Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is set to testify on Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee as it delves into matters concerning Jeffrey Epstein.
Lutnick’s voluntary testimony will occur behind closed doors, joining a lineup of influential figures who have faced scrutiny from the committee, many of whom have had personal details exposed through the extensive Epstein files, which comprise over 3 million pages of documents.
According to these records, Lutnick and Epstein were business partners as recently as 2014, with investments tied to Adfin, an advertising firm that is now defunct. Additionally, the files disclose that in 2012, Lutnick, along with his wife Allison and their children, visited Epstein’s private Caribbean retreat, Little St. James.
Among the documents is an undated photograph capturing Epstein and Lutnick, alongside other individuals, on Epstein’s island.
Prior to these disclosures, Lutnick, the ex-chairman of financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald, asserted he severed his ties with Epstein in 2005. This was three years before Epstein’s guilty plea to state prostitution charges in Florida. Despite living as neighbors in New York City, the two continued to exchange emails as recently as 2018, discussing Adfin and a proposed museum expansion near their residences — just a year before Epstein’s death in jail.
When testifying before the Senate in February, Lutnick claimed he “barely had anything to do with that person,” referring to Epstein, although he did concede to having visited the island owned by Epstein.
“We had lunch on the island, that is true, for an hour. Then we left with all of my children, with my nannies and my wife all together,” Lutnick said. “We were on family vacation. We were not apart. To suggest there was anything untoward about that in 2012, I don’t recall why we did it. But we did.”
Lutnick’s testimony comes a week after the committee announced that former Attorney General Pam Bondi has agreed to testify before the panel later this month. She was originally scheduled to appear April 14, but the Justice Department cancelled her deposition after she was ousted from her post.
Others who have appeared include the executors of Epstein’s estate, as well as former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and billionaire businessman Les Wexner.
