Key facts
- Simon Andriesz, a former managing director at BGC Partners, uncovered evidence of a business relationship between US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Jeffrey Epstein.
- Andriesz found emails from 2018 showing Lutnick and Epstein discussing their joint investment in a startup called Adfin.
- He also discovered documents detailing a 2013 plan for Lutnick's firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, to partner with Prince Andrew.
- Lutnick stated to the House Oversight Committee that he only learned this year of Epstein's co-investment in Adfin.
- Democrats on the committee accused Lutnick of lying and called for his resignation.
- The US Commerce Department maintains there is no evidence of wrongdoing by Lutnick.
A British man has detailed how he uncovered evidence suggesting US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick failed to disclose business dealings with Jeffrey Epstein. Simon Andriesz, a former managing director at Lutnick's firm BGC Partners, discovered an email chain from 2018 in which Lutnick and Epstein discussed a startup they were both invested in, Adfin.
Andriesz shared these findings, extracted from the millions of released Epstein files, with the US House Oversight Committee. Lutnick, who was appointed Commerce Secretary by President Trump in 2025, testified that he only learned this year that Epstein had been a co-investor in Adfin. However, Democrats on the committee accused him of lying and signed a letter demanding his resignation.
Further investigation by Andriesz revealed that in 2013, Lutnick's firm had planned to enter into a business arrangement with Prince Andrew, a figure known to be linked to Epstein. The plan involved a £1 million loan to a firm controlled by the prince, which would then exclusively do business with Cantor Fitzgerald. This deal ultimately did not materialize.
Andriesz, who now lives in Cornwall, has been in a long-standing dispute with his former employers. He had previously raised concerns about accounting irregularities at BGC Partners, which later led to the firm paying a $3 million penalty for supervision and record-keeping violations. BGC Partners has stated that Andriesz's allegations lack credibility and are false.
Lutnick has previously stated he met Epstein only once, 20 years prior, and found his behavior 'gross'. However, a photograph found in the Epstein files showed Lutnick on Epstein's private island, Little St James, in December 2012. The US Commerce Department has stated that the allegations against Lutnick are a 'desperate partisan distraction' and that there is 'no evidence of wrongdoing'.