What Jeffrey Epstein did to earn $218 million from Leon Black 27 Jan, 2021 04:25 AM 7 minutes to read Leon Black was Jeffrey Epstein's main benefactor in his later years. Photo / Rebecca Smeyne, The New York Times New York Times By: Matthew Goldstein and Steve Eder Jeffrey Epstein specialised in aggressively pitching ways to minimise paying taxes. And not just to Leon Black, the private equity chief executive who was his main benefactor in his later years. He styled himself as a math whiz and "financial doctor" to the rich — even though he was a college dropout who had only a brief tenure at a traditional Wall Street firm. It was said his services were available only to billionaires, whose affairs he handled mostly from a tropical island hideaway.