Epstein Files

Marc Rowan

Associates2010s

Apollo Global Management CEO whose documented contacts with Jeffrey Epstein from 2013 to 2016 contradicted five years of company denials

Marc Rowan co-founded Apollo Global Management in 1990 alongside Leon Black and Joshua Harris, built its insurance and credit businesses into the engine of its growth, and assumed the CEO role in March 2021 after Black resigned over his payments to Jeffrey Epstein — the moment Apollo told the world that only Black had any business or personal relationship with the convicted sex trafficker.12

When the Justice Department released roughly 3.5 million pages of Epstein documents on January 30, 2026, that claim collapsed. Emails and calendar records placed Rowan at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse for breakfast meetings in September and October 2013, showed Leon Black directing Rowan to call Epstein about donor-advised funds in January 2014, documented Epstein hosting a meeting between Rowan and Edmond de Rothschild bankers, and captured Rowan forwarding internal Apollo tax receivable agreement calculations to Epstein in March 2016 — a month after Epstein's assistant had asked Rowan's office for the specifications of his private jet.345 Rowan is not accused of any sexual wrongdoing, and no documents in the release connect him to Epstein's trafficking operation.

  Professional Background

Rowan earned a BS and an MBA in finance from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in 1984 and 1985, graduating summa cum laude. He joined Drexel Burnham Lambert's mergers and acquisitions division, where he met Black and Harris, and the three launched Apollo after Drexel's 1990 collapse.6 While Black ran the firm publicly, Rowan engineered Apollo's transformation into a credit and insurance giant, most visibly through its stake in Athene Holding, the annuity platform that became Apollo's single largest asset and its gateway into the insurance market. He now chairs the Wharton Board of Advisors and in January 2026 was named by President Trump to the Board of Peace, a body tasked with overseeing the second phase of Gaza reconstruction.78

  Documented Contact with Epstein

The contacts surfaced in the January 30, 2026 DOJ release span at least three years and move from social to substantive.

On September 8, 2013, emails placed Rowan at a breakfast meeting at Epstein's 71st Street townhouse. On October 22, 2013, Rowan and Black had breakfast with Epstein together. In January 2014, Black told Rowan directly to call Epstein on the subject of donor-advised funds.3 On December 16, 2015, Black's executive assistant told Epstein that "Leon's partner, Marc Rowan, wants to meet with Jeffrey," and on January 6, 2016, Rowan again had breakfast at Epstein's home — at Rowan's own initiative, according to the email trail.4

The business dimension emerged clearly in early 2016. On January 12, 2016, Epstein's assistant Lesley Groff contacted Rowan's office to ask for "the details of Marc's plane for sale — the hours, photos, any pertinent information." A Gulfstream G450 priced at $18.9 million was presented; the aircraft was sold elsewhere.5 In February 2016, Epstein emailed Rowan to request a phone call. That same month Rowan and Epstein exchanged emails about a potential Apollo corporate tax inversion, discussed tapping Rothschild for the transaction, and Epstein wrote "i can join the call if you think appropriate."9 In March 2016, Rowan forwarded detailed internal Apollo correspondence about the valuation of a tax receivable agreement to Epstein. By September 2016, a senior Apollo executive affiliated with the firm emailed staff instructing them to copy Epstein on tax matters for his "substantive expertise."10

The Dechert report commissioned by Apollo's conflicts committee in 2021 — the same review that documented Black's $158 million in payments to Epstein — made no mention of these Rowan contacts, and Apollo's accompanying public statements said that neither Rowan nor any other Apollo executive (excluding Black) had a business or personal relationship with Epstein.2 For a fuller account of Leon Black's payments and the Dechert review, see Leon Black.

  Apollo's Response

Apollo President James Zelter told clients on February 18, 2026, three weeks after the DOJ release: "From an Apollo perspective, there's nothing new in these documents. Neither Marc Rowan nor anyone else at Apollo (excluding Leon Black) had either a business or personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein."11 Apollo maintains that Epstein's contact with Rowan and other executives was initiated through Black's existing relationship and does not constitute an independent business relationship. The firm disputes that sharing tax documents with Epstein, who had served as Black's tax adviser, implies any independent relationship with the convicted offender.

  Legal and Regulatory Fallout

The American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors, which together represent pension funds with more than $27.5 billion committed to Apollo strategies, filed a formal request with the SEC on February 17, 2026, asking the agency to investigate whether Apollo's 2021 8-K filing and the Dechert report incorporated into it constituted misleading statements to investors.12 The Pennsylvania School Employees' Retirement System paused new commitments, and Canada's CPP Investments indicated it was reviewing its exposure.10

Apollo shares opened 2026 near $135. After the DOJ release and the sequence of disclosures that followed, the stock fell more than 15 percent over three weeks, erasing approximately $12 billion in market capitalization.13 The sharpest single-day move came on February 3, when shares closed at $126.85; a further leg down to $113.73 followed the February 21 CNN investigation.

On April 29, 2026, plaintiff Perez filed a securities class action in the Southern District of New York — Perez v. Apollo Global Management, Inc., et al., No. 1:26-cv-03550 — naming Apollo, Rowan, and Black as defendants. The complaint alleges two counts under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934: securities fraud and control person liability against Rowan and Black. The class period runs from May 10, 2021 — the date Apollo filed the Dechert report with the SEC — through February 21, 2026. The complaint alleges that Rowan's forwarding of internal tax documents to Epstein, his participation in the inversion discussions, and his breakfast meetings at the townhouse directly contradict the representations made in the 2021 filing.1415

YearEventImpact
1990Rowan co-founds Apollo with Black and Harris after Drexel collapseBegins three-decade ascent in private equity and credit markets
2013September and October breakfast meetings at Epstein's 71st Street townhouse, including with BlackEstablishes direct documented contact
2014Black directs Rowan to call Epstein re: donor-advised fundsContact becomes operationally directed
2015Rowan requests meeting with Epstein through Black's assistantContact continues after Epstein's 2008 guilty plea and federal registration as sex offender
Jan 2016Rowan has breakfast at Epstein's home at Rowan's initiative; Epstein's office requests Rowan's jet specificationsContact intensifies; Epstein seeks to purchase Rowan's Gulfstream G450 for $18.9m
Feb–Mar 2016Rowan and Epstein exchange emails on Apollo corporate tax inversion; Rowan forwards internal tax receivable agreement calculations to EpsteinDocumented sharing of non-public Apollo financial data
Sep 2016Apollo executive instructs staff to copy Epstein on tax mattersEpstein embedded in Apollo tax workflow
Mar 2021Black resigns as CEO; Rowan assumes role; Dechert report filed with SEC asserting no Rowan-Epstein relationshipApollo's denial of record established
Jan 30, 2026DOJ releases roughly 3.5 million pages of Epstein documentsRowan's contacts documented across 2013–2016
Feb 17, 2026AFT and AAUP file SEC complaint over Apollo's "apparent lack of candor"Regulatory scrutiny begins
Feb 2026Apollo stock falls more than 15%, erasing ~$12 billion in market capInvestors price in disclosure risk
Apr 29, 2026Perez v. Apollo securities class action filed in SDNY naming RowanActive litigation over alleged securities fraud

  References

  Footnotes

  1. Marc Rowan Named Apollo CEO, Reuters ↩

  2. Dechert Report on Black-Epstein Payments, SEC ↩ ↩2

  3. Apollo Said Rowan's Contact Was Limited. DOJ Emails Show Repeated Meetings, Epstein File Ranker ↩ ↩2

  4. Pro-Trump Billionaire on Gaza Board of Peace Linked to Epstein, Haaretz ↩ ↩2

  5. Jeffrey Epstein Inquired About Buying Plane from Marc Rowan, Philadelphia Inquirer ↩ ↩2

  6. Marc Rowan Biography, Wikipedia ↩

  7. Marc Rowan, Wharton Board of Advisors Chair, Apollo Leadership ↩

  8. Trump Appoints Rowan to Board of Peace, The Daily Pennsylvanian ↩

  9. How Wall Street's Apollo Got Tangled Up Again in the Epstein Files, CNN Business via Yahoo Finance ↩

  10. Epstein Files Put Apollo Global Management Back Under Scrutiny, Financial World ↩ ↩2

  11. Apollo Says CEO Rowan Had No Business or Personal Relationship with Epstein, AOL/Reuters ↩

  12. AFT, AAUP Demand SEC Probe over Apollo Execs' Epstein Contacts, American Federation of Teachers ↩

  13. Apollo's Epstein Misrepresentation Claims Spark 15% Stock Drop, AInvest ↩

  14. Investors Sue Apollo, CEO Rowan Over Alleged Epstein Cover-Up, InvestmentNews ↩

  15. Apollo Global Management Faces Securities Class Action, Hagens Berman via GlobeNewswire ↩

Published on September 8, 2013

8 min read