Melanie Spinella

Melanie Spinella#

Summary

Melanie Spinella served as executive assistant to Leon Black, co-founder and CEO of Apollo Global Management, and coordinated extensive interactions between Black and Jeffrey Epstein. The archive documents 12,754 emails involving Spinella from 1991 through 2023, with the bulk of correspondence occurring between 2012 and 2018. Her role as Black's gatekeeper made her a central figure in facilitating meetings, scheduling, and communications between Epstein and one of his most lucrative clients. Black paid Epstein at least $158 million for purported financial advice between 2012 and 2017, later revised to $170 million by Senate investigators—a financial relationship that ultimately forced Black to resign from Apollo in 2021.

Spinella's correspondence reveals her function as the administrative conduit for this relationship, coordinating dozens of in-person meetings between Black and Epstein at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse, managing travel logistics, and relaying messages between the two men and their respective staff. She also received gifts from Epstein, including an Apple Watch and spa treatments. In 2025, Spinella was named in legislation introduced by Senator Ron Wyden seeking access to Treasury Department financial records related to Epstein's operation, listed alongside Black family entities as part of an investigation into potential tax avoidance and Bank Secrecy Act violations.

Background

Melanie Spinella worked as executive assistant to Leon Black at Apollo Global Management, the private equity firm Black co-founded in 1990 that grew to manage over $785 billion in assets. Black, who previously worked at Drexel Burnham Lambert, became one of the most influential figures in alternative asset management before his resignation as CEO and chairman in 2021 following revelations about his payments to Epstein.

Spinella's role at Apollo involved managing Black's calendar, coordinating meetings, and serving as the primary administrative liaison for Black's personal financial office. The email archive shows she worked from Apollo's offices at 9 West 57th Street in New York and used email addresses associated with Apollo, including those at the apollolp.com and apollo.com domains. Public information about Spinella's career outside her work for Black is limited.

In March 2025, Senator Ron Wyden's letter to the Department of Justice and Treasury identified Spinella as one of 50 individuals and entities whose financial records should be reviewed as part of the ongoing investigation into Epstein's sex trafficking operation and potential Bank Secrecy Act violations by financial institutions that serviced Black's payments to Epstein. The Senate Finance Committee investigation, which began in June 2022, found that Bank of America failed to report suspicious transactions between Black and Epstein for seven years, only filing reports after Epstein's arrest in 2019.

Correspondence with Epstein

The archive contains 12,754 emails involving Spinella between 1991 and 2023, with Spinella sending 4,242 messages and receiving 7,968 as a primary recipient. The correspondence is heavily concentrated in the 2012-2018 period, coinciding with the years Black was paying Epstein for financial advisory services.

Spinella's primary function was coordinating meetings between Black and Epstein. The archive documents dozens of scheduling exchanges in which Lesley Groff, Epstein's assistant, would reach out to arrange meetings, and Spinella would confirm Black's availability. Typical exchanges were brief and logistical. In November 2018, Groff notified Spinella that Epstein's trip had been delayed, and he would return to New York on November 9 or 10. Spinella responded that Black and Epstein had already texted about the schedule change. In July 2017, Groff requested a meeting for Epstein and Black on July 12, and Spinella confirmed lunch at 12:30. In May 2017, Spinella offered Black's availability at 1:30 p.m. for a same-day meeting with Epstein.

The coordination was often same-day or next-day. In June 2017, Groff requested a meeting for June 14, but Spinella informed her that Black was leaving for Basel and London that evening. In August 2017, when Epstein asked if Black could meet that day, Spinella confirmed Black could do 5:30 p.m.. The pattern suggests frequent, regular contact, with meetings arranged through the assistants rather than directly between principals.

Beyond scheduling, Spinella occasionally relayed substantive information related to Black's business and personal finances. In December 2013, she forwarded to Epstein's staff a question from Black about whether to sign a GRAT (Grantor Retained Annuity Trust) document after receiving a dividend from Black Family Partners. In April 2015, Spinella was copied on emails about art transactions involving Picasso sculptures that Epstein was advising Black on through the Gagosian Gallery. In March 2015, Epstein sent Spinella a lengthy critique of Black's financial office staff, complaining that Black needed to build an entire office "from scratch" and that staff were making repeated errors.

The most revealing correspondence came in August 2016, when Epstein sent Spinella a detailed email criticizing Brad Wechsler, CEO of Black's family office, along with other staff. Epstein wrote that Black's office was "a multi billion dollar responsibility" that Black's children would inherit, and complained about "one bad document after another for over a year" from Wechsler, whom Epstein graded as "a C minus." The email discussed estate planning issues, GRAT payments, art partnerships, documentation for planes and boats, and various financial matters Epstein was overseeing for Black.

Spinella's correspondence also included Epstein copying her on communications about financial matters. In April 2014, Epstein emailed multiple people including Spinella about opening trading accounts for Black at JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs, negotiating art and boat loans, and planning an "all hands meeting" to review financial statements, tax returns, and estate planning. In March 2013, Epstein copied Spinella on an email to Wendy Dulman at Apollo requesting time to discuss matters.

The archives show Spinella receiving gifts from Epstein. In November 2018, Epstein's staff sent a mass email offering Apple Watch Series 4 devices to approximately 30 recipients, including Spinella. She initially asked if the gift was for her or for Black. Upon confirmation it was for her, she selected specifications for a 40mm gold aluminum watch with white sport band and provided her home address in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The watch was shipped through HBRK Associates Inc., which appears to be Black's entity based on the billing information. In December 2018, Groff followed up to confirm Spinella had received the watch, and Spinella apologized for not responding sooner, noting she had been in Florida and work had gotten "crazy".

Epstein also arranged spa treatments for Spinella. In July 2017, Groff instructed staff to purchase a $1,500 spa gift card at the Peninsula Hotel for Spinella's birthday on July 22, noting this was "again" suggesting a pattern of birthday gifts. In July 2016, Epstein's staff arranged to deliver two cakes to Spinella at Leon Black's office at Apollo. In July 2017, Spinella's office provided two Mariah Carey concert tickets at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas at the request of Epstein's staff.

Connections

Spinella's primary correspondent in the Epstein network was Lesley Groff, Epstein's longtime assistant, with whom she shared 2,701 emails. Their exchanges were almost entirely logistical—scheduling meetings between Black and Epstein, confirming arrival times, and coordinating gifts and deliveries.

Brad Wechsler (810 shared emails) was CEO of Black's family office and appears frequently in correspondence related to tax planning, estate matters, and art transactions that Epstein was advising on. Richard Joslin (449 emails) served as CFO of Elysium Management, Black's family office, and correspondence shows him working on financial projections, tax returns, and GRAT documentation. Ada Clapp (257 emails) and Eileen Alexanderson (650 emails) also worked on Black family financial matters and appear in emails about tax planning and trust administration.

Heather Gray (81 emails), an art lawyer at Elysium Management, communicated with Spinella about art transactions and complex LLC structures for Black's art collection. Barry J. Cohen (164 emails) worked on financial matters for Black's office. Alan S Halperin (111 emails), a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, appears in correspondence about estate planning and trust matters.

Document References

Spinella appears in 20 documents from the DOJ release, primarily consisting of emails already described in the correspondence section above. The documents confirm the administrative nature of her role: coordinating meetings between Black and Epstein, relaying travel updates, and managing communications about Black's financial affairs. One email from May 2017 captures an assistant discussing temperature preferences, mentioning working "out of JE's house" where she could ask the houseman to adjust the temperature. The documents do not place Spinella at Epstein properties or implicate her in criminal conduct; they show her functioning as Black's assistant managing his calendar and communications with Epstein's office.

Visits to Epstein Properties

The archive does not document visits by Spinella to any Epstein properties. Her correspondence was entirely administrative, coordinating Black's meetings with Epstein but not indicating her own presence at those meetings.

Manhattan townhouse: No visits documented. Spinella coordinated numerous visits by Black to Epstein's residence but correspondence does not indicate she attended these meetings.

Palm Beach residence: No visits documented in archive.

Little St. James island: No visits documented in archive.

New Mexico ranch: No visits documented in archive. One April 2013 email shows Spinella informing Epstein's staff about Black's travel schedule to Santa Fe and Van Nuys, but this related to Black's personal travel plans rather than visits to Epstein properties.

Paris apartment: No visits documented in archive.