Leon Black Quits Firm He Cofounded Following Curious Decision to Pay Jeffrey Epstein $158 Million

Earlier this year, Leon Black, the cofounder of one of Wall Street’s biggest private-equity firms, announced that he would be resigning as the chief executive officer of Apollo Global Management in July. That news was surprising not because that Black is considered “one of the fathers of the modern private equity industry” but because of the circumstances surrounding his decision to step back from day-to-day management of the company, i.e. the fact that it turned out he’d paid convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein $158 million, allegedly for tax advice, despite being worth around $9 billion and having access to the best lawyers and accountants in the world—while Epstein was a college dropout with exactly zero formal training in tax and estate planning. While a law firm hired by Apollo had conducted a review of the relationship between the two men and concluded that Epstein had provided “legitimate advice,” it was nevertheless not a great look that Black had continued to associate with—and richly compensate—Epstein even after the guy had done time in prison for soliciting prostitution and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution. As my colleague William D. Cohan wrote at the time: “Nice try, Leon. You must think we are pretty stupid, gullible, or insane to believe the tale you spun…about your decades-long involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted pedophile. Well I, for one, am not buying it, not any of it, and neither are many other smart Wall Streeters.”

And now, it appears that Black has had a change of heart re: the timing of his retirement. On Monday, the billionaire unexpectedly quit his position as CEO months ahead of time, and said he will no longer be retaining his role as chairman of the company, which was part of the original plan announced in January. Instead, he will be leaving immediately, citing health issues he and his wife are experiencing. (Marc Rowan, a cofounder of Apollo, will become CEO, while former Securities and Exchange Commission chair Jay Clayton will become chairman of the firm.)

As Axios’s Dan Primack notes, absent from Black’s statement about the decision—which was simply titled “Marc Rowan Assumes Role of CEO of Apollo”—was that “he might still be in charge if he hadn’t spent more than a year hoping that the Epstein questions would dissipate.” (Primack, like presumably many others, isn’t yet sure if the announcement should be taken at “face value” or if there will be more information to come out.)

In a statement following a review of the circumstances under which Black ended up paying a disgraced sex offender nine figures worth of fees, Black said he “deeply regret[ed] having any involvement” with Epstein. Which is understandable, given the bad press said involvement garnered, though it remains a real mystery why the billionaire hadn’t realized, say, a decade-plus earlier, that the association wasn’t a great look. (According to The Wall Street Journal, the duo’s relationship only began to deteriorate in 2016, and not over Epstein’s predilection for underage girls but “after a fee dispute.“)

Goldman Sachs CEO will “try” to give young worker drones Saturdays off

Though no promises!

Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon has heard the complaints from junior bankers about their 100-hour work weeks — and he promises he’ll try to give them Saturdays off. In a voice memo late Sunday, the hard-charging chief executive told employees he will “strengthen enforcement” of the Wall Street giant’s “Saturday rule”—which means that employees cannot work from 9 p.m. Friday to 9 a.m. Sunday except in certain circumstances—in a bid to make sure they have at least one day off each week.

“In this case, it’s great that this group of analysts went to their management,” Solomon said, referring to a leaked PowerPoint presentation about Goldman’s grueling work conditions that was put together by first-year bankers and that spilled onto social media last week. The elaborate slideshow, which was shared with managers, includes testimonials of working 20-hour shifts that one worker called “inhumane.” Another said stress, sleep deprivation and the treatment from Goldman’s senior bankers was “arguably worse” than his childhood under foster care.

While Solomon’s pledge to “try” and give junior staff Saturdays (though not Sunday) off, Goldman’s young worker bees probably shouldn’t start making weekend plans just yet. In the same voice memo, the CEO urged the first-year employees to look at their 100-hour weeks not from the perspective of only having four hours to eat, sleep, use the bathroom, and maybe shower a day but as a noble sacrifice for the firm’s bottom line. “The good news is, volumes are up because we have an opportunity to work with our clients on so many interesting things right now,” Solomon said. “In the months ahead, there are times when we’re going to feel more stretched than others, but just remember: If we all go an extra mile for our client, even when we feel that we’re reaching our limit, it can really make a difference in our performance.”

Senator Ron Johnson contains multitudes

He’s not just racist, he’s also very dumb. Per The New York Times:

Mr. Johnson is an all-access purveyor of misinformation on serious issues such as the pandemic and the legitimacy of American democracy, as well as invoking the etymology of Greenland as a way to downplay the effects of climate change.

“You know, there’s a reason Greenland was called Greenland,” Mr. Johnson told WKOW-TV in Madison [during his first campaign]. “It was actually green at one point in time. And it’s been, you know, since, it’s a whole lot whiter now so we’ve experienced climate change throughout geologic time.” In [an interview with the Times] on Thursday, Mr. Johnson was still misinformed about the etymology of Greenland, which got its name from the explorer Erik the Red’s attempt to lure settlers to the ice-covered island.

“I could be wrong there, but that’s always been my assumption that, at some point in time, those early explorers saw green,” Mr. Johnson said. “I have no idea.”

That much is obvious!

Tom Cotton supports not requiring people to wear masks because the flowers are starting to bloom

Elsewhere!

Former top Capitol riot prosecutor says “maybe the President is culpable” when asked about Trump (CNN)

“He’s Given People More Permission to Harm Asian Americans”: Ted Lieu on the Atlanta Murders and What Trump’s Racist Rhetoric Has Done to America (Hive)

Variants Rise in Some States, Adding Urgency to Speed Up Shots (Bloomberg)

CDC advises against travel while spring break chaos worries some Miami Beach businesses trying to recover from pandemic (CNBC)

Richest 1% of Americans Hide a Fifth of Their Income From the IRS (Bloomberg)

Bosses Are Clueless That Workers Are Miserable and Looking to Leave (Bloomberg)

Jack Dorsey’s first tweet sells for $2.9 million as an NFT (Reuters)

Pentagon Report to Detail “Difficult to Explain” UFO Sightings, Says Ratcliffe (Intelligencer)

“I like to earn my breakfast“ (Twitter)

Jeopardy! contestants petition to remove Dr. Oz as guest host (NYP)

— Andrew Cuomo’s Biographer on the Governor’s Brutish History
— How Officials in Trump’s White House Scrambled to Score COVID-19 Vaccinations
— A Private Jet of Rich Trumpers Wanted to “Stop the Steal”
— Donald Trump Is Drowning in Criminal Investigations and Legally Screwed
— The Wave of Anti-Asian Hate Could Last Beyond the Pandemic
— Could Brett Kavanaugh Be Booted From the Supreme Court?
— Leak of Bombshell CBS Investigation Led to Multimillion-Dollar Settlement
— From the Archive: The Day Before Tragedy

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