In brief
Simon Andriesz, a former Wall Street executive who sued his former employer, found email links between Howard Lutnick, the current US commerce secretary, and paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein in the 3.5 million Epstein documents released last year. The files also expose a proposed 2013 deal to loan a million pounds to Prince Andrew Mountbatten‑Windsor’s company, binding the prince’s wealth to Cantor Fitzgerald and a future investment by Epstein in the same start‑up. Lutnick denies any wrongdoing, calling the allegations a partisan diversion, while the US Commerce Department insists the claims are unsubstantiated. The revelations have renewed scrutiny of Lutnick’s leadership and his past business ties.
In 2024 a former Wall Street managing director, Simon Andriesz, sifted through 3.5 million pages of documents released from the Jeffrey Epstein case and found an email chain from 2018 linking his former chief, Howard Lutnick, to Epstein’s investment in an advertising start‑up that would later become part of Cantor Fitzgerald. The emails reveal Epstein asked Lutnick, using his initials, “what do you think the prospects for Adfin are?” and Lutnick answered it would finally produce revenue, hinting at future profitability.
Andriesz told the BBC that he had the evidence, which he passed on to members of the House Oversight Committee ahead of Lutnick’s scheduled appearance there in May. Lutnick said, as the committee held him, he only learned this year that Epstein was an investor, and declared that he condemned Epstein’s unlawful activity. “There is no evidence of wrongdoing,” the Commerce Department added, calling the allegations a partisan distraction.
The scandal deepened when other Epstein files surfaced in 2015, uncovering a 2013 plan by Lutnick’s firm to loan £1 million to a company controlled by Prince Andrew Mountbatten‑Windsor, effectively “buying a prince.” The pact would have bound the prince to introduce wealthy clients exclusively to Cantor, a deal that did not move beyond discussion after Epstein warned his aide that the agreement would limit the prince’s client outreach.
Although Lutnick insists he never met Epstein beyond a brief encounter in Manhattan in 2003, the archive shows them together on Little St James in December 2012, a photo that conflicts with his memories. In addition, photographs of Lutnick standing beside a British turbo‑jet takeoff from London in the same photo and with Jeffrey Epstein in 2019 (the same year the financier died by suicide in jail) further blur lines between public and private association.
The case illustrates how the massive release of Epstein files can expose hidden connections between political office holders, bankers and royalty that were once masked by vague corporate titles or limited public scrutiny. For Andriesz, the fallout has been professional and personal; he claims regulators issued him a $420,000 award for whistleblowing while BGC Partners denies any retaliation or acknowledgment of his claims. The Brit’s struggle reminds lawmakers and ordinary citizens that the web of financial influence may remain hidden until a determined investigator brings it into focus.
