:34can continue doing what he did. And everybody that was
- 8:37involved in that initial prosecution, I have to tell you
- 8:42they should be investigated. There should be a special counsel
- 8:45that investigates all of them, Barry Krisher, Marie Villefauna, alex Acosta,
- 8:51Matthew Minchell, Mukhesy, Felippe, all of them, every last person involved.
- 8:57Because this is the defense, folks, This is what they
- 9:00keep falling back to. And enough is enough. Yet since
- 9:08the document dump of millions of files, questions have only
- 9:11grown about Black's financial dealings with Epstein, who died by
- 9:15suicide allegedly and is sell in twenty nineteen as he
- 9:18awaited criminal trial in New York. And have you noticed
- 9:21how they're subliminally just saying he died by suicide, not
- 9:25even questioning it, which is wild considering NBC has a
- 9:29conspiracy theory about everything else Drum's doing, but not this.
- 9:33We should just accept this. Ask yourself why there's a
- 9:38conspiracy theory about everything the reflecting pool, who ate what?
- 9:42But I should just accept that this is on the
- 9:45up and up, that Epstein died by suicide because the
- 9:49government told me so, because Nicholas Tartaglione talked to The
- 9:53New York Times. Yo, I know a sigh up when
- 9:55I see one. Nice try, boys, nice try, but you're
- 9:58gonna have to find somebody body else. Not going to
- 10:02work around these parts. The release of the Epstein files
- 10:10has prompted multiple investigations overseas, as famous people and well
- 10:14connected leaders around the globe were found to have associated
- 10:17with them. In the US, only New Mexico has launched
- 10:20a probe into the dealings on his secluded Zoro ranch.
- 10:24Imagine being New York and not launching a state run
- 10:27probe or Florida. Makes you wonder, huh, all that big
- 10:33talk from all those politicians in New York and still nothing. Meanwhile,
- 10:39New York was acting as an epicenter for all this bullshit,
- 10:44but they have no desire to really go after it.
- 10:47They have no desire to open up a state run
- 10:49case or a commission like we see in New Mexico.
- 10:53I wonder why the political ramifications have been more swift.
- 10:58Republicans who have pushed for the release of the files
- 11:01have seen their careers up ended by President Donald Trump,
- 11:04who opposed the decision to make the troph public. Congress
- 11:08passed a law to force the release of the files.
- 11:11Black and Epstein were introduced by a mutual friend. In
- 11:14the nineties. Epstein served as director of Leon Black's family
- 11:18foundation and later served as his financial advisor, reapin millions
- 11:22over the years. Financial advisor. More like bundler, more like
- 11:27money launderer, more like stash spot guy. This dude was
- 11:33hiding more money than Big measch And the more I
- 11:35think about that dea investigation that included Epstein, the more
- 11:40I think that Epstein was also bundling money for drug dealers.
- 11:44Would that be so out of the realm of possibility
- 11:48when you have somebody that's good at laundering money? Word
- 11:51gets around. Black's phone number appears more than two hundred
- 11:56times in the three and a half million public files,
- 11:59and there are more than one hundred instances of the
- 12:01phrase leon Black returned her call. Many were sent by
- 12:04Epstein's former assistant Leslie Groff. In questioning by lawmakers on
- 12:09June ninth, Groff was asked about Black and Epstein's relationship.
- 12:14I thought they had a business relationship. I thought he
- 12:16was one of Epstein's clients, she said, adding that Black
- 12:20was a frequent visitor of Epstein's No shit he was.
- 12:24And remember there's also allegations that Black assaulted somebody at
- 12:27the townhouse. Black, in Epstein's financial dealings, had an alleged
- 12:31dark side. Black agreed to pay sixty two and a
- 12:33half million to the US Virgin Islands in twenty twenty
- 12:37three in order to be released from any potential action
- 12:40arising from a three year investigation into Epstein's sex trafficking operation.
- 12:45According to the settlement, now why would he pay that
- 12:48if he had nothing to hide? That does not make sense,
- 12:52and anybody that acts like it makes sense is crazy.
- 12:55Sixty two and a half million dollars. Really, you have
- 13:00no criminal liability. You're just stolen out that money. Black
- 13:04was to be deposed in a lawsuit brought against Bank
- 13:06of America by survivors of Epstein's abuse, who argued the
- 13:10financial institution turned a blind eye to suspicious transfers Black
- 13:14made to Epstein from the Bank of America account, including
- 13:17one hundred and seventy million for tax and a state
- 13:20planning advice. The money, the plaintiff's alleged, was used to
- 13:24fund Epstein's sex trafficking enterprise. Black said that wasn't true.
- 13:28Bank of America agreed to pay seventy two and a
- 13:30half million in March without admitting any wrongdoing, and Black
- 13:34never testified. While that's a shockhuh, Black walks away Scott
- 13:39free again. That seems to be the ongoing theme, doesn't it.
- 13:43Senator Ron Widen, part of the Senate Finance Committee, investigated
- 13:46Black for years and alleged Black may have funded hush
- 13:49money payments to women using Epstein as a middleman. Wyden
- 13:53said that in one email contained in the DOJ files,
- 13:56Epstein gave the location of a woman on Black's payroll
- 14:00who are Russian government operative and asked for suggestions on
- 14:03how to deal with her because she was attempting the
- 14:05Black Mellow group of powerful businessmen in New York. I'm
- 14:09sure that had to do with tax planning advice as well. Right,
- 14:13your relationship in business dealings with Jeffrey Epstein should be
- 14:16properly investigated by the federal government, Wyden wrote in a
- 14:20letter to Black earlier this year. Black two has been
- 14:23accused of sexual assault claims he denies. One woman said
- 14:27in a lawsuit that Black and raped her at Epstein's
- 14:29Manhattan townhouse in two thousand and two. She eventually dropped
- 14:33the lawsuit, and Black said he had never met her.
- 14:36Another woman, a former model, accused Black of harassing and
- 14:40abusing her and argued he introduced her to Epstein. He
- 14:44counter sued, and her lawsuit was dismissed. One case remains open.
- 14:48Black was sued in twenty twenty three by a woman
- 14:51who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was
- 14:54a teenager. A federal judge in April sanctioned the accuser,
- 14:58known as Jane, though, her former attorney and the prominent
- 15:01law firm that had represented her for falsifying and potentially
- 15:05destroying evidence in the case, but the judge said the
- 15:08case could proceed. Black's attorneys said in a statement after
- 15:13the ruling that the case never should have been filed.
- 15:15Estrich also said that the firm Whigdoor Lop had been
- 15:19warned that the claims were fraudulent, but Wigdor nevertheless continued
- 15:23the lawsuit and launched a media campaign to try and
- 15:26destroy mister Black in an attempt to shake him down
- 15:29for a financial windfall. Mister Black refused because he knew
- 15:33the claims were false. So he knew those claims were false,
- 15:36and he fought them yet down in the Virgin Islands. Well,
- 15:40he didn't do that, did he? I wonder why. Firm
- 15:45founder Doug Wigdor said in a statement that the firm
- 15:47was upset about the sanctions but pleased that its former
- 15:50client would get her day in court. Wigdor's firm filed
- 15:54a separate claim in March, accusing Black of targeting it
- 15:57for representing accusers. Black denies it. That lawsuit is ongoing. So, look,
- 16:03the Leon Black story is yet to be told, and
- 16:06we'll see what happens at the hearing later on today.
- 16:10But I doubt we're going to get anywhere. I doubt
- 16:13we're going to learn anything of substance. But we'll have
- 16:16to wait and see what Leon Black says, and more importantly,
- 16:19what kind of questions are asked by Congress. And once
- 16:22we have the transcript, obviously we'll get that added to
- 16:26the catalog. All of the information that goes with this
- 16:29episode can be found in the description box.