Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon is demanding that a House panel question billionaire Leon Black over the extraordinary sums he paid Jeffrey Epstein for tax advice when he testifies before the House Oversight Committee later this month.
In a letter Thursday to the committee’s chairman, GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, and Democratic Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia, Wyden outlined the results of a four-year investigation into Black’s relationship with Epstein.
Wyden wrote in his letter that Black paid Epstein $170 million between 2012 and 2017 for tax and estate planning advice.
“To date, I do not believe Black has provided a credible explanation as to why he paid Epstein amounts that vastly exceeded those paid to other professional advisors involved in his tax and estate planning,” Wyden wrote.
Wyden’s letter notes that in 2013 and 2014, Black also paid a law firm $2 million for estate planning, a small fraction of what he paid Epstein during those years.
“Black’s attorneys from premier law firms demand rates exceeding $1,000 an hour, yet Epstein was paid exponentially more than a small army of high-priced lawyers from firms,” Wyden wrote.
Wyden had written to Black in March to demand answers to questions related to revelations from the so-called Epstein files about Black’s “significant personal and financial entanglements with Epstein.”
Adam Fridman, an attorney for Black, responded in April, writing to Wyden that, “those materials do not contain any credible evidence that Mr. Black was aware of, or involved with, Mr. Epstein’s then-ongoing criminal activities.”
Fridman also accused Wyden, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, of seeking information outside the committee’s jurisdiction.
“We see no discernable legitimate legislative purpose underpinning the March 20 Letter,” Fridman wrote. “Congressional investigations are not vehicles for public inquiries about an individual private citizen’s personal life.”
Still, Wyden said Black has “refused” to respond to questions about “outstanding irregularities” related to his payments to Epstein.
A spokesperson for Black declined to comment Thursday.
Susan Estrich, an attorney for Black, told CBS News in December that Black requested an internal investigation at Apollo of his relationship with Epstein. The law firm, Dechert LLP, “investigated and reviewed more than 60,000 documents and concluded that Mr. Black paid Epstein for estate planning and tax advice, no more, no less,” Estrich said.
Wyden also claimed that recently unsealed DOJ records “appear to indicate that Black may have funneled hush money payments to women using Jeffrey Epstein as a middleman,” and that Epstein “kept close tabs of women who Black had reached settlements/NDAs with and reached out to Russian government officials to help Black with these so-called problems.”
Wyden’s letter refers to an October 2017 email exchange in which a woman, described as an associate of Black’s, wrote to Epstein, “L mentioned he’s going to transfer me $100,000 but I’ve received $28,000.”
“The ‘L’ here seemingly refers to [Leon] Black,” Wyden wrote.
Wyden also flagged a $62 million legal settlement between Black and the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands “for all issues related to Jeffrey Epstein.”
“It is unclear what potential conduct this criminal immunity was intended to cover,” Wyden wrote.