Epstein Files Contain a Big Clue About Cambodia’s Missing Masterpieces
The documents indicate that billionaire Leon Black had a significant collection of Khmer Empire artwork.
The pedestal and feet belonging to a Khmer statue in Koh Ker, Cambodia.
Photographer: Agnes Dherbeys/The New York Times/Redux
For more than a decade, investigators for the US and Cambodian governments have been trying to trace the whereabouts of ancient sculptures stolen from the Southeast Asian country. In many cases the works were taken during Cambodia’s civil war, by men associated with the communist Khmer Rouge. A significant clue just emerged from an unlikely source: the US Department of Justice’s files on Jeffrey Epstein.
Among the millions of documents recently made public by the Justice Department are inventories of artworks held by Leon Black, the former chief executive officer of Apollo Global Management Inc., who paid Epstein for estate and tax planning advice and kept him apprised of plans for his art collection. They indicate that Black, a prolific buyer of marquee pieces such as a pastel version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream, was also interested in the works of the Khmer Empire, the civilization that produced Angkor Wat and other spectacular temples in Cambodia.