A U.K. regulator is demanding an urgent probe following the suicide of Simon Andriesz, the former banker who blew the whistle on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s alleged business ties to predator Jeffrey Epstein, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Andriesz died by hanging on September 23 outside Bangkok, Thailand. Now Britain’s powerful Financial Conduct Authority has launched a review of its own dealings with the late whistleblower after acknowledging that his explosive disclosures about his former employer had previously sparked regulatory action.
The new probe appears unrelated to Epstein, as Andriesz waged a relentless battle against BGC Financial, where he worked for nearly a decade. Lutnick, 65, ran the mega-successful brokerage for 29 years.
Andriesz spent years accusing BGC of serious financial misconduct, including accounting irregularities and the alleged diversion of money earmarked for brokers, while claiming top executives failed to stop the wrongdoing. BGC has fiercely denied his allegations, while Andriesz was canned from his managing director job in 2017.
The former banker had also gone to war with Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority, accusing the watchdog of letting his former employer off the hook over alleged misconduct, while claiming regulators had wrongly shut him out of crucial whistleblower protections.
An FCA spokesman shared in a statement, “We are very sorry to hear of Mr. Andriesz’s death. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. Since expressing our condolences, we have asked Lea Paterson, who has just joined our board as a non-executive director, to review how we interacted with Mr. Andriesz to learn any lessons for the future.”
A BGC spokesperson said in a statement that the firm “has long disputed Mr. Andriesz’s allegations but does not intend to relitigate these matters at this sad time. BGC is sorry to hear this tragic news and expresses our condolences to Mr. Andriesz’s family.”
Andriesz’ own loved ones praised his bravery as a whistleblower in their own statement after saying he was a “much-loved husband, father, brother, son and friend, and his loss has left an enormous hole in the lives of those who knew and loved him.”
The statement continued. “He was also a man with a very strong sense of right and wrong. When Simon believed something was wrong, he found it extraordinarily difficult simply to look the other way. That determination came at a considerable personal cost, but he continued to speak out because he genuinely believed that doing so mattered.”
“If something meaningful can come from this tragedy, particularly in the way whistleblowers and vulnerable people are treated and supported, then that would be an important part of Simon’s legacy,” the family added.
Andriesz blew the whistle to the FBI about Lutnick’s contact with Epstein around 2021, four years after he was sacked from BGC.
The former banker claimed he unearthed a bombshell 2018 email exchange showing Epstein quizzing Lutnick about the fortunes of AdFin, a digital-advertising start-up in which both men had invested.
The Trump administration cabinet member previously claimed he associated with Epstein, his next-door neighbor in New York City for 14 years, on only three brief occasions, with the last being in 2012.
Lutnick recalled a 2005 tour of the disgraced financier’s mansion that he and his wife allegedly fled after a disturbing remark, a fleeting 2011 doorstep chat about scaffolding on their neighboring properties, and a 2012 lunch with family and friends on Epstein’s infamous private Caribbean island.
The Commerce Secretary told the House Oversight committee during a closed-door deposition in May that he had no idea about Epstein’s alleged s– crimes.
“At no time during these limited interactions did I witness any conduct, let alone the type of illegal conduct of which we have since become aware,” Lutnick told lawmakers.