Leon Black has had an extraordinary career on Wall Street. After graduating from Dartmouth and getting his MBA at Harvard, he spent 14 years at the uber firm of the 1980’s Drexel Burnham, where he ascended to head the formidable M&A department and was the co-head of Corporate Finance. In 1990 he founded Apollo Global Management which currently manages over $300 billion and through which he has amassed a personal fortune nearing $10 billion.

As CEO of Apollo and given the nature of its business, he has overseen the buying and selling of dozens if not hundreds of companies, and seemingly possesses a strong familiarity with all the accounting, operational, regulatory, and capital markets know-how that comes with it. And what he or his high powered colleagues are not fully versed in, the heft and profitability of Apollo allows them to hire the best advisors, consultants, lawyers, and lobbyists money can buy. Thus I think it is fair to say that Leon Black is well ensconced in the nexus of high finance. In addition, he’s the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, putting him at the pinnacle of not only wealth, but society.

Jeffrey Epstein was not a CPA, or even a college grad. His experience on Wall Street was a stint at Bear Stearns, where he did have some success, but was asked to leave after five years for reasons that remain largely unknown.

Which begs the question “What kind of extraordinary tax advice did Jeffrey Epstein possess that Leon Black was willing to pay him a whopping $158 million for it?”

[Read more…] about Leon Black & Jeffrey Epstein: Sordid Maybe, Tax Evasion Might Be Real Story