Josh Harris is a business tycoon, known mostly for his conflicting and lackluster ownership of 3 professional sports teams in the American Northeast. Those teams being the Washington Commanders, New Jersey Devils, and most notably the Philadelphia 76ers.
Locally Josh Harris has been disliked for his mismanagement of the Sixers, his purchase of teams outside of Philly that directly compete against our teams, his threats to move the team from the beloved and convenient South Philly stadium district, and his attempts at reducing staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, new light is being shone on Harris for his connections to Leon Black, whom he co-founded his fortune earning company Apollo Global with. Leon Black, the former chairman of the board at Harris’s Apollo Global has been revealed to be a close acquaintance of Jeffrey Epstein.
Black, whom Harris founded Apollo Global with, is being accused of sexual assault at Jeffrey Epstein’s home in the early 2000s and just a earlier this month Black narrowly avoided being deposed in a lawsuit between Bank of America and Epstein’s victims. Black was slated to take the stand on Monday March 17th, conveniently that same day Bank of America and the lawyers representing Epstein’s victims came to a settlement, allowing Black to stay quiet. Coincidentally, the day after the settlement Black sold his $47 million Beverly Hills mansion.
Harris and Black both made billions together working in lockstep in the private equity space. The two founded the company in 1990, Black’s alleged sexual assault of an autistic 16 year old took place in 2002, Epstein pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges in 2008 and served 13 months in prison, from 2012 to 2017 Black pays Epstein $158 million, Epstein is arrested again in 2019, then dies mysteriously, in 2021 the $158 million payment becomes public knowledge, Black resigns from Apollo Global, then Harris resigns and then Black sues Harris claiming that Harris was racketeering, and in 2022 the case is thrown out.
As recently as February 2026, Black’s spokespeople told the news outlet “Hyper Allergic” that in short “there is absolutely no truth to any of the allegations against Mr. Black.”
According to Hyper Allergic – “Black was also accused of sexual abuse in two other lawsuits, which have since been dismissed or withdrawn. In 2021, Guzel Ganieva accused Black of defamation and sexual abuse after Black claimed that she had extorted money from him following her initial public allegations of sexual misconduct. A judge dismissed the civil defamation case, determining that a $9.5 million payment from Black under a nondisclosure agreement precluded her from pursuing her claims in court.”
Leon Black’s name is listed in the Epstein files many times, often in emails where the sender and receiver are redacted. These files include violent descriptions of sexual assault and according to Hyper Allergic “In addition to the apparent journal, emails, and phone call notes, the Epstein files include a photograph of a cell phone screen showing a message dated October 16, 2018. ‘Leon. You sexually harassed me, sex trafficked me, raped me, and eventually blacklisted me.’”
Using the Jmail.World Database created to make the Epstein files more accessible, you can search Josh Harris’s name and see an email that reads “Josh Harris is confirmed to have breakfast with you at 7:30am on Thurs. Nov. 7th” from 2013. “Josh Harris returned your phone call” on December 9th, 2013. “Josh Harris is confirmed to come have breakfast with you on Thurs. Oct. 24th at 7:30am,” in 2013.
In 2014 Epstein received the following message from Harris’s Office: “Below from Lisa in Josh Harris’ office: Good Morning – I finally got a little clarity from Josh. He is working on the chart that Jeffrey requested [ ] so he’d prefer not to meet tomorrow as he doesn’t have the relevant materials. Once that is complete, we will be in touch to schedule a meeting. Best, Lisa Joyce I Apollo Management Executive Assistant to Joshua Harris.”
Harris’s representatives released a statement saying, “Josh Harris never had an independent relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Harris sought to prevent Epstein’s attempts to develop a corporate relationship with Apollo. As these emails indicate, Harris sought to avoid meeting with Epstein, canceling meetings and having others return his calls.” A spokesperson for Harris did not respond to the Philly Plain Dealer’s request for clarification about this statement.
These emails and attempted meetings do not indicate Harris of any wrongdoing, they are simply receipts of his correspondences with the world’s most notorious pedophile whom his business partner of 30+ years was accused of sexual assault with.
According to Front Office Sports Harris “did attend at least one breakfast meeting in 2014. Epstein asked Harris if he had fun at breakfast, to which Harris replied: ‘Yes very much. Thank you for inviting me.’ Harris also responded to a message in 2016 saying he would be ‘Happy to catch up,’ and a lawyer soon reached out to Epstein at ‘Josh’s request.’”
The picture painted by the Black-Epstein-Harris triangle is one of opacity and confusion, much like everything else in Epstein’s world. In Harris’s statement he says “Harris sought to prevent Epstein’s attempts to develop a corporate relationship with Apollo,” which implies that Harris had a reason to “prevent Epstein’s attempts.”
Harris got breakfast with Epstein after his original 2008 conviction, during the time of this 2014 breakfast Harris’s co-founder and business partner was sending Epstein millions of dollars, and for some reason Epstein clearly sought to make a relationship with Harris.
Although it is not clear or apparent that Harris committed any crimes; it is clear that Harris is either a bad judge of character or is willing to turn a blind eye to make some money.
One Sixers fan in particular has been making a lot of noise about Harris’s involvement with Epstein, local PR-strategist Brian Hart has been spending his own money to try and jumpstart a “Sell the Team” movement. Hart designed and ordered this billboard to be displayed on I-95 earlier in the season.
Hart was originally inspired to spread this message by the Sixer’s disastrous trade deadline dismissal of Jared McCain, but then after Harris’s connections to Epstein were unearthed he said “This is deep, I mean this is way bigger. You know, just sell the team thing. I mean, it was tongue in cheek at first. Now I’m passionate.”
Hart continues “Harris is a main character in the Epstein files. He’s going to continue to deny it, just like he downplayed it before this latest (statement) release. And then we found out how chummy he was with Epstein. That’s undeniable at this point. The chummy relationship. Josh Harris had directly with Josh Harris had directly with Epstein.”
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