Apollo’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein are much greater than just Leon Black.
This will get crazy👇👇👇
John J. Hannan, Apollo’s cofounder and senior partner, donated $166k to Epstein in 1999. Hannan also replaced Epstein on the Black Foundation Board in 2013.
Notably, Hannan was an executive at Drexel Burnham Lambert with Leon Black in the 1980s. This will be important later.
Marc Rowan, another Apollo co-founder that worked at Drexel in the 1980s, met with Epstein in his townhouse in 2015.
Earlier this year Rowan announced he was stepping away from day-to-day duties to make “more time for his Hamptons restaurants”
What else links Apollo & Epstein or Drexel & Epstein?
Well, one of Epstein’s defense attorneys, Gerald Lefcourt, also represented Drexel. Yet another tie between the two entities.
The 2008 article below says that Drexel’s founder Michael Milken and Epstein had close ties too.
Of course, Leon Black, who also worked at Drexel in the 1980s, paid ~$50 million to Epstein for “advice” over the years.
So fine, a lot of people at Apollo have ties to Epstein and worked at Drexel Burnham Lambert in the 1980s.
Why does this matter?
It matters because Epstein also hired his key employees from Drexel!
For example, Harry Beller, Epstein’s notary, worked at Drexel Burnham Lampert too (1985-1989) at the same time as John Hannan, Marc Rowan, and Leon Black.
A COWORKER OF BLACK, ROWAN, AND HANNAN WAS EPSTEIN’s NOTARY.
According to some people, Harry Beller “holds the key to the kingdom."
Two of the Virgin Islands subpoenas to Leon Black also ask for documents connected to Harry Beller.
Moreover, this all seems to contradict Apollo’s original 2019 argument that none of its present employees (other than Black) had ties to Epstein, according to an article from PERE news.
Obviously, this is not true.
If Harry Beller, Epstein’s longtime notary/accountant, worked closely with Black, Rowan, or Hannan this would take the story to a whole new level.
My guess is there is much more that has not been reported yet.
If you want to read more check out this thread by @quantian1
And if you have any information to share please DM me or email edwin@585research.com
His private equity firm, Vista Equity Partners, has been accused of defrauding investors and mismarking assets, and he has close ties to a man raided by the FBI in 2019.
Let’s dive into what the media is missing.
<thread>
In lawsuits, Vista has been accused of egregiously mismarking assets.
For example, in 2014 Vista invested in DealerSocket at a $387 valuation.
In June 2019 Vista marked up the investment to $499 million and just *two months* later marked the investment down 95% to $28 million.
Vista has also been accused of trying to force healthy portfolio companies to buy failing ones.
A lawsuit by an independent director of Solera Holdings (52% owned by Vista) alleged Vista tried to force the acquisition of its struggling portfolio company called Omnitracs.
Robert Smith, a co-founder of Vista Equity Partners, recently signed a non-prosecution agreement over alleged tax fraud. Two lawsuits filed by independent directors of Vista’s portfolio companies suggest much bigger problems at the private equity giant.
<thread>
In a 2019 lawsuit, an independent director at Solers Holdings (52% owned) detailed how Vista pushed the related-party acquisition of Omnitracs over Lytx.
The lawsuit also alleged that “Vista’s actions appear designed to mislead current and future investors concerning Vista’s performance” and highlighted an unnamed investment that had $50 million in EBITDA “reduced to zero” after Vista acquired it (see below).
1) Questionable large customer (~50% of revenue) 2) Multiple SEC comment letters 3) Changes in revenue recognition 4) Lots of management turnover
Let's explore (thread)
STAAR's largest customer is Shanghai Lansheng, a Chinese distributor.
Shanghai Lansheng accounts for ~50% of STAAR’s revenue, up from 15% in 2015, but STAAR almost never mentions them.
In its 10-K STAAR even misspells the name of its largest customer "LanGsheng"
The SEC also seems skeptical about STAAR and has sent the company multiple comment letters concerning a Warning Letter from the FDA, the company’s Swiss defined benefit plan, loss contingency accrual for litigation, and sales to a distributor in Syria.
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1) New accounting risk factors 2) Auditor finds material weaknesses 3) Auditor fired the day before Q1 ends 4) Audit partner had a bad history 5) CFO “retired” 6) Stock at all-time highs 🤔
Let’s explore (thread)
In its 10-K, Smartsheet added a new risk factor, saying “a significant portion of our larger transactions [occur] in the last few days and weeks of each quarter.” This is especially odd considering SMAR’s fiscal year ends January 31. (March 31)
In addition, SMAR’s auditor, PwC, noted material weaknesses and wrote, “[SMAR] did not design and maintain effective controls related to the completeness, accuracy and occurrence of order entry and pricing during the billing and revenue processes.” (March 31)