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NYT: Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) calls Leon Black's $170M payment to Epstein "hush money", "potential money laundering"

New York Times, March 23 (bolding mine): Mr. [Leon] Black paid Mr. Epstein $170 million over six years for what Mr. Black has said were tax and estate-planning services. The sum dwarfed what elite law or accounting firms would have charged for similar work, baffling both his Wall Street peers and investigators on Capitol Hill. ... Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who has been investigating Mr. Black’s financial ties to Mr. Epstein for years, accused him in a letter last week of seemingly using Mr. Epstein to hide payments to women. He also questioned whether Mr. Black had complied with tax laws. In an interview, Mr. Wyden said that he had never believed that Mr. Black paid Mr. Epstein $170 million solely for estate and tax advice. “I think this all comes down to hush money,” he said, as well as Mr. Epstein doing “the kinds of things that would keep Black ahead of the law.” Ms. Estrich [Black's lawyer Susan Estrich] said that Mr. Wyden’s claims were “outrageous and false” and were meant to serve “his own selfish political interests.” She accused him of leaking Mr. Black’s confidential financial information and of trying to distract from the fact that Mr. Wyden’s son, a hedge fund manager, sought an investment from Mr. Epstein in 2016. Mr. Wyden said his son’s presence in the Epstein documents would not change the course of his investigation. ... Mr. Wyden said in his letter that Mr. Black appeared to use Mr. Epstein “as a middleman, raising concerns of potential money laundering.” ... Mr. Black [has] played down [his and Epstein's] ties. Speaking to investors [in July 2019], he described the extent of the work that Mr. Epstein had performed for him: “From time to time, Mr. Epstein has provided professional services to my family partnership and related family entities involving tax, estate-planning and philanthropic advice.” Source (paywall) https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/business/jeffrey-epstein-leon-black.html submitted by /u/PhilosopherFar2669 [link] [comments]