Leon Black has stepped down as president of the Museum of Modern Art in the wake of protests over his ties to artist pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, The Post has learned.
The billionaire co-founder of private equity giant Apollo Global Management announced his decision at a virtual board meeting on Friday, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.
Sources said that in the meeting, Black told his fellow trustees that he would play the role of chairman when his three-year term ended on June 30. The billionaire financier plans to remain on the board, however, as one of Moma’s 57 trustees, these sources said.
MoMA’s executive committee, which consists of a small subset of board members, will meet on the matter on March 30, and then bring the rest of the board’s discussions to a possible vote on that day, which is the source of the situation.
The Post specifically reported on March 14 that MoMA began its regularly scheduled board meeting twice since February as a selected group of MoMA trustees spoke with Black about his future, which is the head of the museum. And whether he leaves the post. The details of Friday’s meeting were first reported by the New York Times.
Moma has come under pressure to part with Black after it emerged in January that he owed Epstein $ 158 million for tax and estate planning advice after a 2008 guilty plea to stop prostitution from a teenage girl. did.
Major artists such as Ai Weiwei and photographer Nan Goldin have asked Epstein to step down. The museum was also facing a 10-week “strike” against it, which would have taken the form of protests and other public demonstrations starting on 9 April.
Black has not been accused of any wrongdoing. But he agreed to step down as CEO of Apollo in January, criticizing the convicted sex offender for paying with his eyes.
Then earlier this week, he surprised the watchmen when he said he would relinquish the role of president of Apollo, which he vowed to keep in January, while citing health concerns as effective immediately as CEO. The plan was announced. He initially stated that he would take over the reins of the CEO at Apollo on 31 July.
Black would have served as the head of MoMa for just one term, compared to 11 years at the helm by his predecessor, real estate mogul Jerry Spear.
The board may still have to face questions, however, about keeping Black as a director, as well as its partner Glenn Dubin, a fellow MOMA trustee, in association with his wife Eva. Epstein Build personal relationships with and before. 2008 sentence.
“I think it’s a serious policeman,” a board source said. “This allows Dublin to live on” as a MOMA director.
Black and Dublin declined to comment. A MOMA spokesperson did not return calls.
A month after he was arrested for the second time in 2019, Epstein committed suicide in prison and accused him of running a sex trafficking operation involving dozens of young girls, some 14 years old.
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