Apollo's Leon Black To Retire, Cleared Of Criminal Wrongdoing In Epstein Probe

Shares of private equity company Apollo Global Management Inc APO are trading higher after several news pieces released at the market close Monday.

What Happened: An independent outside counsel found that Jeffrey Epstein was never retained by Apollo. It was also found that Epstein never invested in any Apollo-managed funds.

The report came after Apollo Chairman and CEO Leon Black’s relationship with Epstein was called into question as being connected to Apollo. Black pushed for a Conflicts Committee to conduct an independent investigation back in October.

Why It's Important: The investigation analyzed over 60,000 pieces of communication that included emails, texts, documents and interviews and found that Black paid Epstein $148 million for his financial advice.

All fees paid to Epstein from Black and his family were for tax planning, estate planning and other related services. No link to a connection between Black and Epstein’s criminal activity was found.

Apollo also announced Black will step down as the CEO by the end of July with Apollo Co-Founder Marc Rowan approved as the next CEO. Black will remain the company’s Chairman.

APO Price Action: Shares of Apollo are up 4.5% to $47.98 in after-hours trading.

Photo: Leon Black, Chairman and CEO of Apollo Global Management (Goldman Sachs YouTube)