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The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation will insure losses up to $20 billion on a rolling basis. The DFC and Treasury Department said they are closely cooperating with U.S. Central Command to implement the plan.

“We are confident that our reinsurance plan will get oil, gasoline, LNG, jet fuel, and fertilizer through the Strait of Hormuz and flowing again to the world,” DFC CEO Ben Black said in a statement.
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Insurance is not the main problem for ship owners right now, said Matt Wright, senior freight analyst at consulting firm Kpler. Tanker are not moving through the Strait because they are worried about their physical security, Wright said.

“There needs to be some confidence that Iran’s ability to continue to wage war has diminished,” Wright told CNBC.

Black had a friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. For Epstein's 50th birthday greeting album that was compiled in 2003 by Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell, Black contributed a "handwritten poem with a rhyme scheme" which included the acronym "V.F.P.C." which stood for "Vanity Fair Poster Child". This was in reference to a profile of Epstein that was being written for the magazine.[33] The poem contained the lines "Blonde, Red or Brunette, spread out geographically/With this net of fish, Jeff’s now The Old Man and The Sea". He signed the poem "Love and kisses, Leon".[33]
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In 1997, he made Epstein one of the original trustees of what is today the Debra and Leon Black Foundation.[43] In his 2020 letter to Apollo investors, Black said that Epstein provided him with "estate planning, tax and philanthropic advice" to his "family partnership and other related family entities".[44] The New York Times reported that Black had paid Epstein at least $50 million for such services from 2012 to 2017.[43] Black did not at the time confirm the $50 million sum reported by The New York Times, but did say that he paid Epstein "millions of dollars annually for his work".[45] In October 2020, Black requested that the Apollo board conduct an independent review of his relationship with Epstein, and it retained the law firm Dechert LLP to do so.[46][47][48] Black has said that he "deeply regrets" his relationship with Epstein.[49]

The review conducted by Dechert LLP was released on January 25, 2021. It showed that Black had paid Epstein around $158 million from 2012 through 2017 for financial services.[50] Using Epstein's tax avoidance strategies, Black saved at least $1.3 billion in taxes.[51] Black pledged his intention to donate $200 million to women's initiatives.[52][53] In 2023, Black paid $62.5 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands to be released from claims related to Epstein.[54] In July 2023, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee made public that it was investigating Black's tax strategies and dealings with Epstein.[55]

In July 2025, Senator Ron Wyden, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, called on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate potential tax evasion performed by Epstein for Black. Wyden accused the IRS of failing to properly audit "at least $158 million in payments that Black made to Epstein between 2012 and 2017 for complex tax-related transactions." Wyden urged the Justice Department to subpoena Epstein-related records from Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Deutsche Bank AG in regards to his financial relationship with Black.[35][46][56]

In March 2021, Guzel Ganieva claimed in a series of tweets that "I was sexually harassed and abused by [Black] for years [and ultimately] forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement under duress". Black stated that he had engaged in a consensual affair with her.[57][58] The matter has resulted in lawsuits and countersuits.[59][60] Ganieva further alleged that Black introduced her to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and tried to force her to have sex with him.[61] It was reported in 2026 that Epstein strategized with Black's attorney, Brad Karp, about Black's 2015 discussions with Ganieva that led to the non-disclosure agreement and subsequent payments to Ganieva of $100,000 per month.[62] Ganieva's lawsuit against Black was dismissed in May 2023.[63]

The law firm that represented Ganieva also represented another accuser, Cheri Pierson, who accused Black of raping her in 2002 in Jeffrey Epstein's mansion in New York City.[64] Black denied these claims.[65] Pierson discontinued her lawsuit against Black in February 2024.[66]

On July 25, 2023, a lawsuit was filed against Black, alleging that he violently raped a 16-year-old girl with autism and Down syndrome in Epstein's Manhattan townhouse in 2002.[67][68] Black's attorney called the accusations "frivolous and sanctionable".[69] In 2026, Wigdor LLP alleged that Black launched multiple strategic lawsuits against public participation against accusers and the attorneys representing them.[70]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Black#Relationship_with_Jeffrey_Epstein