A British former Wall Street executive, Simon Andriesz, has revealed how he uncovered evidence suggesting that US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick failed to disclose a business relationship with the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Andriesz found a 2018 email chain showing Lutnick and Epstein discussing a start-up venture, and passed the material to the US House Oversight Committee before Lutnick's appearance there in May. Lutnick has said he only learned this year that Epstein had invested in the firm, and his department maintains there was no wrongdoing, but the revelations raise fresh questions about senior Trump administration figures' undisclosed links to Epstein.

Andriesz, a former managing director at BGC Partners (part of Lutnick's Cantor Fitzgerald group), found the material while searching 3.5 million released Epstein files, having previously given evidence to the FBI during a dispute with his ex-employer over accounting irregularities that led to a $3m regulatory penalty against BGC. He also discovered plans from 2013 for a Lutnick firm to profit from Prince Andrew's contacts via a proposed £1m loan, and says the FBI never investigated his allegations against Lutnick. Lutnick, appointed commerce secretary in 2025, has previously said he met Epstein only once, 20 years ago, though the newly surfaced files appear to contradict parts of that account.