For years, the United States has been known for taking a no-nonsense approach to white-collar crime, often overshadowing the more lukewarm responses seen in the UK.

The case of Sam Bankman-Fried, a crypto fraudster, exemplifies this with his rapid trial, conviction, and a 25-year prison sentence handed down in 2023.

Similarly, the infamous NatWest three, among the few Brits implicated in the Enron scandal, also faced justice on American soil.

Back in the 1980s, I covered the New York trial of Ivan Boesky, a notorious figure in insider trading, who was sentenced to a lengthy prison term for his part in that era’s financial excesses.

However, the UK is now taking the lead concerning the repercussions from the Epstein files’ release.

Prominent figures like Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have been arrested on charges of misconduct in public office, accused of providing confidential business information to Jeffrey Epstein. Both men deny any wrongdoing.

Questions: Some of America’s biggest firms and most powerful business figures have been drawn into the Epstein scandal 

Epstein’s connections to the political and business elites are extraordinarily deep. Bill and Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify before Congress on their relationship. 

Bill Gates’ previously pristine reputation, based on work erasing ill health in Africa, has been challenged. Powerful figures, including former US Treasury Secretary and Harvard bigwig Larry Summers, have stepped down.

On Wall Street, Leon Black left the powerful private finance giant Apollo after the disclosure of his web of banking connections to Epstein. 

Former Barclays boss Jes Staley lost his job at the bank and has been disciplined by the City regulator, the FCA, for reckless behaviour.

But most of his dealings with Epstein were in previous employment at JP Morgan and so far, there has been little US regulatory action over his business and personal relationship with the disgraced financier. 

Hollywood powerbroker Casey Wasserman is under fire because of an Epstein friendship and is being pressured to sell his talent agency, which represents the likes of Brad Pitt. So far, there has been no FBI swoop.

No one in the Trump Department of Justice wants to open a can of worms which could potentially lead to the highest levels of government.

But if the past is any guide, there ought to be no shortage of US agencies willing to take up the cudgels to restore confidence in the fiscal and moral cleanliness of Wall Street and American business.

Mad tech

Britain’s flagship advertising group WPP has been through torrid times. The share price plummeted 63 per cent over the last year, and the group has been expelled from the FTSE 100 as global rivals Publicis and Omnicom have gobbled up big consumer clients such as Mars and Coca-Cola.

Chief executive Cindy Rose, an emigre from Microsoft, will tomorrow seek to turn the tide of investor opinion when the firm unveils a new strategy alongside financial results.

Rose is expected to list the account captures made since her arrival in September 2025 and those on the horizon.

These include the Government, Jaguar and the US consumer healthcare concern Kenvue, a spin-off from medical technologies giant Johnson & Johnson.

Fascinating in the longer term is what Rose has to say about tech.

Yesterday WPP unveiled an alliance with Adobe. Yes, it is horrible to see great advertising houses slammed together and jobs axed.

But just as critical is the tech revolution. WPP is planning to use data and AI infrastructure to build a large marketing model trained on the behaviours of 350 partners in 75 markets.

It is a huge bet on a new approach which is what the choice of Rose was all about.

Bitter Pill

Chief economists at the Bank of England have a good record of speaking their minds. 

Andy Haldane famously warned that the inflation genie was out of the bottle when the Bank was still printing money, under the quantitative easing policy. 

Now successor Huw Pill has courageously cited Labour’s 2024 tax-raising Budget and the higher minimum wage as structural factors driving a spike in youth unemployment.

That is unlikely to endear him to the Chancellor Rachel Reeves, but shows admirable independence of thought.

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