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Trigger warning: descriptions of sexual abuse of a child

Jeffrey Epstein had very few on-the-record clients, though many of his victims claimed he never worked with anyone worth less than a billion dollars. Lucky for him, people like Howard Lutnick lived next door, Leslie Wexner owned and loaned all of his properties, and he had close friends and confidants like Leon Black.

But it was the latter who paid Epstein the most in cash, upwards of $200 million between 2012 and 2017 for “tax help” and “estate planning.” For comparison, your typical family might pay a one-time fee of anywhere from $300 to $1500 for estate planning. A wealthy family could run up to $1 million. At this rate, Epstein was paid over $30 million/year for a single client, Leon Black. In return, Black saved nearly $1.3 billion in taxes.

Jeffrey Epstein and Leon Black

But these are just the years we have on record. Epstein’s relationship with Black went back much further. In 1997, Black appointed Epstein as a trustee to the Debra and Leon Black Family Foundation, where he would serve on the executive committee. There, again, Epstein provided estate planning, as well as tax and philanthropic advice. And during the years that Epstein worked for Black, contributions from the Foundation were made to Mount Sinai Hospital, the American Ballet Theatre, Miami City Ballet, Columbia University, Harvard University, and the Spence School, where Woody Allen’s wife, Soon-Yi Previn, worked as a teacher. According to tax records, Epstein was not compensated for his work, and put in about four hours each week. He would leave his position just prior to serving his first sentence for sexual criminal acts with minors in 2007.

Leon Black Family Foundation 990-PF tax form, 2006

Epstein continued to work with Black through his company, Apollo Global Management, Inc., and tried to cultivate relationships with other members of the executive team, including Mark Rowan, though those offers were apparently declined. In an independent investigation performed by Apollo in 2020, the review did not find that “Epstein had a business relationship with Apollo-managed funds.” And yet he somehow still made nearly $200 million while in service for Black. Following the investigation, Black unexpectedly resigned from Apollo, first as CEO, and then from leadership entirely. However, he remains at 7% shareholder, worth roughly $67.7 million.

In July of 2023, three years after Epstein’s death in a Manhattan jail cell, the nature of Black’s relationship with Epstein took a dark turn, as a Jane Doe stepped forward to tell her story of abuse. Unlike the others, this Doe was the first known autistic survivor, also with “mosaic down syndrome.” And while she had a high IQ, her emotional intelligence made her appear much younger at the time of the abuse, with a developmental age closer to 12 years old.

Epstein’s Birthday Book, 2003

In court documents Doe was described as “child-like,” with fair skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair, that, according to Ghislaine Maxwell, made her look like a “living doll.” She’d been trafficked from a cheerleading camp, sent to live in a foster home near Washington D.C., and was eventually introduced to Jeffrey Epstein. Like the other girls, she would be trafficked across state lines and taken to New York City.

In particularly graphic detail, the documents reveal the abuse Doe suffered at the hands of Maxwell and Epstein, but also Epstein’s friends. One of these friends was Leon Black, a 6’4”, 300lb man that Doe thought looked like an “ogre,” and frightened her. She was right to be scared—Black would allegedly sexually abuse her in one of the most graphic depictions we have to date. His MO was biting, and he hurt her badly on multiple occasions. She still didn’t understand, her little body and mind so confused by the couple in the corner, who would coo and clap, as if speaking to a young child, saying she was a “good girl” for giving the man what he wanted.

Three years later, we found all the details in Doe’s own words, a secret coded journal complete with magazine clippings, birthday cards, and the grief and confusion of a young girl trying to escape a world she didn’t understand. The “Journal of the Unknown Survivor” appeared in the January 30th release of the Epstein Files, along with subsequent iterations that described a long list of wealthy and well-known men from the DC area—AOL execs, lawmakers, academics, filmmakers, banking execs, coaches, and Leon Black.

“My mother has lost her fucking mind. Even though Ghislaine said it was best to take me home because Mr. Black is so important for some reason over my mental health there is going to be hell to pay. I ruined their trip and I am dramatic when that fat fuck bit me! He threw me on the floor and got blood all over Jeffreys carpet and I am the issue? Who the fuck bites someone? Sick! No one is that important and Leon can go fuck himself. I HATE New York!” - The Unknown Survivor’s Journal (decoded)

Rumors swirled around the document, written so carefully in the young girl’s hand, hidden from her mother, or maybe the abusive foster parents, by a simple code. Was this the Jane Doe from the Black lawsuit? Or was this multiple Jane Does compiled into one long story of abuse and loss? But it was her, the little autistic Jane Doe who was only 16 years old, with the heart and mind of 12, describing the physical pain and anguish of birthing and losing children from the men she was trafficked to, somewhere on Billionaire’s Row in Palm Beach.

At one point she cryptically alleges abuse at the hands of the now-President, fearful even then to go into detail about the man who controlled so much in Epstein’s world.

“She once asked me how I handled the press during my divorce. She said, ‘You came out of your divorce with dignity and pride, and that’s how I would like to come out of mine.’” - Ivana Trump

“Does this lady know you can’t have any dignity if you’ve been with him? I know I have none. Only skittles.” - Journal of the Unknown Survivor (decoded)

Leon Black is set to give his voluntary deposition to the House Oversight Committee at the end of June, 2026. In the meantime, he was ordered to pay $62.5 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands for his unscrupulous financial dealings with Epstein that contributed to sex-trafficking, along with $18 million to a former lover, Russian model Guzel Ganieva, who claimed he sexually abused and harassed her during their years’-long affair. In 2022, a woman named Cheri Pierson came forward to allege that Black had abused her at Epstein’s mansion in 2002, also biting her, but would drop her lawsuit two years later. Jane Doe’s family, along with Black, have denied her allegations, saying she made the whole thing up. She now represents herself.

You can read the documents associated with this case below

Jane Doe v. Leon Black (July 2023)

Leon Black v. Guzel Ganieva (October 2021)

Cheri Pierson v. Leon Black (November 2022)

Jane Doe 1 v. Deutsch Bank Aktiengesellschaft (November 2022)

U.S.V.I. v. Epstein Estate settlement (January 2023)

You can also read the entire decoded Journal of the Unknown Survivor

Ellie is an author, editor, and independent journalist focusing on survivor justice. She lives with her family just outside of New York City.