Leon Black's failed rabbi father jumped to his death in 1975

Leon Black’s failed rabbi father Eli killed himself in 1975 after trying to bribe Honduras to lower the banana tax for his company United Brands

• Eli Black killed himself in February 1975 jumping from the Pan Am building 
• He was the chairman of United Brands which owned Chiquita bananas 
• Black oversaw a bribe to a Honduran minister to lower export taxes 
• Leon Black, now 72, is being investigated for his ties to Jeffrey Epstein 

Decades before his close friend and associate Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in jail, financier Leon Black grieved the loss of his father, Eli, who committed suicide to avoid a scandal of his own. 

Eli Black took his own life in February 1975, when Leon was just 24, leaping through the window of his midtown office after smashing the glass with his briefcase. 

At the time, Eli – a failed rabbi who moved to the US from Poland with his parents – was the chairman of the multi-billion dollar company United Brands. 

The company’s prized product were the Chiquita bananas it imported from Honduras. 

Eli Black (center), Leon Black’s father, was the chairman of United Brands. He led the company to huge profits with the acquisition of United Fruit and specifically the Chiquita banana brand, but became engulfed in a scandal in the 1970s

Black, 53, killed himself in February 1975. Company lawyers had disclosed how he oversaw a bribe to a Honduran economic minister to lower export taxes on the bananas 

When Black took over, the bananas promised billions for investors. But by the time of his death, a scandal was brewing. 

Hurricane Fifi had flattened the fields where the fruit grew and the tax on importing them had skyrocketed. 

To try to get around it, Black oversaw a bribe to the Honduras Economic Minister. 

When he took his own life by jumping from the window of his 44th floor Manhattan office, the company’s lawyers had disclosed it to federal investigators. 

Black, eager to support his artist mother and his sister, turned to Wall Street. 

‘After my father died, we were pretty much wiped out, financially, as a family. So I decided to give finance a try,’ he said, according to Air Mail. 

By the time he and Epstein became entangled in business, he had built a personal net worth of $10.5billion.

Now his many payments to Epstein are under scrutiny from the Senate Finance Committee, and he has been accused of raping two women in Epstein’s home. 

Eli Black took his own life in February 1975, when Leon was just 24, leaping through the window of his midtown office after smashing the glass with his briefcase

He also paid prosecutors in the US Virgin Islands $62million to avoid involvement in any future litigation involving Epstein or his estate. 

Black has denied all wrongdoing and claims his $158million payments to Epstein were legitimate.

Yet more financial ties between Leon Black and Jeffrey Epstein have been uncovered on top of the $158million he paid him for ‘tax advice’ and $62million he gave US Virgin Island prosecutors to avoid being involved in litigation against the late pedophile’s estate. 

A lengthy Air Mail investigation published this weekend also reveals that in 2015, Black donated $10million to Gratitude America, a charity run by Jeffrey Epstein with the vague mission of ‘supporting the expression of gratitude for the ideals of America.’

It was the only donation the charity had received at the time despite having existed for three years. 

In the same month, Guzel Ganieva – a Russian model who was Black’s mistress – received the first of what was supposed to be many $100,000 monthly payments to stay quiet about their relationship. 

Leon Black was 24 when his father died 

Billionaire Leon Black paid Epstein $158million for ‘tax advice’ but also gave his charity $10million in 2015. It was the only donation the charity received

It came from a mysterious ‘E trust’, whereas all of the other money she’d received from Black was from his bank account. 

In total, she was due to receive $20million from Black as part of their deal.

In exchange, she signed an NDA agreeing to never speak of their romance, which involved meet-ups at an Upper East Side apartment across the street from where Black lives with his wife, Debra, and their children.

Guzen Ganieva went public with rape claims against Black in 2021, six years after agreeing to an NDA deal that would have paid her $20million total 

Ganieva was given extravagant cash gifts, a Steinway piano and treated to expensive evenings out with Black. 

He had also agreed to help her obtain British legal status and was paying for her to go to college too. 

In 2021, after Epstein’s death and the #MeToo movement that took down Harvey Weinstein, who frequently transacted in NDAs with accusers, Ganieva went public with her rape and harassment allegations. 

She first tweeted her claims, then – after he accused her of lying – sued for defamation. 

In the lawsuit, she shared more details of their affair. 

They had ‘countless’ meals out in Manhattan where she said he showed no regard or concern for his wife becoming aware of his infidelity. 

She also described the alleged sexual abuse, though many of her specific claims were redacted. 

She called Black a ‘sadist’ whose sexual proclivities were ‘abnormal’. 

Black publicly admitting his affair with Ganieva, which he called ‘foolish’, but he denied the rape allegations.  

The case was eventually dismissed.

Ganieva’s lawsuit is one of three to have been directed towards Black by a woman who says he raped her. 

The other two, filed by Cheri Pierson in 2022 and a Jane Doe with mosaic Down syndrome who says he raped her when she was 16, are still being litigated. They both say the attacks happened at Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion. 

In 2016, a year after he gave Epstein’s charity $10million and Ganieva received the first of her $100k payments from the ‘E trust’, money was transferred back from Epstein to Black, according to Air Mail.

It was in the form of a donation from Epstein’s Gratitude America charity to Black’s Melanoma research charity in the amount of $225,000. 

Because Black was the sole donor to Epstein’s charity, he effectively donated the funds to his own organization. 

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