© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Leon Black pictured here in Beverly Hills, California, US on May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo
(Reuters) – The New York Times reported on Friday that Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black paid $62.5 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands to avoid any legal claims linked to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation.
The Times obtained a copy of the settlement agreement from the Virgin Islands government through a public records request. The settlement was reached in January.
A spokesperson for Black confirmed in a statement emailed to Reuters that Black had settled in the Virgin Islands, noting that there was no indication in the settlement “that Mr. Black was aware of or engaged in any misconduct.”
The spokesperson went on to say that, as previously known, Black had paid Epstein for “legitimate financial advisory services” and that Black had “settled potential (Virgin Island) claims arising from the unintended consequences of those payments.”
The Word of Black settlement follows a demand from the Virgin Islands earlier this month that JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:) pay at least $190 million, and possibly more, to resolve its lawsuit accusing the largest US bank of ignoring the late Epstein’s sex trafficking financier. The bank denied knowledge of the abuse by Epstein, who was a customer from 1998 to 2013.
Epstein committed suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
A New York state judge in May dismissed a lawsuit accusing Black, 71, of defaming a woman by falsely claiming she tried to blackmail him after accusing him of rape, which he denied.
Black still faces a lawsuit from another woman, Sherri Pearson, who accused him of raping her two decades ago at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion. Black denied any wrongdoing.
Black has a net worth of $10.1 billion, according to Forbes. Apollo left in 2021.
