BUZZ
Donor Leon Black allegedly had Epstein pay off a ‘dozen women,’ ‘some of whom he’d had sexual relationships with.’ But Black’s lawyer says there’s ‘no truth to any of the allegations.’
Dartmouth College student leaders renewed calls Wednesday to remove donor Leon Black’s name from a campus arts building due to his connections to the late Jeffrey Epstein, a sex offender who was accused of trafficking underage girls.
The message came from the Student Government and the Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault to the Board of Trustees and college leadership regarding the Black Family Visual Arts Center, The Dartmouth reports.
“Naming a building after someone is one of the highest honors Dartmouth can bestow, and as such, the names proudly displayed on our campus buildings are a direct reflection of our institutional values,” the two student groups wrote Wednesday.
“We recognize that making a change of this scale is difficult; it is crucial that substantial evidence be presented to warrant the removal of the Black family name. However, we believe that evidence is abundant,” they wrote.
An alumnus, Black donated tens of millions of dollars to fund Dartmouth’s visual arts center through his Black Family Foundation, according to the report.
Epstein served as director of the foundation for several years, although the exact length of his involvement is disputed. According to The Dartmouth:
Epstein was listed in public records as the director of the Black Family Foundation until 2012, though the Black family contends that he resigned in July 2007 and Epstein’s name “mistakenly appeared on Foundation 990 Forms,” DSG and SPCSA wrote. The Black Family Foundation donated $48 million to fund BVAC’s construction in 2012. According to a 2014 email from senior vice president of advancement Robert Lasher ’88 to Black, Black first donated $7.1 million to BVAC in 2009. Black also donated $500,000 to support renovations of the President’s House and more than $350,000 to Jewish studies programs at Dartmouth.
“Regardless of whether Epstein held an official title, files confirm that within his capacity as director and personal consultant to Black, Epstein advised and planned Black’s donations to Dartmouth,” DSG and SPCSA wrote. “Those donations are a financial scar on this institution.”
Documents from the U.S. Department of Justice also link Black to alleged sexual matters that Epstein handled, including a payment to Black’s mistress, ArtNet reports.
Allegedly, “some of Black’s payments to Epstein were linked to Black’s former mistress, Guzel Ganieva, as well as an IRS audit into $1.7 million in cash gifts to art dealer Anastasiya Siro,” according to the report.
Additionally, a March report by the New York Times that examined the DOJ records found Epstein “essentially served as a fixer” for Black by allegedly paying off “about $20 million to a dozen women, at least some of whom he’d had sexual relationships with.”
Dartmouth spokesperson Jana Barnello told The Dartmouth in a statement that Black no longer has a “financial relationship” with the college.
The school takes “seriously the allegations that have been made against Leon Black,” Barnello said, adding that it will “continue to evaluate any new information that comes to light with the seriousness it deserves.”
Meanwhile, the billionaire has denied all wrong-doing.
His lawyer Susan Estrich “cited a 2020 investigation by the firm Dechert on behalf of Black’s company, Apollo Global Management, that concluded that Black paid Epstein $170 million for estate planning and tax advice and that he had ‘no awareness of Epstein’s criminal activities’ leading to his arrest in 2019,” according to ArtNet.
“There is absolutely no truth to any of the allegations against Mr. Black,” Estrich said. “Of the three civil lawsuits filed against Mr. Black, one has been dismissed, the other withdrawn and the other is currently facing a case terminating motion for sanctions.”
Dartmouth is not the only higher education institution wrestling with leaders’ and donors’ relationships with the well-connected sex offender.
In March, a group of Harvard University students and faculty petitioned the school to remove billionaire Leslie Wexner’s name from the main Harvard Kennedy School building due to his ties to Epstein, The College Fix reported.
Earlier this year, the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine also sanctioned two of its leaders who had connections to Epstein, The Fix reported.
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