Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told members of Congress that he cut ties with his neighbor, pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, in 2005, in disgust when he found out Epstein was a pervert. Epstein plead guilty to having sex with a minor and became a registered sex offender three years later, in 2008. Then, when Lutnick was cornered after the Epstein fils were made public, Lutnick admitted to legislators at a Congressional hearing on February 10, 2026 that he’d had lunch on Epstein’s island while still denying he had had any sort of relationship with Epstein. “I did not have any relationship with him,” Lutnick told legislators at the hearing. “I barely had anything to do with that person.”
But documents in the Epstein files tell a different story.
In one example, multiple documents show Epstein donated $50,000 to the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) in 2017 in honor of Lutnick, which doesn’t seem like the kind of thing someone would do for a former friend who had shunned you for years because you were a pervert:
Even though Epstein became a registered sex offender in 2008, Lutnick and Epstein were still communicating with each other in 2011 and for many years afterward. They had each others’ cell phone numbers, and Epstein also had the cell phone number of Lutnick’s wife, Allison. Documents show the Lutnicks visited Epstein’s island on a 188 foot yacht in December of 2012, and that Lutnick’s wife, Allison, sent an email to Epstein asking where they should anchor the yacht when they got to his island.
A financial industry insider alleged to the FBI that Lutnick engaged in fraud, money laundering and Ponzi schemes
Just as worrisome as lying to Congress about his relationship with Epstein is a tip from a whistleblower who phoned the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center (NTOC) on 10/14/2020 alleging Lutnick had engaged in money laundering and Ponzi schemes through Boston Consulting Group (BCG Financial) and his own firm of Cantor Fitzgerald. (Lutnick was CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald).
The caller claimed to have been the employee at Cantor Fitzgerald who was “responsible for reviewing, reporting and compliance for all of North America.” The tipster claimed to have “uncovered fraud, money laundering, Ponzi schemes and regulatory breaches by Cantor Fitzgerald, and said this was why he became a whistleblower. He further said that investigation of these activities “linked Howard Lutnick to illegal activities with JP Morgan, Russian Hedge Funds and other senior executives in the financial business.” The caller claimed to have “documented proof showing money laundering and Ponzi schemes by Lutnick via offshore shell companies, liquid funding and real estate brokerage firms,” and further stated, “Lutnick is deeply rooted to the royal family and has multiple high-profile celebrity connections. Lutnick claims to be a philanthropist, but is merely using his charities as a ‘smokescreen’ for his illegal activities. Many of the individual[s] involved in Lutnick’s charities have criminal breaches against them.” The FBI employee who took the call wrote that the caller “believes he has supporting documents which would link Lutnick to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.” [EFTA01249210.pdf].
The FBI followed up with a more in-depth interview of the whistleblower on 2/16/21 in which he contributed more detail:
The caller was contacted telephonically by FBI Special Agents for further information. The whistleblower said he had been in the securities business for 32 years, that he “held a Series 30 license which meant he supervised regulatory reporting and held the most senior position in his unit,” and that he “managed 50 people. ” He said the Ponzi scheme involved “[forcing] employees to pay 10% of their salary/bonus into a share scheme they never became vested in,” and that “employees were told they could sell the shares if they signed on to work at [redacted] for four more years.” He added that “Employees were never given voting rights for this scheme and the share prices were dropping.” He added that Lutnick’s firm, “CANTOR FITZGERALD [was] well known for money laundering,” “CANTOR FITZGERALD had a history of crime,” and that:
“HOWARD LUTNICK ran everything and he maintained a very small circle. LUTNICK instructed all of the fraud being committed. He used philanthropy as a smokescreen for illegal activity. CANTOR FITZGERALD was not doing well pre-9/11. After the events of September 11, 2001, CANTOR FITZGERALD was doing well. CANTOR FITZGERALD couldn’t afford people’s salaries and then was able to hire people and give people opportunities.” [EFTA01249207]
While Lutnick was never personally charged with financial crimes, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Cantor Fitzgerald with breaking securities laws. Cantor Fitzgerald settled the case by paying a $6.5 million civil fine and promising not to do it again.
Howard Lutnick was confirmed as U.S. Commerce Secretary on February 18, 2025 by a vote of 51-45 in the Senate, with 4 senators not voting. Colorado Senator Michael Bennet voted “No,” as did Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper. All Republicans who voted on the nomination voted in favor of approving Lutnick’s nomination. All of the Democrats who voted voted against it.
Read the above follow up interview of the whistleblower at this link.