New York Times: “The founders of Apollo Global Management, one of the world’s biggest private equity firms, engaged in a brief power struggle this weekend over control of the firm, a rift that opened up after an inquiry revealed that one founder – Apollo’s chief executive and chairman, Leon Black – had paid $150 million to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. On Monday, Mr. Black announced his plan to step down as chief executive of the company this year. ‘I have advised the Apollo board that I will retire as C.E.O. on or before my 70th birthday in July and remain as chairman,’ he said in a statement.”
“The review – ordered by the firm’s board in October after The New York Times detailed at least $75 million in payments – found that Mr. Black had paid Mr. Epstein significantly more, according to two people familiar with the inquiry, who requested anonymity because the report was not public. The sum effectively bankrolled the disgraced financier’s lifestyle in the years after his 2008 guilty plea to a Florida prostitution charge involving a teenage girl. The investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Black, according to a person familiar with the inquiry.”