Apollo Global Management has notified clients and partners that its chief executive, Marc Rowan, did not maintain a business or personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and that newly released documents do not alter Apollo’s prior disclosures on the matter.
In a letter distributed to stakeholders, Apollo said: "Neither Marc Rowan nor anyone else at Apollo (excluding Leon Black) had either a business or personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein." The firm reiterated that the documents publicly disclosed so far do not accuse Apollo or its executives of having engaged in or being aware of Epstein’s criminal conduct.
The announcement comes as two teachers’ unions, which hold investments in Apollo through their pension funds, asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to open an inquiry. The unions said they believe Apollo made statements to investors that could be misleading, and asked the SEC to investigate those disclosures.
Leon Black, a cofounder of Apollo, resigned from the firm in early 2021 following corporate governance changes prompted by a review of his ties to Epstein. Marc Rowan became CEO after Black stepped down. Apollo previously released the results of an independent review by law firm Dechert LLP, which cleared Black of wrongdoing and said that while Black had attempted to introduce Epstein to cofounders Rowan and Josh Harris, no Apollo employee other than Black "ever seriously considered hiring Epstein."
Recent document releases include correspondence that shows Rowan’s office and Epstein’s office exchanged messages organizing at least five scheduled meetings involving the two men. It was not immediately possible to verify whether those meetings actually occurred.
Apollo described the additional materials as offering nothing substantially new from the company's vantage. "From an Apollo perspective, there’s nothing new in these documents," the firm wrote. Apollo added that in specific cases Rowan and other employees supplied material to Epstein that was related to Epstein’s tax work for Mr. Black.
The released records also show that Brad Wechsler, who led Black’s family office, asked Apollo staff by email to mark Epstein on materials related to tax matters for the family offices of the three Apollo founders, including Rowan, citing Epstein’s "substantive expertise."
Addressing the possibility of broader work by Epstein with other Apollo partners, the firm said, "While Mr. Epstein sought to do work with the Apollo co-founders other than Mr. Black, it was declined at every turn."
The continuing flow of documents tied to Epstein has intensified scrutiny of senior figures at Apollo, especially in light of Epstein’s 2008 conviction on prostitution charges that included an alleged involvement of an underage girl. Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019; his death was ruled a suicide.
In a joint letter to the SEC, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and American Association of University Professors President Todd Wolfson wrote that, based on the newly available files, Apollo partners Rowan and Harris "appear to have consulted with Epstein on numerous personal and professional matters." The unions asked regulators to examine whether Apollo’s communications to investors accurately reflected the nature and extent of those interactions.
Under congressional directives, the U.S. Justice Department released a large set of documents that link Epstein to high-profile individuals across politics, finance, academia and business, both before and after his 2008 plea. Those documents have implicated several major financial institutions. Among the fallout, big banks including UBS and Morgan Stanley have faced scrutiny for having opened accounts for Epstein’s trusts in the period from 2015 to 2019, years after his conviction and registration as a sex offender.
The revelations have also had political reverberations. The files have presented challenges for U.S. President Donald Trump, who was publicly linked to Epstein socially in the 1990s and 2000s. The president has denied awareness of Epstein’s crimes and said he severed ties with Epstein in the early 2000s, prior to the plea deal.
As public and regulatory attention persists, consequences for those implicated in the documents have varied, with observers noting limited accountability to date for certain high-profile figures. The newly disclosed materials—and the resulting calls for greater transparency—are likely to sustain interest from investors, union trustees and regulators evaluating governance and disclosure practices at firms tied to the files.
Summary
Apollo told stakeholders that CEO Marc Rowan had no business or personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, aside from limited interactions tied to tax work for Leon Black. Newly released documents show correspondence arranging multiple potentially scheduled meetings between Rowan and Epstein, and unions have asked the SEC to investigate whether Apollo misled investors. The materials have prompted renewed examination of executives, banks and political figures whose names appear in the files.
Key points
- Apollo's client letter states Marc Rowan had no business or personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, excluding interactions attributable to Leon Black.
- Document releases include messages between Rowan’s office and Epstein’s office about at least five scheduled meetings; it is not yet verified if meetings occurred.
- Teachers’ unions with pension exposures to Apollo have asked the SEC to investigate whether Apollo’s statements to investors were misleading, increasing regulatory scrutiny of governance and disclosures at the firm.
Risks and uncertainties
- Regulatory scrutiny - The SEC request by union investors opens the possibility of an inquiry into Apollo’s disclosures to investors, which could affect investor confidence and oversight in the financial sector.
- Reputational risk - Ongoing releases of documents naming executives or institutions could continue to drive reputational damage for affected firms and banks, including those that served Epstein’s trusts.
- Political and governance sensitivity - Continued attention to the files may sustain political pressure and lead to further governance reviews at firms linked to the disclosed materials.
Contextual note
The public disclosures include both internal requests that flagged Epstein’s involvement on tax materials and the broader review previously conducted by Dechert LLP that cleared Leon Black of wrongdoing while confirming attempts by Black to introduce Epstein to co-founders. Apollo’s statement emphasizes that, aside from Black, the company did not engage Epstein for work and that requests for him to be involved were declined.
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