Things were going pretty much as expected during Leon Black’s June 26 testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which had invited the Apollo Global Management co-founder to discuss his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. According to a newly released transcript of the closed-door hearing, Leon read his prepared statement, in which he reiterated that he had only paid Epstein for “bona fide” financial advice about his tax and estate problems—$158 million over five years—and to help him “improve the operation” of Elysium, his family office. He confirmed that he was fully aware of Epstein’s guilty plea, in June 2008, to Florida state charges “relating to prostitution involving a minor,” but that “five years after his conviction” he decided to give Epstein “a second chance.”