Steven Pesner

Steven M. Pesner practiced at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld for 24 years before departing in January 2018. His practice concentrated on complex commercial litigation, bankruptcy and creditors' rights, and securities disputes, with a client base described in his firm biography as including “major PE and investment management funds.” Pesner appears in the Epstein email corpus initially as “Steve P,” a reference used by Nicholas Ribis in April 2016 before Ribis named him explicitly as “Steve Pesner” in EFTA02467282. The identification is corroborated by Epstein's own September 2016 listing of “pezner” among his active advisors (EFTA02449580) and by Pesner's email address appearing directly in the To: field of the Reasonable Cause Statement call invitation (EFTA02450447). At Friedman Kaplan, Pesner joined the same firm as Patrick Fenn, who had been his Akin Gump colleague on the 8865 advisory team.

By early 2016, Marc Rowan and Apollo were deeply exposed to litigation arising from the Caesars Entertainment Operating Company (CEOC) bankruptcy. A bankruptcy examiner had found $3.6–5.1 billion in potential claims against Apollo. Nicholas Ribis—a casino industry veteran and former CEO of Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts—was brought in as an intermediary to explore settlement. Pesner was the Akin Gump partner designated as Ribis's primary professional contact on the engagement.

The relationship between Pesner and Ribis deteriorated quickly. On March 29, 2016, Ribis met with Pesner and asked Epstein to follow up by phone (EFTA02467883). By April 5, Ribis wrote to Epstein: “The lawyer Steve Pesner seems to be slow walking me” (EFTA02467282). The situation had not improved by September 11, when Ribis issued a direct warning to Epstein: “when u speak with Steve P later don't forget that he is making much money having this continue, acts nice and respectful but is not, didn't return calls and emails for months before I was hired despite being told to, spoke to me once in 5 months (Mark met with me 5 times), now does not want me around because I know too much and can settle this” (EFTA02450801). Ribis added that Pesner had made a negative comment about Epstein when he learned that Epstein had recommended Ribis for the engagement. The following day, Ribis asked Epstein “How did ur call with Steve go?” (EFTA02451101).

According to Ribis, Pesner was a billing partner with a financial stake in prolonging the matter he was nominally hired to resolve. Pesner was also simultaneously embedded in the 8865 filing advisory team for the same Apollo founders whose litigation exposure he was assigned to manage, giving a single Akin Gump partner visibility into two of the founders' concurrent legal crises.

IRS Form 8865 is required of U.S. persons with interests in foreign partnerships. The Apollo founders held their economic interests through BRH Holdings LP, a Cayman Islands partnership, and had failed to file the required returns for multiple years—dating back to at least 2007 for Harris and Rowan and filed inaccurately for Black from 2013 to 2015. The remediation effort in 2016 required a multi-firm advisory team handling both the substantive compliance work and the preparation of a “reasonable cause statement” to present to the IRS as a basis for penalty abatement.

Pesner appears as a named team member in the direct documentary record. EFTA02450447 places Pesner on a Reasonable Cause Statement call with Brad Karp (Paul Weiss chairman) and Patrick Fenn (Akin Gump, international tax) on September 10–11, 2016. EFTA02348561 shows Brad Wechsler (Black's CFO) sending 2007–2014 historical data to Pesner with Karp, Epstein, and Black all CC'd, and a deadline for Pesner to review the materials. The full team enumeration in EFTA02668080 (Fenn's listing) names “Brad S Karp, Pesner Steven, PWC-Josh, Deloitte, Apollo, Akin-the 3 individuals.”

Epstein directed strategy, proposed filing approaches—including using the IRS delinquent international disclosures program and a “file minimum 8865 then amend later” position—and explicitly asked whether Joshua Harris could join the calls (EFTA02450447). By September 29, Epstein was berating Leon Black's office about the pace of the work and reported having spoken to “each of karp, pezner, fenn, brad, joslin, bodian multiple times” (EFTA02449580). By November, Epstein described Pesner as “difficult to finesse” in the context of documents the founders were unwilling to file (EFTA02476189). A separate email (EFTA02659977) records that Epstein “did not give in to the views of pesner, josh.s guy, okun, fenn, brad, barry”—a list of the professional advisors whose combined judgment Epstein overrode.

Jeffrey Epstein: Epstein had direct email correspondence with Pesner, appeared on calls alongside him, was CC'd on his work product, and ultimately overrode his professional advice on filing strategy. In EFTA02448418, Epstein was “happy to bounce some thoughts off” Pesner—positioning himself as a peer rather than a client on the matter. Pesner made a negative remark about Epstein when he learned Epstein had recommended Ribis for the Caesars engagement, documenting awareness of Epstein's background within the advisory team (EFTA02450801). Despite this, the working relationship continued through at least November 2016.

Nicholas Ribis: Ribis was brought in as a settlement intermediary on the Caesars engagement while Pesner was the designated Akin Gump contact. Ribis characterized the relationship as one in which Pesner failed to communicate for months, met with him only once over five months (while Rowan met with him five times), and ultimately worked against settlement efforts for billing reasons (EFTA02450801). Ribis's warning to Epstein about Pesner—specifically that Pesner “does not want me around because I know too much and can settle this”—is the most direct characterization of Pesner's role in the matter in the documentary record.

Brad Karp: Karp (Paul Weiss chairman) and Pesner (Akin Gump) were the two senior outside counsel on the 8865 advisory team, appearing together on the Reasonable Cause Statement calls and named together in multiple Epstein-addressed communications. Karp had a far more extensive relationship with Epstein that predated and extended beyond the 8865 matter; for Pesner, the 8865 work is the primary documented point of contact.

Leon Black: Black was CC'd on Pesner's data review communications, was the subject of Epstein's discussions of the Pesner relationship with Spinella (Black's executive assistant), and was the direct counterparty on the filings Pesner was advising on. Epstein managed the Pesner relationship as part of his broader management of Black's financial affairs.

Marc Rowan: Pesner's simultaneous involvement in the Caesars matter (where Rowan had direct board member liability) and the 8865 remediation (which covered BRH Holdings, the vehicle holding Rowan's Apollo economic interests) placed Pesner in possession of privileged information across both of Rowan's concurrent legal exposures in 2016.