--- alias: - Debra Black category: Business & Finance created: 2026-09-25 location: New York, New York relations: - fn: 1 type: spouse_of with: '[[Leon Black]]' - end: 2014-12-29 fn: 3 role: co-donor with Leon Black of 6 million dollars start: 2011-11-22 type: funded with: '[[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]]' - end: 2015 fn: 5 role: co-donor with Leon Black of 2 million dollars start: 2014 type: funded with: '[[Origins Project]]' summary: Wife of Leon Black, trustee in the Black family's 2007 restructuring, co-donor of Harvard and Arizona State gifts that Jeffrey Epstein arranged, and holder of accounts that wired Epstein's fees. tags: - Person - DebraBlack - LeonBlack - JeffreyEpstein - Philanthropy - BlackFamilyPartners - Harvard updated: 2026-09-25 --- Debra Black is the wife of [Leon Black](/people/leon-black/), the co-founder of [Apollo Global Management](/organizations/apollo-global-management/) who paid [Jeffrey Epstein](/people/jeffrey-epstein/) between 158 and 170 million dollars from 2012 to 2017 for tax and estate advice. She is named as a trustee in the 2007 transfer of family holdings into Black Family Partners, L.P., one of the entities whose [Bank of America](/organizations/bank-of-america/) accounts later sent Epstein's fees; she held one of those accounts herself. With her husband she gave [Harvard University](/organizations/harvard-university/)'s [Program for Evolutionary Dynamics](/organizations/program-for-evolutionary-dynamics/) 6 million dollars in 2011 and 2014, after Harvard had stopped accepting Epstein's money, in gifts arranged through Epstein's office, and gave 2 million dollars to [Lawrence Krauss](/people/lawrence-krauss/)'s Origins Project at Arizona State University. Leon Black cited "my wife Debra's and my health issues" when he stepped down as Apollo's chief executive in March 2021.[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5] ### Black Family Partners An "Assignment and Assumption Agreement" dated June 7, 2007, preserved among Epstein's records, transferred the assignors' limited partner, limited liability company and stockholder interests to Black Family Partners, L.P. Its signature pages, repeated across multiple entities and trusts, carry blocks for "Debra Black, Trustee" and a co-trustee. The following month, according to Black's representative, Epstein ceased to be a trustee of the [Black Family Foundation](/organizations/black-family-foundation/), a position he had held since 1997.[^2][^3] ### The Fee Accounts The minority staff of the Senate Finance Committee under Senator [Ron Wyden](/people/ron-wyden/), drawing on bank records, counted eighteen wires totaling 169.8 million dollars from Black's Bank of America accounts to Epstein between 2012 and 2017, about 140 million dollars of it in 2013 through 2015 to accounts of [Southern Trust Company](/organizations/southern-trust-company/) at [Deutsche Bank](/organizations/deutsche-bank/) and other wires to [Financial Trust Company](/organizations/financial-trust-company/) accounts at [JPMorgan Chase](/organizations/jpmorgan-chase/). The accounts that sent the money were held by Black, "his wife Debra Black," Black Family Partners L.P., Narrows Holdings LLC, the family office Elysium Management, and one other individual.[^1] ### The Harvard Gifts [Drew Faust](/people/drew-faust/), Harvard's president, decided no later than November 2008 that the university would take no further gifts from Epstein. Between 2010 and 2015 donors whom Epstein introduced gave Harvard 9.5 million dollars, of which 7.5 million dollars went to the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics of [Martin Nowak](/people/martin-nowak/). Harvard's 2020 review recorded the following gifts to the program:[^3][^4] | Date | Amount | Donor | |---|---|---| | September 10, 2010 | 500,000 dollars | Falconwood Foundation | | November 22, 2011 | 2,000,000 dollars | Leon and Debra Black | | December 29, 2014 | 4,000,000 dollars | Leon and Debra Black | | October 30, 2015 | 1,000,000 dollars | Black Family Foundation | Epstein's accountant arranged gift letters that allowed Nowak to spend the Black money on the program's rent, which ordinary research grants could not cover, and Harvard development staff thanked Epstein in December 2014 "for trying to expedite this gift." Black's representative told Harvard that "none of the funds were provided by Mr. Epstein."[^3][^4] ### The Origins Project Leon and Debra Black gave 2 million dollars in personal gifts to the Origins Project at Arizona State University in 2014 and 2015. Epstein's Virgin Islands foundation, Enhanced Education, gave the project 250,000 dollars between 2010 and 2017, and one Origins accounting record listed Epstein's employer as "Leon D. Black, [Enhanced Education](/organizations/jeffrey-epstein-vi-foundation/)." After Arizona State closed the project in 2018 it returned 25,000 dollars in unspent funds to Enhanced Education and about 460,000 dollars to the Blacks at their request.[^5][^6] ### Apollo On March 22, 2021 Leon Black left the chief executive's post at Apollo, after the law firm [Dechert](/organizations/dechert/) had reviewed his payments to Epstein for the firm's conflicts committee.[^7] Apollo announced that [Marc Rowan](/people/marc-rowan/) would become chief executive and [Jay Clayton](/people/jay-clayton/) non-executive chairman; Black cited "my wife Debra's and my health issues."[^8] [^1]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Ranking Member Ron Wyden, "Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking," August 4, 2026, pp. 4, 9-14, 56-61. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_wall_street_epstein_report.pdf [^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01128080, DataSet 9, Assignment and Assumption Agreement to Black Family Partners, L.P., June 7, 2007. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01128080.pdf [^3]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard University Office of the General Counsel and Foley Hoag LLP, May 2020, pp. 10-17 and nn. 9, 15, on Faust's decision, the table of Epstein-facilitated gifts, the gift-letter language on rent, the statement of Black's representative, and Epstein's trusteeship of the Black Family Foundation. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208 [^4]: Owermohle, Sarah, and Austin Culpepper. "How Epstein enlisted Harvard scientists to burnish his reputation, and try to make a profit," *CNN,* February 19, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/19/politics/harvard-epstein-donations-influence-exclusive [^5]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019, on the Black gifts, the "Leon D. Black, Enhanced Education" accounting entry, and the refunds. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements [^6]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein Called Himself A 'Science Philanthropist' And Donated Millions To These Researchers," *BuzzFeed News,* July 11, 2019, updated July 13, 2019, on the 250,000 dollars obtained by public records request. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-science-donations [^7]: Dechert LLP, Memorandum to the Apollo Conflicts Committee, "Investigation of Epstein/Black Relationship and Any Relationship Between Epstein and Apollo Global Management, Inc.," January 22, 2021, filed as Exhibit 99.1 to Apollo Global Management, Inc. Form 8-K, January 25, 2021. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1411494/000119312521016405/d118102dex991.htm [^8]: Apollo Global Management, "Marc Rowan Assumes Role of CEO of Apollo; Jay Clayton Named Non-Executive Chair of Board," press release, March 22, 2021. https://ir.apollo.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/105/marc-rowan-assumes-role-of-ceo-of-apollo