In March 2021, we published an open letter signed by over 150 artists and art workers calling on the Museum of Modern Art in New York to cut ties with its then-chairman, private equity billionaire Leon Black, for his close relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. It worked, kind of. Black stepped down from his role, but still sits on the museum's board of trustees to this day.
The latest tranche of Epstein files released by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) last week includes detailed and gruesome descriptions of alleged abuse by private equity billionaire and Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) trustee Leon Black. The trove of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein includes scanned pages of an apparent diary containing first-person accounts of alleged abuse as well as emails describing accusations against Black.
"Paul Weiss was retained by Leon Black, then the CEO of the firm's longtime client Apollo, to negotiate a series of fee disputes with Jeffrey Epstein that spanned several years," Paul Weiss said in a statement. "The firm was adverse to Epstein, and at no point did Paul Weiss or Brad Karp ever represent him." And yet... The most recent release of files from the Epstein case reveals something more.
