MPs demand FCA probe after Epstein whistleblower Andriesz dies

MPs are demanding answers after the death of Simon Andriesz, the UK trader who laid bare links between US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and the late Jeffrey Epstein. Andriesz died last month. He had worked at BGC Partners, the firm once run by Lutnick, and later forced the American to face questions in Washington over those past dealings.

Parliamentarians now want a hard look at how the Financial Conduct Authority treated him. They say his case raises deeply troubling questions about the watchdog’s record with whistleblowers. Andriesz had gone to the FCA with his concerns. He warned that retaliation was escalating and that he and his family were in crisis. He said the authority took no effective action to protect him.

The consequences, he stated, devastated his career, health, finances and family. A regulator that depends on whistleblowers cannot abandon them after they speak up. That is the charge now hanging over the FCA. The watchdog has started its own review of how it handled his claims. MPs on the all-party parliamentary group on investment fraud and fairer financial services are not impressed. They call it marking its own homework.

John McDonnell, the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington and chair of that group, has called the death a profound and preventable tragedy. He said Simon believed he had done what society asks of responsible citizens and professionals: he spoke up when he believed he had encountered serious wrongdoing. He then spent years asking the regulator to listen and to help protect him and his family from what he believed was retaliation.

McDonnell told The Independent the group will consider its own investigation if the FCA refuses to respond positively. It is vital, he said, that a truly independent and non-conflicted organisation carries out the work needed. Viewers can see the pattern. A man brings evidence. The system stalls. The personal cost mounts. Now MPs are refusing to let the file close quietly. The pressure stays on the regulator until proper scrutiny happens, not another internal tidy-up.