← The Epstein Chronicles
The Epstein Chronicles
Mega Edition: Leon Black And The Direct Line To Jeffrey Epstein (7/7/26)
00:51:33
Leon Black and Jeffrey Epstein were not just casual acquaintances or two wealthy men who occasionally crossed paths. The relationship was far closer, more sustained, and more financially entangled than Black first publicly suggested. Black paid...
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- [00:02]
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- [00:31]
Bobby Capucci
They were talking about Leon Black and how he is being subpoenaed over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein by Denise George in the Virgin Islands. We talked a little bit about how close Epstein and Leon Black were and how they were tied together financially for sure. But tonight we're going to add a little bit more context. We're going to read an article tonight from 2019 that originally appeared in Bloomberg and it talks about how Epstein had deep ties to Leon Black and also how Epstein had the in at Apollo, Leon Black's company. We've talked about Leon Black here on the podcast before and he falls right into the category of the smarmy sobs. I've been talking about these bankster types, these people that were in charge of facilitating these loans, these people that were in charge of facilitating Jeffrey Epstein's finances, all of these people must be held accountable for their role in the ongoing criminal enterprise. And to see Denise George subpoena Leon Black here, even though it's just a civil subpoena, it is still good progress and it gets these people on their toes because they thought they were going to avoid all of this, right? They never thought this was gonna come back to haunt them. Do you really think Jess Staley was, when he took that Barclays job, thought that Epstein was going to get arrested for a second time and that he'd have to answer for all of this all over again, and not only for previously, but for even strength, for making those ties even stronger after the fact. And that's exactly what these people have done. And they tried to distance themselves, they try to act like they weren't close to Epstein, and they try to minimize the fallout the best they can. And most times they're being assisted by the legacy media. Well, the good thing is that we don't have to worry about that for the most part anymore. There are enough independent outlets and enough independent journalists who have taken interest in this case that we can bypass the legacy media for the most part and get directly into the meat and the potatoes of the situation. The way that the way the mainstream media covers this case is basically by piggybacking on the work of independent content creators and investigative journalists. They haven't put the resources forth to really dig in deep. So they're lazy, basically. And it just shows that they don't really care about justice in this case or exposing relationships like Leon Black and Apollo. Now, the New York Times has done the piece today and that's a good thing. Right? But why are we waiting until the subpoena before we dig in? We have Bloomberg who was interested in the case for sure in 2019. They did a bunch of stuff about Leon Black and his relationship to Jeffrey Epstein. And that's great, right? But why did we have to wait until 2019? What was the holdup?
- [03:52]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
Well, we know the fact of the
- [03:54]
Bobby Capucci
matter is the legacy media was protecting their friends. They were protecting very powerful people and they understood that they want to lose their access by going after these people. I mean, we heard Amy Robach admit that. So the legacy media for all of these years thought it was not important enough to really dig in deep to relationships like this to really go the extra mile. Now, again, you have some outlets like the financial outlets like Bloomberg and Financial Times who obviously have an interest in the financial world, so they're going to cover it. I'm not talking about an outlet like this. I'm talking about. You don't think the relationship between Leon Black and Jeffrey Epstein deserves an expose on CNN or Fox or MSNBC or one of these network television stations? Of course it does, but we will never see that for some reason or another. I'll leave that up to you to decide. The legacy media has protected Jeffrey Epstein and his co conspirators for decades. Tonight we're going to add a little bit more meat to the bone as far as Epstein's relationship with Leon Black and with Apollo. And this article originally appeared in Bloomberg July 31st of 2019 and we're reading it from cranes new york.com who picked it up and ran it afterwards. The author, Bloomberg News. Now, Bloomberg, like I said, has done a very, a very good job as far as the financial aspect of all of this. They have done a good job covering people like, like Leon Black and Dubin and the rest of the people who have ties to Jeffrey Epstein in the financial world. Jess Staley. So they've been all over and I really appreciate the work that they have done in that regard because nobody else is really covering this. And as you all know, these financial ties are the ones that bind these are the ties that are going to connect all of these people to Jeffrey
- [06:17]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
Epstein and the criminal enterprise.
- [06:19]
Bobby Capucci
So it's important that it's added to the catalog, right, so that it's on record, so that we have talked about it and we understand what goes into it. Because when you connect all of these people financially and all of that money is going back to a criminal organization, well, that money becomes funds that are ill gotten gain. And once that's the case, then everybody who has enriched themselves from that money, they are now also at risk of becoming a target in a criminal investigation. So that's why I think it's so important to wrap up all of this, all of these finances and to make sure everything's tied together. So tonight, our article headline Epstein had Door to Apollo his deep ties to Black. Almost a decade after Jeffrey Epstein was first accused of preying on young women, he still had access to the inner
- [07:19]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
sanctum of Apollo Global management.
- [07:22]
Bobby Capucci
Of course he did, because Leon Black knew what Jeffrey Epstein was. He didn't care. Just like any number of other so called members of polite society, they understood what Epstein was, they knew what he was and what he was doing and they did not care. Leon Black, Apollo's billionaire chairman, met with the financier pedophile from time to time at the company's New York offices. And he allowed Epstein to pitch personal attack strategies to the firm's executives, according to people familiar with the matter. And remember all of this when Leon Black and Apollo come out in the next few days and try and distance themselves from Jeffrey Epstein and from this criminal enterprise. Because you know they're going to do that. That's why I think it's important to add this context and to keep this conversation going and to put just a little bit more meat on that bone so that we understand why Leon Black and Apollo were the ones that were subpoenaed. This wasn't just like, you know, a situation where Denise George woke up and, you know, threw a dart at the door, at the dart board and it landed at on Leon Black, right? This is something. There's a reason why he's being subpoenaed. And his very, very, very deep ties to Epstein financially and otherwise needs to be something that is discussed in a more forthright manner. The executives were puzzled. Why invite Epstein, a registered sex offender since 2009, into one of Wall Street's most powerful private equity fir could he possibly provide? And that's a great question, right? You have this company, Apollo, where they have some of the top minds in the financial world, right? Some real whiz, whiz type people. We're talking people, people like Taylor from billions, quants and whatnot. But they're going to bring in Jeffrey Epstein, who never even got his degree, and he's coming in as some kind of a great mathematician who's going to bring in all this money. I'm sorry, I'm not buying it. I am not buying it. Black, 68, has belatedly provided one answer for years. He himself occasionally turned to Epstein on financial matters like taxes, estate planning and philanthropy. Black disclosed in a memo to his employees last week. So remember that also when they try and distance themselves from this. Black says himself in the memo sent to employees of his firm that he turned to Epstein on matters of financial. On taxes, on estate planning issues, and about charity. So would you be turning to somebody you're not that close to when it comes to spending your money or spreading it around or whatever it might be that Black was up to? Do you really think that somebody you're not close to, somebody you don't know is who you're going to to manage your money? Most certainly not at these levels, folks.
- [10:27]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
Okay?
- [10:32]
Bobby Capucci
Epstein cultivated a number of prominent Wall street figures over the years, yet his association with Black stretches back more than two decades and ran deeper and longer than even some at Apollo initially believed. For instance, in 2015, Black dispatched Apollo co founder Mark Rowan to attend a meeting at Epstein's Manhattan mansion with Edmond de Rothschild Group to discuss how the two firms could work more closely. Two people said. And remember, Lind Rothschild is the one that Dershowitz is always bringing up as well, like she's some. Another pillar of the community, right? Somebody that you should be bringing up as a witness to your character, when
- [11:16]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
in reality her own family, and I'm
- [11:18]
Bobby Capucci
sure her herself in one way or the other, was still working with Epstein after Epstein was already arrested and convicted. You see, folks, these people do not care about the survivors or justice or that Jeffrey Epstein was involved in a huge human traff trafficking sex scheme.
- [11:37]
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- [12:05]
Bobby Capucci
They don't care about any of that. All they care about is they got caught up in it. Now that they're caught up in it, well it's damage control time. It's not about taking responsibility for their bad choices. It's not about standing up and saying, well, I was wrong for being around Jeffrey Epstein and I realize that now and I would like to help. It's all about putting distance between themselves and Jeffrey Epstein and relying on on the legacy media to help them cover up and promote that fallacy. You Arianda Rothschild and Cynthia Tobiano represented the European banking dynasty at Epstein's home, the people said, though no follow up meetings or deals ensued that we know of. No deals on the books. But again, would you have me believe or what I have you believe, which is even more important, that these people are meeting at Epstein's house, they're trying to hammer out some financial deals and that they're all going to walk away without wetting their beak? All of these greedy, disgusting sobs are going to walk away without eating at the trough? Highly doubt it. I do not know what you were referring to, said Florence Gobert, a spokeswoman for Edmond de Rothschild, adding that the bank has no business links with Apollo or Epstein. So this is even more sinister, right? This means there's something going on behind the scenes. This means that they're working, they're doing something that is off the books, which is always even more dangerous for society at large, especially when we're dealing with people like this. Right? So I don't, I don't know what Florence Gobert is trying to say or do here, but the fact of the matter is these people were at Epstein's. They were around Epstein, you know, Epstein all the time. And to think that the Rothschild family has no relationship with Epstein or that they know nothing about Epstein, well, that is a very naive way to look at things. At least one Apollo executive was invited to listen to Epstein's tax pitch. Meanwhile, he also pursued co founder Josh Harris, who rebuffed the approaches, one of the people said. Charles Zarin, a spokesman for Apollo, said in a statement Tuesday that Black never promoted Jeffrey Epstein's services regarding tax and estate planning to other Apollo senior executives. Well, that might be the truth, I don't know one way or the other, right? But I find it unlikely that Black wouldn't be sitting around with his confidants counting his coins and swimming around in his money like Scrooge McDuck and he wouldn't be giving his buddies a tip about Jeffrey Epstein. If Epstein had a way to park their money somewhere or create more wealth from the original amount given to Epstein. If he can make more money out of that, of course they're gonna be interested in it because at the end of the day, their greed is drives them. Black's links to Epstein have become a source of fascination and concern to some Apollo employees and investors, including the California Public Employees Retirement System, which has committed more than 5 billion to 11 Apollo funds and is its second largest shareholder. Think about that, folks. The California Public Employees Retirement System is tied to leon black and 11 Apollo funds. How much of the public money from California was siphoned to Jeffrey Epstein? Now, again, I don't have any direct evidence of that. I am not a forensic accountant. But logically, a guy like Jeffrey Epstein, supposedly he pilfered 40 something million from Wexner. What makes you think he wasn't getting a taste from all of these deals? When you're a crook, a criminal and a scam artist like Epstein, you're always getting a taste. CalPERS takes this issue very seriously. Wayne Davis, a spokesman for the Sacramento based pension, said in an email last week. The actions our general partners take, both in professional and private contexts, impact our assessment of which firms we desire as long term partners. We consider any issue, including reputational risk, a serious matter. If it impacts a firm's ability to be successful, well, that's all fine and well, right? But I think if you took a poll of the people's money who you were managing, I'm pretty sure the vast majority of them would not want their money parked with anybody who has a relationship previously, now, before, after, whenever with Jeffrey Epstein. He said Tuesday that the pension fund is in the process of contacting Apollo to discuss this. During Apollo's earnings conference call Wednesday, Black responded to a question from an analyst about how the firm is handling the fallout from potential ties with Epstein. And this is important. Let's listen to what he has to say here because we know that he's going to try and distance himself. That's what he has done. That's what all of these people have done. And it is gross, really, that they would think we're that stupid and that we're that naive and that we're going to buy into their BS narrative. They really believe their own bullshit sometimes. We take this all extremely seriously. Black said. Yes. So serious that you had a relationship with a convicted sex offender after the fact.
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Co-host or Guest Commentator
Right.
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Bobby Capucci
So serious that you were still close with Jeffrey Epstein, right, You lying sob. There's been a virtual tsunami in the press on this subject. It seems to be the gift that
- [17:39]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
never stops giving for the press.
- [17:41]
Bobby Capucci
It's salacious. It involves elements of politics, of MeToo, of rich and powerful people, and my guess is it will continue for a while. Not one mention of the survivors. Not one mention of the fact that Epstein got away with this for so long. Nothing like that at all. Basically, he's just deriding the whole thing. Oh, it's salacious. It involves elements of politics. Me too. Rich and powerful people.
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Co-host or Guest Commentator
It will continue for a while.
- [18:07]
Bobby Capucci
Yeah, bitch, it's going to continue for a while until you and all your disgusting friends are held responsible for the part you played, you snide, arrogant, hubris filled piece of trash. Still, it isn't affecting our relationship with investors, black said, adding, we have a pretty open dialogue with them. Well, I hope that after this subpoena that I hope that they reevaluate their relationship with you. There are plenty of other places to park your money, folks. You don't need to park it with Apollo. You don't need to be with this dude. Black and Epstein's ties have come under renewed scrutiny after the disgraced financier pedophile was arrested July 6 on federal charges that he molested and exploited teenage girls. After conducting a review of emails and documents, Apollo said it established that Epstein, 66, never worked at the firm. He's being held in a Manhattan jail and pleaded not guilty to the latest charges. Black told employees last week that he was completely unaware of and am deeply troubled by the conduct that is now the subject of the federal criminal charges brought against him. He is such an absolute BS artist and imagine being an employee working for this guy and this, this clown, this moron, this degenerate tried to pitch that line to you. I would laugh right out of the boardroom. This is an absolute joke. You were unaware, huh? And deeply troubled. So unaware that you continued the relationship, right?
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Co-host or Guest Commentator
So deeply troubled that you didn't lose
- [19:42]
Bobby Capucci
one night of sleep over it, huh? So deeply troubled that you couldn't even find it in your heart to have some compassion for the survivors. Nah, not you. Not me. Not Leon Black. Black isn't alone in continuing a professional relationship with Epstein years after his first conviction. Although Epstein's biggest benefactor, Les Wexner, the billionaire behind Victoria's Secret, said he severed ties more than a decade ago, JP Morgan Chase and company had maintained a relationship with Epstein for years after while Deutsche Bank AG cut him loose in recent months and we know how that's worked out for the both of them. JP Morgan also having their bank records examined. Deutsche bank paying a huge fine, $150 million, of course, a pittance to them. But again, it's the message that is sent. So all of these institutions have come under scrutiny. All of these institutions have had to pay a fine or suffer some sort of penalty in the public sphere. And now it's Apollo Global and Leon Black's turn to take some heat to catch the smoke. Epstein and Black have been acquaintances since at least the early 90s. The relationship deepened as Black became one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in finance. Black is worth $6.5 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, having built Apollo along with Rowan and Harris into one of the world's largest private equity firms. The company reported that it raised more than $12 billion in the second quarter, bringing assets under management to about 312 billion. Apollo shares fell 3.8% to $33.72 to $33.72 at 1:43am, pairing this year's gains to 37%. And I have not looked at the gains. Remember, this is an article from 2019. I have not looked at their gains during this coronavirus epidemic, but I would not be shocked if they've made a bunch more money because all of the rich people in the world have been making money hand over fist while you and I are worried about our next meal. Along the way, Black has become among the world's foremost art collectors. Ah, what do you know? Another connection to the art world, folks. It's just a coincidence though, right? None of this stuff is tied together. Stop looking into it. Art world, Bah. You're crazy. Why are you being so crazy? It's.
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Co-host or Guest Commentator
That's not a.
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Bobby Capucci
There's not a pervasive problem in the art world. There aren't predators littering the landscape.
- [22:24]
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- [22:53]
Bobby Capucci
Expanded his investments outside Apollo through his family office of Elysium Management and became a philanthropist with a particular Focus on melanoma research after his wife, Deborah, was diagnosed with the skin cancer. All right, well, hey, I not gonna malign him for that. I get it. If anyone understands about dealing with your loved one with cancer, it's me. That said, it doesn't give you a shield to protect yourself. You're not gonna use that to deflect fire coming downrange your way. Epstein was a director of the Leon Black Family foundation from at least 2001, according to disclosure forms filed with the US government. His name appeared on these forms until 2012. That was an administrative error. A spokeswoman for Black said last week Epstein was asked to resign in 2007, but records weren't kept up to date. She said, well, why was he asked to resign in 2007? I thought black had no idea about what he was up to. Why would he be asked to resign then? If he had no idea what Jeffrey Epstein was up to, why would he be asked to resign? You see, folks, their stories are so full of holes, and they're not dealing from the alleyway of truth. They are dealing from the den of lies. So keeping their story together is going to be much more difficult than, say, the story that Maria is telling us or the story Virginia is telling us or the story that Sarah is telling us or any of of the survivors, because they're telling the truth. They're telling you what happened. And these scumbags, they're trying to cover their tracks. And I think that's another reason why it's so important that we continue to read these articles on a daily basis. I think it's very important that we keep up to date and we make sure that we fill in all the holes that are possible and add as much meat to the bone and as much context as we possibly can, so that when these assholes try and lie and pull one over on us, we can say, wait a minute, we already covered the fact that you said something completely different previously. And then they'll try and lie their way out of it again, and the legacy media will not call them on their bullshit. And around and around we go. Black and Epstein were still doing some business in 2015. That year, BV70 LLC, a charity controlled by Black, donated $10 million to Epstein's foundation, Gratitude America. On a few occasions, I donated money to certain charitable organizations with which Mr. Epstein was affiliated, and he made contributions to certain charitable organizations that are meaningful to me, Black said in a memo to employees. So, yeah, when they try and tell
- [25:41]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
you in the next couple of days,
- [25:42]
Bobby Capucci
folks, and the blitz begins. The the the fix our reputation blitz begins for Black and Apollo. Remember what we talked about tonight. Remember the type of man that he is and remember that he showed no remorse and not a care in the world about what happened to the survivors. Remember that when they're attempting to gaslight you into thinking that Leon Black and Jeffrey Epstein were not deeply connected. If you'd like to contact me, you can do that@bobby capuchirotonmail.com that's B O B B Y C A P U C c I@protonmail.com youm can also find me on Twitter at Boby Capucci. All of the links that go with this episode will be in the description box. I'm going to watch some.
- [26:36]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
What's up, everyone?
- [26:37]
Bobby Capucci
And welcome back to the Epstein Chronicles.
- [26:41]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
On this edition, we're going to talk about Leon Black and the new allegations that he's making. That he was part of a corporate coup, that his old partner at Apollo Global put Ms. Ganieva up to making these accusations, and that Josh Harris was doing it all to try and get rid of Leon Black because of their issues behind the scenes. Now, there's an article out in the Daily Beast today by Kate Bricklett, who is discussing this. Now, if you noticed over the, I don't know, last few hours from last night into this morning, I posted a bunch of episodes dealing with Leon Black and the situation we're about to talk to. As you all know, I love context, so I wanted to provide a little bit more context for you because I knew that there was going to be some significant news this morning breaking about Leon Black. So we're not gonna spend too much time here in the monologue. We're gonna dive right into this article and we're gonna see what sort of nonsense Leon Black is now up to. All right, this article is from the Daily Beast, and the author is Kate Bricklett. Headline, jeffrey Epstein Pal Leon Black Claims rape Accuser was Part of a Corporate Couple.
- [28:05]
Bobby Capucci
Now, we all know that the allegations
- [28:09]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
against Leon Black are heinous, disgusting, disturbing. And we all know that he was real good friends with Jeffrey Epstein to the tune of $158 million at least. So when these claims were first brought forward, I was not surprised at all. Now him trying to fight back and blame Harris for this kind of ridiculous on his part, to be honest with you, I don't think it's going to go anywhere. Harris is not some shrinking violet that Leon Black's going to be able to bully.
- [28:43]
Bobby Capucci
Like he's always Done.
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Co-host or Guest Commentator
Harris is another very powerful hedge funder, owns sports teams, helped create Apollo Global, big time player. It's going to take a lot to, you know, rattle his tree. And we're going to see what Leon Black is bringing to the table here. But it looks like another one of these attempts to try and deflect blame from himself and put it onto somebody else. And we've seen that strategy from these people for a very, very long time, especially in the Epstein case. As billionaire Leon Black fights a former Models rape lawsuit in a Manhattan court, he's roping in other high profile men and claiming someone secretly bankrolled her case in order to stage a couple at his former firm, Apollo Global Management. And make no mistake about it folks, he is looking to weasel his way back into Apollo. He cannot abide by the fact that the power was taken away from him, the reins were taken away from him.
- [29:45]
Bobby Capucci
He cannot, he does.
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Co-host or Guest Commentator
He can't live like this, right?
- [29:48]
Bobby Capucci
He has to be in control.
- [29:50]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
So he's come up with this idea. If he can, you know, you know, make the picture look like he was being blackmailed and it was a corporate coup, then the board members will have to accept him back. Meanwhile, has he forgotten his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein? This is a separate issue here. If he thinks we're going to forget about his cozy relationship with Epstein and the 158 million dude's crazy. Furthermore, I don't believe a word he has to say about the situation here with Ms. Ganieva. I believe what she has to say is true. To be honest with you,
- [30:28]
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pros save more on what you need to get the job done right. Right now at Lowe's, get 15% off select custom entry and interior doors. Plus save $80 on the DeWalt 20 volt max 2 tool combo kit. Now just $169. And at the Lowe's pro desk bring us your materials list and get a quote in minutes. Handwritten, a photo or even a sticky note is all you need. Keep your jobs moving faster and on budget at Lowe's. Valid through 7 8. While supplies last selection varies by location.
- [30:57]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
Last June, Gazelle Ganieva filed a defamation suit against Black, the 70 year old friend and client of wealthy sex offender pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, claiming he sexually abused her for years and coerced her into signing a non disclosure agreement to keep her silent about the assaults. Typical of these people, you know, I'll give you a bazillion trillion dollars and I'll assault you but just can't say anything about it. Cool. And that's the way they, they, they do it, right? They have all of these non disclosure agreements and, and they use their money and power to make sure that people never say a word about their abuse. And then if somebody does say something about their abuse, oh, the counter lawsuits begin. We had a non disclosure agreement. Nothing about the fact that you're a sick bastard who abused people, only about the fact that your stupid agreement wasn't fulfilled. Black, who denies any wrongdoing and says they had consensual affair, is attempting to subpoena Ganieva's phone records and those of New York public relations executive Stephen Rubenstein, who the embattled mogul claims was enlisted by Apollo co founder Josh Harris to plant negative stories about him in the press. So if you go back to the beginning when we first started talking about Leon Black, I told you guys that my sources had told me that there was a battle royale going on in the boardroom. I have an episode dealing with that and I'm gonna post it from year ago, two years ago this point. But some of my former colleagues from when I worked at Canter Fitzgerald had told me about the situation and the buzz that was going on about the battle that was happening between Harris and Black even before the Epstein allegations came to came to light. So this has been a brewing problem behind the scenes and it's starting to come to a head now. In court filings this week, Black unveiled shocking accusations against Harris, describing him as an ARC rival who backed Ganieva's litigation behind the scenes after losing a multi billion dollar succession fight to replace Black as Apollo CEO in 2021. Well, that whole entire deal was tilted against Harris from jump street. You had Rowan and Leon Black who were talking behind the scenes about making sure Rowan got that position from the beginning. And Josh Harris was never going to be considered for that position because Leon Black knows him and Harris have issues. He knows that Harris is not going to bend to his will. And Rowan on the other hand, well, Rowan will. So this has been something that has been in the making for quite some time now. Did Harris do this? I don't know. I wasn't there. But I would think that this is just a deflection from Leon Black because he knows how serious these claims are and he knows the jeopardy he's in not only for that, but his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein as well. The pleading accuses Harris of enlisting Rubenstein to help shape his own media profile and to help seed harmful stories about Blacks. It also alleges Harris Attempted to oust black in 2020 and 2021 by spotlighting the financial arrangements with Epstein, whose sexual abuse of girls had been widely reported on for years. Well, you blame Harris. I mean, imagine you helped found this company, and then Leon Black thinks it's a good idea to go and hang out with Epstein, give him $158 million for. I'm using air quotes here. Advice. Hang out with Epstein, fly to Epstein's house. And according to Ms. Ganieva, well, a lot worse. You blame Harris for being pissed off. Now, don't get it twisted. I don't think Harris is a good guy either. Another one of these billionaires destroy you at all cost. Types of hedge fund mfers. But in this case, he's certainly the lesser of two evils. Black seeks to show communication between Ms. Ganieva's camp camp and Mr. Rubenstein's camp between his accuser and the public relations teams that work for his arch rival. Further demonstrating that Ms. Ganieva's claims are nothing but fabrications stitched together from whole cloth. His lawyer, Dania Perry said in the pleading. So they've been saying that from the beginning that Ms. Ganeva and her accusations here are bunk, that they are not true, and that it was all a push to get some money. Now, I don't buy that for a minute, to be honest with you. People don't go after people like Leon Black unless they have the goods, unless they have some evidence, right? Because if not, you're looking to get destroyed. Because that's exactly the kind of man Leon Black is. He's made a career out of destroying people and companies. The private equity titan resigned from Apollo last March, two months after an internal review found that he had paid Epstein $158 million from 2012 to 2017 for tax and estate planning and other financial advice. It just beggars the mind, right? How are you going to pay $158 million for financial advice if you have $158 million? You're the man who created Apollo. You really need to go to an outside source for financial advice. What were you really giving that money to Epstein for Mr. Black? Black also stepped down as chairman of the Museum of Modern Art in wake of protests over his ties to the late sex trafficker. Blake's file. Black's filing states that Harris, enraged that Apollo passed him over, then forged ahead with a malicious campaign to take Mr. Black down. And this is going to be the gist of it, right? It's all Josh Harris fault. I want you to pay attention to Harris. He's coming after me. Don't look at what I'm doing, though. Don't look at my relationship with Epstein. Don't look at the fact that Ms. Ganieva is leveling some serious charges against me. It's all Harris fault. Mr. Harris convened a team of media experts, including prominently Mr. Rubenstein, not only to manage his own reputation, but to also impugn and indeed attempt to destroy Mr. Black, Perry said in the court filing. Both Harris and Rubenstein have denied Black's accusations, with Harris spokesperson calling them desperate and absurd. The claims in Mr. Black's legal memorandum are baseless, untrue, and unsupportable. Jonathan Rosen, a spokesman for Harris, told The Daily Beast, Mr. Harris does not know Ms. Ganieva, has never met or spoken with her or anyone representing her, has no financial or any other dealings with her or her representatives, and had no involvement of any kind in the filing of any claims by her. Simply put, Mr. Harris has nothing whatsoever to do with the deeply troubling situation Mr. Black finds himself in, and any statement or implication otherwise is unhinged at best. So Harris right here is flatly denying it, saying, look, your situation is your own. Don't try and drag me into the muck with you. You're the one who's being accused of serious sexual assault charges. You're the one who was palling around with Jeffrey Epstein, not me. Don't bring me into this. And of course, what Leon Black is attempting to do is exactly that. Let's move this spotlight a little bit over to the left here on the Harris boys. Evan Farber, an attorney for Rubenstein, told us Mr. Rubenstein and his firm have absolutely no relationship with Ms. Ganeva, past, present, formal or informal. They have never met or communicated with her or any of her representatives. These and the rest of the claims filed by Mr. Black's attorneys offer a concocted, ever evolving conspiracy theory packed with false information and are not based in reality. So let's not forget and, you know, lose the. The plot here. The plot is Ms. Ganieva has leveled serious sexual charges against Black, and now Black, in return, is attempting to destroy Ms. Ganieva like they always do. And by doing that, what he's doing is bringing Josh Harris into it as well. So he's looking to get rid of two of his rivals in one fell swoop here. Jeanne Christensen, a lawyer for Ganieva and partner at Wigdor llp, also denied Black's accusations rather than responding to our client's serious allegations of Sexual assault and rape. As alleged in her complaint. Leon Black is deflecting from his own conduct by infusing his personal strife with former partners at Apollo into her case. She told the Daily beast. And that's 100% where I'm at as well. Look, these guys are the masters of manipulation. They're the masters of making moves behind the scenes. And Leon Black is certainly not an apprentice. This guy has been destroying careers and people since Junior Soprano is wearing short pants, folks. While Black concedes that he paid Ganieva $100,000 a month from October 2015 through March of last year and forgave $1 million in loans to her as part of their NDA, he argues she lacks any apparent independent means of supporting herself. So what? What does that have to do with anything? You're the one who gave her all of this money, right? Why did you give her all of this money? Oh, it was a consensual affair, dude. Your wife was sick, bro. All right? So throughout the whole time your wife was ill, you're cheating on her, and then you have the audacity to make the person you cheated on her with sign an NDA after you allegedly sexually assaulted her? Yeah, you're a hell of a guy, pal. It is not hard to infer that she is being bankrolled by someone with deep pockets, Perry Black's lawyer alleges in Tuesday's filing. Meanwhile, her false claims are seeded and amplified by Mr. Rubenstein, the same PR guru who already has done Mr. Harris work in spreading rumors about Mr. Black's alleged sexual misconduct. What do you mean spreading rumors? These are court filings that we're looking at. Nobody spread these rumors. There's nobody out there on the pitch trying to get the rumor mill going on Leon Black. You're doing it all for yourself, all right? You don't need any help.
- [41:40]
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- [42:08]
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Everything's swirling and falling down on you in a radioactive fashion because of your own decisions. All of these people who are supposedly so much smarter than the rest of us. Sure seem like a bunch of dumbasses, don't they? The filing doesn't refer to any specific evidence or exhibits of the alleged smear campaign, but instead points to a circumstantial timeline as 2020 turned into 2021. With an independent investigation into Mr. Black's relationship with Mr. Epstein underway, Mr. Rubenstein, despite being on retainer with Apollo, worked specifically on Mr. Harris behalf. Perry allegedly this work included being in communication with Mr. Harris on talking points and media statements relating to, among other things, Mr. Black and Mr. Epstein. Well, none of this would have happened. You wouldn't have to worry about that if your client, Mr. Black, wasn't hanging out and enabling Jeffrey Epstein. Pretty simple. Mr. Black is entitled to probe the timing and prove that it is no coincidence. Just as Mr. Rubenstein prepared and fed allegations to media to further Mr. Harris's ambitions, so too were the allegations relating to Ms. Ganeva. His attorney stated, I mean, come on, this is really going to be your defense. They're not going to bring anything stronger to the table. They're, here's what they think is what they're going to do. They think they're going to steamroll over Mrs. Ganieva because she's not some high profile person. And they think that if they drag this out, they'll litigate it long enough she won't be able to afford it. So I hope some lawyer takes it pro bono and really sticks it to Leon Black. Black's team underscored that Rubenstein previously worked with the New York Post, where Ganieva gave an exclusive interview months before her lawsuit was filed. And it beggars belief to suggest that Gazelle Ganieva herself, without professional public relationship help, convinced Ronan Farrow and other prominent reporters to sign on as the first three followers of her new Twitter account. Black's legal team continued as if Twitter is a real place. I can't stand when people bring up Twitter like it's a real place. Like 20% of adults use Twitter. That's it. It's for the loudest voices amongst us. It's for the water carrying tribalists. That's what Twitter is. It's not a representation of the rest of the country. Come on. Nevada State bank first came forward with acting with accusations of abuse in a series of tweets in March 2021 weeks later, Black denied her claims and said, I have been extorted by Ms. Ganieva for many years and I made substantial monetary payments to her based on her threats to go public concerning our relationship in an attempt to spare my family from public embarrassment. Here's an idea. Don't engage in the behavior in the first place and you don't have to worry about sparing your family from embarrassment. See how that works? And you'll be a little bit richer as well. We all know that's your favorite thing, right, Leon Black? Being a little bit richer. So if you don't get involved in this sort of shit in the first place, you don't have to worry about it. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Ganiyeva then filed her defamation suit against Black, which said she was a single mother from Russia when she met him in 2008 and she believed he would help her career move beyond models. Instead, she says, Black trapped her in a cycle of intimidation, abuse and humiliation. Sure sounds like the M.O. jeffrey Epstein used, isn't it? All of a sudden, Leon Black is using the same strategy, according to Ms. Ganieva over here. So she later updated her lawsuit to add accusations that highlighted an especially close
- [45:50]
Bobby Capucci
relationship between Black and Epstein.
- [45:54]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
In an amended complaint, Ganieva claimed Black flew her to Florida in 2008 and encouraged her to have sex with his friend Epstein, who was on work release from jail. But she refused. While visiting Epstein's Palm beach lair, Ganieva said she met his former assistant and alleged co conspirator Sarah Kellen. According to Ganieva, Kellen said that Black and Epstein were sex addicts and warned they are very powerful and if you don't do what they want you to do, there will be consequences that I
- [46:23]
Bobby Capucci
do not want for you.
- [46:24]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
Sounds about right. Sarah Kellen getting in the mix, trying to smooth things over, get these girls in it for Epstein and his buddies to abuse certainly fits with the pattern. Ganieva also claimed Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's recently convicted accomplice, approached her in 2013 and offered to help her get a passport. We know that was something they were doing too. They had the scam marriages going on within Dyke and Khan and they were getting citizenship for people via that scam. So these, these guys, Epstein and his friends, they had their fingers in many pies, folks. Since Ganieva came forward, Black filed a short lived counterclaim alleging he was the victim of an extortion scheme. He dropped that state court action in September. In October, Black sued Ganieva and Wigdor llp, the law firm representing her, for racketeering and defamation in federal court. Aside from Ganieva and her lawyers, Black named three other public defendants, John Does 1 and 2 and he described as public relations and social media professionals, and John Doe 3, a funder who is supposedly covering the cost of the litigation and alleged PR campaigns against him. Now, I said at the time that Josh Harris was a likely suspect for this sort of thing and if anyone was going to be fingered for it, it would be Harris. Considering the the animosity that has been built between him and Black at this
- [47:57]
Bobby Capucci
point,
- [48:02]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
The defendants here created an enterprise to extort and cancel one of the world's most prominent business leaders. Black's racketeering suit claims. And again, it's galling, right? Black has a racketeering suit against Harris and the Ganieva, but we don't have a racketeering suit against Maxwell. Go figure. In response, Wigdor LLP asked the court to sanction Black and his legal team for allegedly filing the suit for improper purposes, namely retaliating against the firm for representing Ganieva and attempting to interfere with their ability to represent her. It's no surprise that a billionaire faced with allegations of sexual assault would want to use his fortune to change the subject by retaliating against his accuser and her representatives in a very public manner. Rivkin Radler llp, lawyers for Wigdor stated last week in a memorandum. In a memorandum seeking sanctions, however, zealous representation does not equate to or excuse the filing of frivolous, harassing or retaliatory litigation. So they're saying it's all BS and that Black's team filed it as a intimidation method to tell these people, look, if you try anything, we will crush you. I'm Leon Black and I'm coming for
- [49:16]
Bobby Capucci
everything you own if you attempt to
- [49:18]
Co-host or Guest Commentator
even bring these charges against me. And that's what they've done forever. And they've been able to intimidate people for a long time doing that. Wigdor's lawyers added that no amount of investigation could possibly have led Black or his counsel to a good faith belief that the firm was involved with a fundraiser. They said Black's legal team knew Wigdor was representing Ganieva on a contingency agreement in her state court lawsuit. No one has paid or reimbursed Wigdor for anything in connection with its representation of Ms. Ganieva, they said. So it looks like it's pro bono here, which is a great thing. And I'm glad Wigdor is doing that because when you're dealing with high profile people like Black, it's very hard to litigate against them in court if you don't have a huge bankroll. Lawyers for Wigdor also denied the firm Organieva had enlisted a public relations specialist to publicize her accusations. It is frivolous for Black to allege, as he does with the, with the improper of his counsel, that Ms. Ganieva needed the assistance of a flack to use the hashtags MeToo or Leon Black, they wrote, meaning she didn't need to hire somebody to use those hashtags and, you know, talk about these people on her own on social media. Black, with his billions of dollars, may believe that he can levy baseless and legally defective RICO and defamation claims against opposing counsel with impunity in an attempt to interfere with Wigdor's ability to represent Ms. Ganeva and gain an advantage in her first filed state court action. Wigdor's lawyers added, however, however, his lawyers should have refused to go along with that wrongful approach. In a letter to the court last week, Black's lawyer, Susan Estrich indicated he will file an amended racketeering complaint by January 28th. Estridge added that Wigdor's motion for sanctions should be denied as moot once the updated lawsuit is filed. So kill them with filings, kill them with court appeals, kill them with technicalities and loopholes. That's what he's trying to do here. He's trying to use his great power, his great wealth to make this too much of a long and drawn out war and financially not feasible for anybody to engage in. Earlier this month, Ganieva's lawyers filed a motion to quash Black subpoena to ATT for her phone records, calling it a clear and unnecessary invasion of privacy and a transparent attempt to intimidate and harass Ms. Ganieva. Black is simply fishing for evidence for use in the federal lawsuit. Despite having received sworn statements from Ms. Ganeva that she has not spoken to any public relations firm or agent, wrote Wigdor attorney Lindsey M. Goldbrum. Goldbrum. So the back and forth is on, right? You know that Black wants everything he could possibly get. And Ms. Ganieva's lawyers, they're not having it. They're pushing back, saying this is unfounded, this is BS and it's going to be interesting to see what the court says. Black believes, wrongly that plaintiff conspired with other people to file this action against Black for the sole purpose of embarrassing him and ruining his reputation. Goldbrum added, he is not entitled to continue on a quest that has yielded no information and that unquestionably will continue to do so. And furthermore, his reputation was already ruined by his association with Epstein That's a ridiculous argument. Rubenstein's lawyer, Farber, also moved to defeat a subpoena for his phone records, calling it brazenly overbroad and improperly invasive. Black only seeks not only seeks Rubenstein's phone records and texts from October 2020 to September 2021, but records for each of his agents, representatives and employees, farber said. So that's a big ask that Leon Black is making here and I don't think it's gonna go over so well. We'll have to see though. Alright folks, that's gonna do it for this episode and I wanted to get it added to the catalog considering we had those other Leon Black episodes that I uploaded last night. Wanna make sure we have, you know, as much context as possible. I have a few other episodes dealing with Leon Black, such as the Battle Royale in the Boardroom episode. I'm going to upload that one as well. All right folks, if you'd like to contact me, you can do that@bobby capuchirotonmail.com that's B O B B Y C A P U C c I@protonmail.com you can also find me on Twitter at B O B b y/cap ucci the link that we discussed can be found in the description box. All right everybody
- [54:05]
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