Art and the Epstein Files
I know that art isn’t the point of the Epstein files, and I hope every single one of the absolutely vile people mentioned in them gets exactly what they deserve. Still, they do reveal to us some interesting things about how the ultrawealthy use and leverage art.
Art Lending
We’re going to be talking a little bit about a man mentioned in the Epstein files, Leon Black. Basically what you need to know about him is that he is an American private equity investor and the former CEO of Apollo Global Management which he co-founded in 1990. He was also the chairman of the board of the Museum of Modern Art from 2018-2021. He resigned from both of these roles once his close business ties to Epstein came to light. Oh, I think it goes without saying but i’ll say it anyway, he’s a billionaire.
In documents from March 2015 that were released as part of the Epstein files early in 2026 we can see that Black secured a $484 million loan from the Bank of America backed by pieces of art from his collection (which includes works by artists such as Munch, Picasso, and Raphael). This is apparently not unusual for top banking clients (I wouldn’t know) but the loan made headlines at the time because of it’s size and the interesting collateral which included works by Picasso, Titian, Matisse, Giacometti, and more.
Art lending, as it’s now called, has become increasingly popular as a tool for wealthy collectors and for the wealth management firms competing to manage their vast fortunes. These loans are a way for collectors to pull cash from their paintings but still enjoy the works of art on their walls. They’re getting their cake and eating it too.
The global market for art loans is between about $38 billion and $45 billion today and growing at around 12% per year, it’s expected to top $50 by 2028.
Because banks know that these collectors are usually not taking out these loans because of a lack of funds, they will often give top clients very low interest rates knowing that the client has at least hundreds of millions, if not billions, in other assets in case the loan defaults. The interest rate of Black’s 2015 loan was 1.43% according to the document.
Experts in this field say that “art is the most underleveraged asset on the planet” (Frank, 2026). I know that none of this is a crime but I thought it was interesting and my thought here is why do we have to leverage everything for even more wealth? Can’t we enjoy art as art and not see it as another asset? Also, I’m worried that this will encourage more private collections and private buyers of important, beautiful pieces that really should be seen by a much wider audience. What do you think?
Works Cited
Frank, Robert. “Epstein Files Highlight How the Wealthy Borrow Against Art Collections”. CNBC. 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/24/epstein-files-wealthy-borrow-against-art-collections.html