BBC report says Epstein files link Howard Lutnick to Jeffrey Epstein startup talks

Simon Andriesz found a 2018 email chain in the publicly released Epstein files showing Howard Lutnick and Jeffrey Epstein discussing a start-up they were both involved in, and he passed the material to members of the House Oversight Committee before Lutnick’s appearance there in May 2026.

Andriesz, a British former Wall Street managing director who later lived in Cornwall, spent time digging through 3.5 million documents from the January 2026 Epstein disclosure. The Justice Department release included more than 3 million pages, more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. Epstein died in a New York jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

His own name appeared in the files because of FBI interviews tied to a dispute with his former employer, BGC Partners, part of Lutnick’s Cantor Fitzgerald group. Andriesz raised internal concerns in 2016 about accounting irregularities, was fired in 2017, and some of his allegations later led BGC to be ordered to pay a $3 million penalty by the U.S. derivatives regulator for supervision, reporting and record-keeping violations. BGC disputed his claims. The allegations were investigated in several jurisdictions without being substantiated.

While working through that material, Andriesz also found records showing one of Lutnick’s firms had planned in 2013 to go into business with Prince Andrew. The proposal included a £1 million loan and a plan to commercially exploit the former UK trade envoy’s contacts.

Lutnick was already facing renewed attention over his relationship with Epstein. Lutnick and his wife met Epstein in 2005 and had very limited interactions with him over the next 14 years. Lutnick later acknowledged spending about an hour on Epstein’s Caribbean island in 2012 with his family during a vacation, and in February 2026 he denied wrongdoing before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on commerce, justice, science and related agencies. Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said at the time that Lutnick had “totally misrepresented” the relationship to Congress, the public and Epstein’s survivors.