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Epstein Wrote a 7-Point Risk Memo About Leon Black. He Sent It to the Chairman of Paul Weiss.

Patrick Duggan
Feb 17
5 min read

title: "Epstein Wrote a 7-Point Risk Memo About Leon Black. He Sent It to the Chairman of Paul Weiss."

slug: epstein-leon-black-paul-weiss-risk-memo

date: 2026-02-17

author: Patrick Duggan

tags: [epstein-files, paul-weiss, leon-black, brad-karp, apollo, petraeus]

category: Epstein Files

featured: true

# Epstein Wrote a 7-Point Risk Memo About Leon Black. He Sent It to the Chairman of Paul Weiss.

On October 19, 2017, Jeffrey Epstein emailed Brad Karp — Chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP — a seven-point risk assessment of Leon Black's personal exposure. It reads like a crisis management playbook written by the one person who shouldn't have been writing it.

The Email: EFTA02372647

Epstein to Brad Karp, October 19, 2017, 12:04 PM:

> *"great, I'm in paris. I'd like you to review.*

> *1. we live in a world where men in power cannot be seen to be taking advantage of young (20s) women. no moral judgment, but if disclosed to the public it shows a basic disrespect that can no longer stand scrutiny. period! arguing the righteousness of this position is ludicrous.*

> *2. we have to deal with the calif situation. so far no resolution. though he has promised her, but then ignores the requests - silly*

> *3. I told him using an apollo employee ie melanie as a go between, is very silly and fraught with danger. for a chairman of a public co. ala patraeus*

> *4. His office is sloppy and amateurish, having his mistress and family partnership appear on top of one another on the cap tables is asking for trouble*

> *5. the paul weiss lawyer having to reference anastasia as a client?!*

> *6. current ana tax issues are very tricky. she continues to believe she is still in the ukraine. where no one pays tax.*

> *7. He never even tried to settle fee discussions with me. WRONG.*

> *thats when i said brad and I will need to have an intervention. :)"*

Brad Karp's response, 4:06 PM:

> *"Ugh; got it. Haven't spoken to him about any of this stuff in weeks. The three of us really need to get together."*

He added: *"Having lunch with him tomorrow."*

What This Means

Jeffrey Epstein — convicted sex offender, registered since 2008 — was running crisis management for the chairman of Apollo Global Management through the chairman of Paul Weiss. In 2017.

Break down those seven points:

**Point 1** — Epstein warns that "men in power cannot be seen to be taking advantage of young (20s) women." This is Jeffrey Epstein writing this. The man who trafficked minors is coaching a billionaire that his exposure with women in their twenties is a reputational risk. He calls the position "ludicrous" to defend.

**Point 2** — "the calif situation" — an unresolved problem in California involving a woman Black "promised" something to and then "ignores the requests."

**Point 3** — An Apollo employee named "Melanie" was being used as a go-between. Epstein explicitly compares this to **David Petraeus**, the CIA Director who resigned in 2012 after the FBI discovered he was using intermediaries to communicate with his biographer/mistress. "Ala patraeus" — like Petraeus. Don't get caught the same way.

**Point 4** — Black's "mistress and family partnership" appearing together on cap tables. Epstein calls the office "sloppy and amateurish."

**Point 5** — A Paul Weiss lawyer was forced to "reference anastasia as a client." Epstein finds this absurd. The law firm was apparently providing cover for the relationship.

**Point 6** — "Ana" has tax issues because "she continues to believe she is still in the ukraine. where no one pays tax." This identifies the woman as Ukrainian.

**Point 7** — Black never settled fee discussions with Epstein. "WRONG." Even in a crisis management email about someone else's exposure, Epstein makes sure to mention he's owed money.

Karp's "Ugh; got it" response tells you everything. This wasn't new information. This was a recurring conversation. The chairman of one of Wall Street's most powerful law firms was receiving marching orders from a convicted sex offender about how to manage a client's mistress situation.

The Petraeus Thread

Epstein's Petraeus comparison in Point 3 wasn't casual. We've documented three separate Pritzker-Petraeus-Epstein connections:

- **June 2011**: Tom Pritzker emails Epstein from Afghanistan: *"Spent time w Patraeus yesterday and he loaned me a chopper"*

- **September 2012**: Pritzker to Epstein: *"Had Patraeus over to lunch today. Interesting."* Petraeus was CIA Director.

- **August 2016**: Pritzker shares the full Aspen Strategy Group roster with Epstein — Petraeus, Albright, Jake Sullivan, Bill Burns, head of MI6, two National Security Advisors.

Epstein knew the Petraeus story intimately. He knew it because Pritzker told him about it in real time. And by 2017, he was using Petraeus as a cautionary tale to warn Leon Black — through Brad Karp — that using company employees as go-betweens is how you get caught.

Epstein Was CC'd on Apollo Internal Materials

It gets worse. Document **EFTA02450093**, September 29, 2016 — Brad Wechsler (IMAX chairman, Apollo board member) instructs staff:

> *"cc Brad Karp and Jeffrey Epstein on circulated materials, upcoming calls, etc. For Brad its to keep him abreast of activity; for Jeffrey its also get the benefit of his substantive expertise."*

A convicted sex offender was on the distribution list for Apollo internal business materials. Not informally. Formally. Someone sent a written instruction to add him to the cc line. Because of his "substantive expertise."

And in document **EFTA02348561**, October 7, 2016 — the same Brad Wechsler emails an "Update" about timelines and materials, with **Brad Karp, Jeffrey Epstein, and Leon Black** all on the cc line. Paul Weiss chairman, convicted sex offender, and Apollo chairman — one email chain.

The Dinner Table

Document **EFTA02244135** confirms Brad Karp attended dinner at Epstein's on January 31, 2018 — with "Miro" (Miroslav Lajcak, then President of the UN General Assembly) and **Michael Wolff** (whose "Fire and Fury" had just published 26 days earlier).

The chairman of Paul Weiss. The President of the UN General Assembly. The author of the most explosive Trump book of the era. All at Jeffrey Epstein's dinner table. Three weeks after Wolff's book shook Washington.

The Documents

| Document | Date | What It Shows |

|----------|------|---------------|

| EFTA02372647 | Oct 19, 2017 | Epstein's 7-point Leon Black risk memo to Brad Karp |

| EFTA02450093 | Sept 29, 2016 | "cc Jeffrey Epstein on materials... substantive expertise" |

| EFTA02348561 | Oct 7, 2016 | Karp, Epstein, and Black cc'd together on Apollo update |

| EFTA02244135 | Jan 31, 2018 | Karp dinner with Lajcak and Wolff at Epstein's |

| EFTA02236799 | Jan 29, 2018 | "brad karp will join wednesday dinner" |

| EFTA02375189 | Oct 3, 2014 | Karp to Epstein: "Ugh. I'll follow up immediately" |

All documents searchable at [epstein.dugganusa.com](https://epstein.dugganusa.com).

*Brad Karp stepped back from his role as Paul Weiss chairman on February 4, 2026 — days after the Epstein files were released. Paul Weiss represents Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and dozens of Fortune 500 companies. Those clients may want to ask what "substantive expertise" their outside counsel was sharing with Jeffrey Epstein.*

*Patrick Duggan is the founder of [DugganUSA LLC](https://www.dugganusa.com), which has indexed 329,473 Epstein documents and made them searchable at no cost to the public.*