Top executives of Apollo Global Management, including chief Mark Rowan, had extensive discussions over the firm’s tax arrangements with Jeffrey Epstein during 2010, despite the private capital firm previously saying it had “never done any business” with a child sex offender.
Files released Friday by the U.S. Justice Department show that Epstein requested and obtained internal Apollo financial documents and emailed, met and called some of the firm’s most senior decision makers on sensitive matters.
The documents raise questions about Apollo’s statement in 2020, released after Epstein’s death in prison while awaiting trial on federal charges of trafficking minors for sex, that the private capital group “never did any business with Jeffrey Epstein at any time”.
In 2021 Apollo published the findings of a review by law firm Dechert which confirmed that the statement was “accurate”.
Apollo co-founder Leon Black was forced to step down in 2021 following revelations that he paid Epstein more than $150 million for personal financial advice.
The files released last week show that Black’s successor Rowan also was in contact with Epstein in the mid-2010s. Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution of a minor.
Rowan repeatedly corresponded with Epstein, who ingratiated himself among senior figures in finance by establishing himself as an expert in tax planning on the value of Apollo’s so-called “tax receivable agreements”.
The TRA was a stream of payments payable to Apollo’s founders and pre-IPO shareholders, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars imprinted on the US firm’s balance sheet.
In March 2016, Rowan sent a detailed internal TRA calculation to Epstein, who complained that he could not download the attached image. Rowan replied: “I’m getting the calculation details.”
Apollo, which today has $908 billion in assets under management, bought TRA from the firm’s founders in 2021 for $570 million, a transaction that led to a shareholder lawsuit alleging the purchase was unnecessary. The case is pending in Delaware state court. Apollo has denied wrongdoing.
Epstein’s contacts with Rowan appear to have spanned a variety of issues. In an email he describes a meeting that appears to have taken place with the Apollo chief: “Mark (sic) was here this morning; we talked to Athene, Montauk, Rothschild. Planes Boats etc.”
Epstein was also involved in discussions in 2016 about a possible tax “inversion” deal, which would have involved repositioning Apollo overseas to reduce its tax bill.
The emails show that the disgraced financier touted the expertise of Swiss private bank Edmond de Rothschild and hosted a meeting between senior executives from both companies in his Manhattan townhouse.
Epstein wrote, “The use of Rothschild for inversion allows for interesting structures.” Rowan immediately responded: “Agreed. Cynthia has been slow to recall my partner Gernot Lohr.”
The email appears to refer to Cynthia Tobiano, an executive at Edmond de Rothschild, while Lohr is an Apollo partner. Epstein forwarded Rowan’s email to the bank’s chief executive, Ariane de Rothschild, who responded that she was “surprised” that the call had not been made.
Apollo confirmed to the FT that it had shared company financial information with Epstein but claimed it was only for Black’s personal financial planning.
Apollo said in a statement that “While Mr. Epstein sought to work with Apollo co-founders other than Mr. Black, Mr. Rowan had neither any business nor any other relationship with Mr. Epstein. As previously stated, Apollo never did any business with Mr. Epstein”.
Edmond de Rothschild did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In 2015, Sanjay Patel, another Apollo partner, emailed Epstein. “I run Apollo’s business in Europe. Mark Rowan asked me to talk to you regarding the Rothschild conversations.” Patel and Epstein then arranged for a phone call.
That year, Epstein wrote to Ariane de Rothschild, “The Apollo people are ready to start working closely with you, Sanjay Patel. Their man in Europe. Based in London.”
Epstein asked Rowan over email the following year: “Have you made any progress on the inversion?” The Apollo co-founder gave a “minimal” response. The inversion ultimately never occurred.
The contacts, spanning from 2011 to 2018, were revealed in a new trove of millions of emails released by the US Justice Department on Friday.
The files shed new light on Epstein’s ties to prominent businessmen and politicians, including Elon Musk, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Lord Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the US.
In 2021, after Apollo said it never did any business with Epstein, the firm’s board hired law firm Dechert to further investigate the claim.
Its report found that Epstein “unsuccessfully tried to offer business opportunities to some senior Apollo executives” and that the firm did not retain Epstein for his services.
Dechert said that while contacts with Epstein “do not make any prior statements false or misleading”, statements he made about “doing business” or having a “relationship” with Epstein were “perhaps more nuanced than it appears at first glance”.
According to newly released files, Rowan and former Apollo senior partner Imran Siddiqui met with Edmond de Rothschild executives at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse in early 2016.
John Suydam, Apollo’s former chief legal officer, also called or met with Epstein on several occasions, according to emails disclosed in the files.
An email shows that in 2014, Black’s family office sent Epstein an internal stock offering document for its life insurance affiliate, Athene Holdings.
As Apollo prepared to take Athene public the following year, Epstein proposed a plan that he claimed would save the Apollo co-founders up to $300 million in taxes, for which he would take a 25 percent success fee.
Epstein wrote, “I am happy to work on the transaction. But I would like to agree in advance on a fee for success.” “To clarify, if the total profit is $300.00 then each founder will pay $25 million,” he said in an email to Black’s executive assistant. “If ok = with you. Mark and Josh have to sign. If not. = ok with me.”
Epstein emailed Rowan a month later saying Black said the decision on fees was up to him and another Apollo co-founder, Josh Harris.
The documents also show that Epstein was involved in discussions over an apparent issue of U.S. tax forms related to foreign involvement in Apollo with Brad Karp, president of the law firm Paul Weiss, who has long personally represented Apollo and Black.
In September 2016, the head of Black’s family office, Brad Wexler, emailed Apollo’s then-head of tax finance, Suzanne Wong, asking Karp and Epstein to copy the email and include her in an “upcoming call.”
Weschler said, “For Brad it’s to keep him up to date on the activity; for Jeffrey it’s to get the benefit of his real expertise as well.” Wong replied: “Will do.”
The files released Friday show Epstein also emailed Rowan in 2016, offering to “explain his thinking” on the tax issue. Rowan did not respond to the message.
