Former CEO of Apollo Global Management says Jeffrey Epstein tricked him out of $60 million

The former CEO of Apollo Global Management, Leon Black, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Friday that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein tricked him out of $60 million. 

The money was paid for financial advisory fees, but Epstein falsely claimed that the fees were tax-deductible, CNBC reported. 

In his prepared testimony, Black said he had no involvement in Epstein's sex-trafficking operation and did not pay him for prostitutes. He said he wanted to set the record straight about his relationship with Epstein and why he paid him. 

“Let me state unequivocally that I have never abused a woman. I have never been with an underage woman. I have never engaged in sex trafficking. I have never paid Epstein for access to women,” Black said. 

He said Epstein had a Jekyll and Hyde personality, which misled him about the disgraced financier's nature. He said Epstein told him that the fees he was paying were tax-deductible "60 cent dollars," which he later learned wasn't true. 

"I.e. what I believed to be $95 million of net fees paid to him over five years was actually $158 million,” Black said.