Gain Access to the Editor’s Summary for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, compiles her preferred articles in this periodic bulletin.
A pair of American educators’ associations have petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission to probe colossal private investment entity Apollo Global Management for its “failure to be forthright” regarding its connections with the convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
The American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors informed the SEC’s chief of enforcement, Margaret Ryan, in written communication on Tuesday that they contended Apollo’s disclosures to shareholders “present a misleading and partial portrayal of the company and its associates’ links to Epstein”.
This development follows the Financial Times recently revealing that senior Apollo officials, such as CEO Marc Rowan, engaged in extensive talks with Epstein. Their talks revolved around the assessment of a fiscal advantage held by Apollo’s originators and the potential relocation of the firm’s main office overseas. Epstein was provided with confidential Apollo paperwork and communicated with key strategists within the organization.
These interactions, revealed within the American Department of Justice’s disclosure of numerous files concerning Epstein in the preceding month, cast doubt on Apollo’s 2020 assertion that the corporation “never conducted any transactions with Jeffrey Epstein at any juncture”.
The associations stated in their correspondence to the regulator: “We are concerned by Apollo’s apparent reluctance to be transparent about the degree to which Epstein was a private, societal, and business acquaintance of the company and its principals.”
This missive signifies the most recent evidence of intense oversight regarding links connecting a prominent and highly influential financial conglomerate on Wall Street and a proven sexual criminal.
These associations have troubled Apollo for a long time and compelled co-founder Leon Black to resign from his chief executive role in 2021 following an investigation by the legal practice Dechert which determined he had remitted $158 million to Epstein across half a decade culminating in 2017. Dechert asserted these disbursements covered counsel regarding fiduciary and inheritance arrangements, taxation, art collections, charitable giving, Black’s luxury boat and private aircraft, and the management of Black’s personal investment firm.
Epstein passed away in detention in 2019 while pending adjudication for national accusations of sex trafficking of underage individuals.
The educators’ associations contended that a pair of records Apollo submitted to the SEC in early 2021 — correspondence from the then-Chief Executive Black to the firm’s passive investors and the Dechert inquiry which probed Apollo’s connections to Epstein — were deemed “inadequate” since, when considered jointly, they inaccurately characterized the scope of the organization’s links to the child abuser.
The Dechert investigation “endeavors to downplay Epstein’s connections to other Apollo senior staff”, they added.
The regulatory body refused to provide a statement. Dechert failed to promptly answer inquiries for commentary.
Apollo stated: “Neither Marc Rowan nor any other individual within Apollo (apart from Leon Black) maintained a professional or private association with Jeffrey Epstein, a fact corroborated by a standalone, open, and exhaustive inquiry conducted in 2021. This information is not novel.”
The entity further mentioned that although Epstein “endeavored to collaborate with Apollo’s co-founders aside from Mr. Black, these overtures were rejected repeatedly”.
The AFT indicated that its constituents possess $27.5 billion in collective investment pledges to Apollo’s portfolios via their retirement plans. Both associations hold sway over the choices made by educators’ retirement schemes throughout the United States owing to their members serving on the governing bodies of these funds. Apollo managed over $900 billion in holdings by the close of 2025.
Documents made public by the Department of Justice revealed Rowan frequently communicated with Epstein.
Additional senior personnel who communicated with Epstein comprise the former head legal officer John Suydam, European division chief Sanjay Patel, associate Gernot Lohr and Imran Siddiqui, a key designer of its Athene insurance division who subsequently departed the company.
The Dechert report from 2021 — commissioned subsequent to Apollo’s governing body engaging the company to investigate Black’s connections to Epstein — concluded that Apollo’s declarations concerning its links with Epstein were not “untrue or deceptive.”
Nevertheless, it further noted: “It is apparent that the specifics defining what constitutes “conducting transactions with” or possessing an “association with” are possibly more intricate than initially perceivable.”