In July 2026 a British former trader, Simon Andriesz, revealed a series of emails that potentially connect Howard Lutnick—now the United States Secretary of Commerce—to the convicted financier Jeffrey Epstein. The documents, sifted from a collection of over three‑million files released by the U.S. government, show conversations from 2018 about a startup named Adfin, in which Lutnick’s Cantor Fitzgerald and Epstein both invested.
Andriesz, who had been employed at a Wall Street brokerage, forwarded the material to members of the House Oversight Committee ahead of Lutnick’s scheduled congressional hearing in May. He presented the emails to senators and provided a brief explanation of the relationship, arguing that a public disclosure would be in the national interest.
During the hearing, Lutnick denied any prior knowledge of Epstein’s involvement, stating that he had only become aware of the investor connection in 2025. The Commerce Department noted that no evidence of wrongdoing had been found, describing the allegations as a partisan distraction from the administration’s work.
Additional evidence uncovered by Andriesz points to an earlier venture proposal involving Prince Andrew and his former wife Sarah Ferguson. The files document a plan in 2013 to loan £1 million to a firm run by the prince that would have granted Cantor Fitzgerald exclusive access to wealthy clients—a proposal that was never realised.
A photograph from the Epstein archives shows Lutnick and Epstein together on the private island of Little St James in December 2012, contradicting Lutnick’s claim of only a single, brief interaction fifteen years earlier.
After Lutnick’s appointment as commerce secretary in 2025, he sold his shares in Cantor Fitzgerald and confined the firm’s control to his sons. Despite his claims of limited contact, the released files illustrate a far more extensive network of ties to the financier and his associates.
BGC Partners, the brokerage where Andriesz worked, dismissed the allegations as “categorically false” and said investigations in several jurisdictions had produced no supporting evidence. Andriesz has received a whistleblower award of $420,000 from the U.S. regulator, but he reports that neither U.S. nor U.K. authorities have adequately addressed his concerns or protected him from retaliation.
The US Commerce Secretary and his office maintain that Lutnick has upheld legislative duties without any misconduct. The situation highlights growing scrutiny over the intersection of high‑level government appointments and private sector connections.
