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July 25 (UPI) — The Senate Finance Committee is investigating $158 million paid to accused sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein by billionaire and Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black for tax and estate-planning advice.
Finance committee chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., revealed the investigation on Tuesday, stating that it is an inquiry into how “ultra-high net worth individuals avoid or evade paying federal taxes, including gift and estate taxes.”
Wyden stated that the investigation discovered significant tax issues, which enabled Black, who is a private equity investor, to evade over $1 billion in future gift and estate taxes. The investigation alleges that Black made a total of $158 million in multiple payments to the late disgraced financier between 2012 and 2017, despite Epstein not being a certified public accountant or licensed tax attorney. Wyden expressed that the amounts paid to Epstein exceeded those paid to other professional advisors, including highly-priced legal counsel.
Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire financier, died by suicide in August 2019 while in federal prison in New York, where he was being held on sex trafficking charges. Wyden’s letter to Black on Monday demands further clarification on various tax issues.
“Unfortunately, the responses you have provided the committee have only raised more questions than answers and have failed to address a number of tax issues that my staff has uncovered during this investigation,” wrote Wyden in a letter to Black. The investigations include the avoidance of billions of dollars in income, gift, and estate taxes through the use of tax shelters such as Private Placement Life Insurance; the potential circumvention of gift tax laws and deductions related to the complementary use of private aircraft and superyachts by public officials; and the utilization of Swiss banks by wealthy taxpayers to expatriate from the United States and evade gift taxes while concealing offshore accounts from the Internal Revenue Service, according to Wyden.
Specifically, Wyden is requesting documents that demonstrate how Epstein’s payments were calculated and his role in assisting Black in “avoiding federal gift and estate taxes on as much as $2 billion in wealth transferred to your children.”
A spokesperson for Black announced on Tuesday that the billionaire has answered more than a dozen of the committee’s questions and provided over 150 pages of his personal tax and estate documents. The spokesperson stated that Black has cooperated extensively with the committee, providing detailed information about the matters under review. They also affirmed that the transactions referenced in the committee’s letter were lawful, well-considered, and implemented by reputable law firms and tax advisors. Additionally, Black has fully paid all taxes owed to the government.
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