Former BGC Group managing director Simon Andriesz, who provided U.S. investigators and Congress with information concerning Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s past contacts with Jeffrey Epstein, has died at age 57, with limited official information released about the circumstances of his death.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
LONDON — Simon Andriesz, a former British banker who spent years raising concerns about financial dealings involving BGC Group, Cantor Fitzgerald and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s past relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, has died at age 57.
Andriesz’s death was confirmed by Andy Agathangelou, founder of the Transparency Task Force, a financial-sector advocacy group that had previously hosted Andriesz at whistleblower events.
“It is with great sadness that we share the news that Simon Andriesz, a valued member of our community, passed away last week,” Agathangelou said.
The Banker, a publication owned by the Financial Times, reported Oct. 2 that Andriesz died by suicide.
No publicly available police statement, coroner’s ruling or other official finding confirming a cause of death had been released as of Monday.
Recent reporting places Andriesz in Cornwall, England, where he had been living. I found no reliable evidence supporting claims that he died in Thailand.
Andriesz previously worked as a managing director at BGC Group, the brokerage business led for years by Lutnick before Lutnick joined the Trump administration as commerce secretary.
In recent months, Andriesz had drawn attention for disclosures concerning Lutnick’s contacts with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Andriesz said he first provided information involving Lutnick, Epstein and companies associated with Lutnick to the FBI in 2020 and 2021.
In an Aug. 9 social-media post, Andriesz wrote:
“I am the British whistleblower who reported evidence concerning Howard Lutnick, his links to Jeffrey Epstein, and Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC to the FBI in 2020–21.”
“I later shared evidence with the House Oversight Committee, which subsequently questioned Lutnick behind closed doors,” Andriesz wrote. “My disclosures also contributed to regulatory action in the US and UK, including a £96m HMRC tax assessment relating to BGC’s partnership scheme. I believe the true tax exposure is substantially higher.”
“I also reported to the FBI and financial regulators matters involving Cantor Fitzgerald’s Relief Fund and BGC/Cantor’s annual 9/11 Charity Day. The personal consequences of whistleblowing, and the retaliation I say followed, have been devastating for my family and me,” he added.
Andriesz’s most prominent recent disclosure concerned emails from 2018 showing communications involving Lutnick and Epstein over a digital advertising company called Adfin.
The BBC examined those records in a July File on 4 Investigates program.
Andriesz said he found the correspondence while reviewing newly released Epstein records and searching for references associated with Lutnick.
The emails raised questions about Lutnick’s previous public statements concerning when his relationship with Epstein ended.
Lutnick had previously said he cut Epstein out of his life after a 2005 encounter.
Subsequently released records showed Lutnick and his family visited Epstein’s private island in 2012.
Lutnick later acknowledged that visit during congressional testimony.
“I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation,” Lutnick said. “My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies . . . We had lunch on the island. That is true. For an hour.”
The 2018 Adfin correspondence showed that Lutnick and Epstein were also connected through investments in the same business years later.
Andriesz provided those records to the House Oversight Committee before lawmakers questioned Lutnick behind closed doors in May.
Lutnick told the committee that, to the best of his knowledge, he had only recently learned Epstein was an investor in Adfin.
The Commerce Department has said there is no evidence Lutnick engaged in wrongdoing connected to Epstein.
Andriesz’s disclosures concerned the extent and timing of Lutnick’s contacts with Epstein, not allegations that Lutnick participated in Epstein’s sex-trafficking crimes.
Andriesz also raised separate allegations regarding BGC and Cantor Fitzgerald during years of disputes with the firms and financial regulators.
He said his whistleblowing contributed to scrutiny of a BGC partnership tax structure that resulted in a £96 million assessment by Britain’s tax authority.
Andriesz also said he provided information to authorities concerning Cantor Fitzgerald’s Relief Fund and the companies’ annual Sept. 11 Charity Day.
He repeatedly described the personal consequences of his disputes with his former employer and the regulatory system as severe.
In his August post, Andriesz said the fallout had been “devastating for my family and me.”
The Transparency Task Force had provided Andriesz a platform to discuss the experience of whistleblowers and what he viewed as failures by regulators to protect people who report misconduct.
Following his death, his friend John Robertson announced a fundraiser intended to benefit Andriesz’s son.
“Simon Andriesz was a devoted father, a much-loved friend and someone who showed extraordinary courage in standing up for what he believed was right,” Robertson wrote.
“Following Simon’s tragic death, those of us who knew and cared about him want to make sure that something positive and lasting is created for the son he leaves behind.”
Robertson said a dedicated trust was being established and that money raised would be transferred to the account once banking arrangements were completed.
“Every penny raised through this fundraiser is for Simon’s son,” he wrote. “None of the organisers will receive or personally benefit from any of the money raised.”
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie also publicly acknowledged Andriesz’s death.
“Simon Andriesz, the British banker who uncovered 2018 emails linking Howard Lutnick to Jeffrey Epstein’s Adfin investment and took them to House Oversight, has died at age 57,” Massie wrote on X, according to published reports.
Massie noted that Lutnick later acknowledged visiting Epstein’s island.
Andriesz’s death has prompted renewed attention online to his allegations and the records he provided.
At this point, however, there is no publicly established evidence linking his death to Lutnick, Epstein, BGC, Cantor Fitzgerald or his whistleblower activities.
The Banker reported the death as suicide, but other people who publicly confirmed Andriesz’s death, including Agathangelou and Massie, did not identify a cause.
Reports reviewed as of Monday did not cite a completed coroner’s finding or police determination.
That distinction is significant because the limited official information has fueled speculation surrounding the circumstances of his death.
What is confirmed is that Andriesz had spent years attempting to persuade U.S. and British authorities to investigate matters he uncovered while working in the financial industry and while reviewing the later-released Epstein records.
Those efforts eventually reached the FBI, financial regulators and the U.S. House Oversight Committee.
His disclosures also contributed to renewed scrutiny of Lutnick’s earlier descriptions of his relationship with Epstein.
Andriesz said in August that he intended to continue publishing evidence and explaining what happened during his long whistleblower effort.
“The personal consequences of whistleblowing, and the retaliation I say followed, have been devastating for my family and me,” he wrote.
Weeks later, his death was announced.
He was 57.
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