One of the world’s largest private equity firms, Apollo Global Management, found that its chairman and CEO, Leon Black, had paid convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein $158 million, which triggered an attempt to remove him before Black resigned on Monday, the New York Times reported. Apollo Global’s founders engaged in a brief power struggle over the weekend regarding control of the firm, the Times reported. The rift opened up after an inquiry revealed that Black had paid more than $150 million to Epstein over a 10-year period. On Monday, Black announced his plan to step down as chief executive this year. “I have advised the Apollo board that I will retire as CEO on or before my 70th birthday in July and remain as chairman,” he said in a statement. Marc Rowan, one of Black’s top lieutenants, will succeed him as CEO as part of a governance overhaul that will also eliminate weighted voting rights, Investment News reported. “For years, Rowan, 58, was seen as something of an underdog. While he was the mastermind behind some of Apollo’s most profitable wagers, including the money machine that grew into insurer Athene, he was often in the shadows,” according to the article. Rowan is also on the board of directors of Athene Holding Ltd., the Bermuda-based holding company of West Des Moines-based Athene USA.