Bank of America's dealings with Leon Black and Jeffrey Epstein are in the Senate's crosshairs

• A Senate committee is asking Bank of America about payments from Leon Black to Jeffrey Epstein.

• The Senate is investigating tax avoidance strategies used by the mega-rich, The New York Times reports.

• The transactions were "lawful," a spokesman for Black told BI.

A Senate committee investigating $158 million in payments that private equity investor Leon Black made to Jeffrey Epstein has brought Bank of America into the mix.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter to the bank earlier this month asking whether it had followed proper protocols in clearing the payments, The New York Times reports.

The payments were related to tax work done by Epstein for Black — the former CEO of Apollo Global Management — between 2012 and 2017, according to the Times.

The letter asked whether the payments — which included fees for Epstein's advice on a trust that helped Black save massively on taxes, according to the Times — had raised any concerns at Bank of America.

It also inquired whether any art transactions involving Epstein and Black had flagged concerns.

"The transactions the Committee reviewed were both lawful and conceived, vetted and executed by reputable law firms and tax advisors," Whit Clay, a spokesman for Black, told Business Insider in a statement. "Mr. Black has paid all taxes owed to the government and has provided detailed information on these matters to the Committee."

Bank of America declined to comment. The Senate Finance Committee did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment.

The Senate Finance Committee said in July it was looking into the $158 million that Black had paid Epstein as part of a larger investigation into tax avoidance strategies used by the uber-wealthy, according to the Times.

Earlier this month, Black told Puck that he hadn't realized he'd paid the convicted pedophile — who died in jail shortly after being arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019 — $158 million.

Black said it's because that wasn't a "material" sum in the context of his vast wealth.

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