Sep 15, 2026 · 27 min
Apollo’s rise collides with Leon Black’s Epstein ties
Leon Black’s Slow Burn
The episode examines how Apollo emerged from Wall Street’s junk-bond collapse while confronting the judgment and consequences behind Black’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
- 1Apollo turned the wreckage of Drexel Burnham Lambert and distressed-debt investing into a private-equity powerhouse.
- 2Leon Black paid Jeffrey Epstein $158 million, raising questions about the judgment behind maintaining their relationship after Epstein’s conviction.
- 3Reports about the payments and Black’s departure from Apollo transformed a story of wealth and influence into a reckoning over accountability.
Don't miss
The episode reveals that reports initially describing tens of millions in payments to Jeffrey Epstein eventually placed the total at $158 million.
The brief
Bill Cohan, author of Money to Burn, joins Peter Hamby to explain how Apollo grew from the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert into a private-equity powerhouse.
Apollo’s founders built fortunes through distressed-debt investing, then expressed them through homes, aircraft, art, boats, and other acquisitions that shaped their public identities.
The central tension is Leon Black’s continued relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after Epstein’s conviction, including payments that ultimately totaled $158 million.
Cohan suggests Black may initially have viewed Epstein as a connector to influential figures, but the relationship’s logic became inseparable from its troubling implications.
The episode closes on how reporting about the payments contributed to Black’s departure from Apollo and recast the firm’s origin story through questions of judgment.
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