Bloomberg Surveillance · Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Bill Cohen discusses his new book, 'Money to Burn: The Unvarnished Truth About Leon Black, Apollo and the Rise of a New Wall Street,' detailing his extensive interviews with Leon Black and Mark Rowan. Cohen highlights Black's complexity and how the book aims to provide his perspective, particularly regarding his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, which was investigated by an independent committee at Apollo. The book also traces the growth of Apollo, particularly its private credit business under Mark Rowan.
“But he was always sort of a very elusive figure, you know, mysterious. And I was quite surprised when I started the book and I started talking to Mark Rowan, who, of course, is the CEO now of Apollo. And I got a call out of the blue from Leon saying, you know, don't you want to talk to me? And of course, the answer is yes. Writing a book about your firm. And you're the founder of the firm. Of course, I want to talk to you. And then that started sort of a series of maybe 10 conversations, all on the record, all long, starting like at the beginning of his life and going through all the vicissitudes up and down.”
“I don't think many people really fully appreciate how complex and mysterious Leon and misunderstood he is. You know, people have definitely formed opinions about him, some of which I had done too, right? Especially after the Decker report came out detailing his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. And I even wrote a piece in Vanity Fair about how incredulous I was with the explanation that they gave for that all. Now, you know, I let him have plenty of room to share his thoughts and explain himself. And I guess I'll, you know, leave it to readers to decide, you know, what they believe.”
“But the Decker report basically exonerated him of any, you know, wrongdoing. but obviously there's still a lot of unknown about it because one of the principal antagonists in the relationship is no longer alive.”
“And Mark Rowan at Apollo through private credit, which, you know, is an important subject on Wall Street now, has really recreated what Wall Street is all about. And a bunch of their competitors have, you know, copied him or trying to emulate them.”