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Apollo’s Harris Sees Investors Pausing Amid Epstein Review

Apollo’s Harris Sees Investors Pausing Amid Epstein Review

Apollo Global Management Inc. expects some limited partners to pause investing with the firm during the review of Leon Black’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, co-founder Josh Harris said.

The review, being conducted by law firm Dechert LLP, should conclude by the end of the year, Harris said Tuesday during the Bank of America Securities Future of Financials virtual conference.

“While that process is going on for the next four to eight weeks,” the firm expects some investors to hold back, he said.

A panel of Apollo board members hired the law firm to independently examine Black’s account of his ties to the convicted sex offender. The New York Times reported that the Apollo chairman had wired at least $50 million to Epstein after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a teenage girl. The article didn’t accuse Black of breaking the law.

“Certainly our clients, and all of us, we’re excited to bring transparency and a bright light to these issues even though our firm didn’t have anything to do with it,”

Several Apollo investors including a Pennsylvania pension fund have paused new investments with the private equity firm.

Asked about how the matter might affect Apollo, Harris said: “We have a very broad-based team” with 15 people on the management committee and 60 on the firm’s leadership advisory forum.

Apollo shares are down 7.8% this year through Monday. The S&P 500 index is up almost 10% in the same period.

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