Virgin Islands will subpoena billionaire investor in Epstein case

NEW YORK (NYTIMES) - Officials in the US Virgin Islands want billionaire investor Leon Black, one of the most powerful men on Wall Street, to hand over information about his decades-long business ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The territory's attorney-general, Ms Denise George, informed a local court on Thursday (Aug 20) that she would issue civil subpoenas to Mr Black, a founder of private equity firm Apollo Global Management, and several entities connected to him, the chief clerk of the court said.

The subpoenas, copies of which were filed with the court, seek financial statements and tax returns for a number of entities, including Black Family Partners and Elysium Management, which oversee some of Mr Black's US$9 billion (S$12.34 billion) fortune.

Subpoenas will also go to Apollo and entities that help manage Mr Black's extensive art collection.

Mr Black has said Epstein provided him with advice on tax strategy, estate planning and philanthropy, but has provided no details. A representative for Mr Black said the financier had no further comment.

Mr Black and his companies paid millions in fees to Southern Trust Company, which Epstein set up in the Virgin Islands in 2013, according to three people briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly.

Epstein had told territorial officials that Southern Trust was developing a DNA data-mining service, although he said the company would also have a "financial arm".

Financial reports filed with the territory show that Southern Trust collected US$184 million in fees from 2013 to 2018, although it was not clear how much of that came from Mr Black.

Mr Black has said Epstein did no work for Apollo, which invests more than US$300 billion for pension funds and other investors. The company said in a statement that Epstein did not do business with the firm.

Some of the subpoenas are for companies that Mr Black, chair of the Museum of Modern Art, has used to build a collection that includes paintings by Edgar Degas, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

It was not clear when the subpoenas would be served; courts in the Virgin Islands are largely shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The attorney-general is seeking documents from Mr Black related to Southern Trust and other companies and organisations that were controlled by Epstein, who died last summer in federal custody while facing federal sex-trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

The requests represent a significant step in Ms George's efforts to unravel the mystery of how Epstein amassed an estate valued at more than US$600 million.

They are part of a civil forfeiture suit she filed against his estate in January, claiming that Epstein had misled government officials in the Virgin Islands to secure lucrative tax breaks for his businesses while engaging in sex trafficking and the abuse of underage girls.

Ms George has also sent subpoenas to banks that handled Epstein's money, including JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank.

Some of the payment information involving Mr Black surfaced during a review by Deutsche Bank, according to one of the people briefed on the matter.

Deutsche Bank recently reached a settlement with regulators in New York who found the bank had done little to vet Epstein's financial dealings.

Mr Black knew Epstein for more than two decades. Epstein was one of the original trustees of the Debra and Leon Black Family Foundation, which Mr Black established in 1997, and stayed on the board for a decade.

Some prominent business figures - including Mr Leslie Wexner, the retail mogul behind Victoria's Secret - cut ties with Epstein after his 2008 conviction in Florida on a charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor, but Mr Black did not.

In 2015, a company tied to the Black foundation donated US$10 million to one of Epstein's charitable organisations.

And at Epstein's urging, Mr Black gave an anonymous US$5 million donation to the MIT Media Lab, according to a university report, and several million to professors at Harvard University.

Mr Black has said he was "completely unaware" of the activities that led to the sex-trafficking charges against Epstein.