Simon Andriesz, the British banker who alerted Congress to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, has died by suicide at age 57.
Andriesz’s death was confirmed by Andy Agathangelou, founder of the Transparency Task Force, a financial transparency organization with which Andriesz had been involved.
The organization said Andriesz had “passed away last week.” The Banker reported that he died by suicide, although the public statement confirming his death did not give a cause.
His death comes just months after Andriesz put a spotlight on documents showing that Lutnick’s relationship with Epstein was more extensive than Lutnick had previously acknowledged.
Andriesz, a former managing director at BGC Partners, a financial firm within Lutnick’s Cantor Fitzgerald group, searched through millions of pages of released Epstein files earlier this year.
He knew executives at the company often used initials in correspondence, so instead of searching for “Lutnick,” he searched for “HWL” — Howard William Lutnick.
That search turned up a 2018 email exchange between Lutnick and Epstein concerning Adfin, a digital advertising company in which companies controlled by both men had invested. Andriesz shared the material with members of Congress ahead of Lutnick’s appearance before lawmakers.
The discovery raised questions because Lutnick had previously said he had effectively ended his relationship with Epstein after meeting him in 2005.
But the records showed that the two were still communicating years later.
Lutnick subsequently acknowledged that he and his family had visited Epstein’s private island in 2012. At a Senate hearing, he said he did not recall why they went.
The released records also show communications between Lutnick and Epstein concerning their business dealings, including Adfin. Lutnick has maintained that he did not know Epstein was an investor in the company until this year and has denied wrongdoing. The Commerce Department has likewise said there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
Andriesz had been raising concerns about Lutnick and his former employer long before his search of the Epstein files.
He told the FBI in 2020 and 2021 that Lutnick had allegedly maintained undisclosed business ties with Epstein. The FBI did not investigate those allegations, according to the Epstein files and BBC reporting.
Andriesz had also raised concerns internally about accounting irregularities at BGC. He was dismissed in 2017, while BGC denied his allegations and said his employment ended for other reasons. Some of his separate whistleblower allegations later resulted in a $3 million penalty against BGC from the U.S. derivatives regulator over supervision, reporting and record-keeping violations.
His death now brings renewed attention to the questions he had been raising.
Andriesz had described himself as a whistleblower who spent years trying to get authorities to take his allegations seriously. In July, he appeared at a Transparency Task Force event and discussed the personal and professional toll of his disclosures.
Andriesz’s death also comes about 18 months after Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers, died by suicide at 41.
Giuffre’s family confirmed her death in April 2025, describing her as a fierce advocate for survivors of sexual abuse and trafficking. Australian police said there was no evidence of foul play.
Giuffre had accused Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell of trafficking her to Prince Andrew when she was a teenager. Andrew denied the allegations and later reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre without admitting liability.
Two very different people — a financial whistleblower and one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers — have now died after becoming deeply entangled in the fallout from Epstein’s crimes.
