Howard Lutnick appears in the new Epstein files.Image: keystone
02/02/2026, 3:50 p.m02/02/2026, 3:50 p.m
On Friday, the US Department of Justice released the largest collection of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s files to date. Numerous prominent people were connected to Epstein – including US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
Last year, Lutnick said in a podcast about Epstein that he had already decided in 2005 that he never wanted to be in the same room as this “disgusting person” again. But various emails now prove the opposite.
According to the newly released emails, Lutnick and Epstein arranged to meet for lunch on the Caribbean island of Little Saint James on December 23, 2012. Lutnick wrote in an email that another couple was also coming. Lutnick and his wife and the couple who are friends each have four children with them – two 16-year-olds, two 14-year-olds, a 13-year-old, a 12-year-old, an 11-year-old and a 7-year-old.
Howard Lutnick in 2005: I never want to be in the same room as Jeffrey Epstein again.
Howard Lutnick in 2012: Jeffrey, darling, let’s have dinner. There’s 8 children I want to meet you! pic.twitter.com/BYChg4nE3j
— Rogue POTUS Staff (@RoguePOTUSStaff) January 30, 2026
It also appears that an assistant recommended Howard Lutnick’s nanny to Epstein in 2013. Her CV was forwarded to Epstein in an email, with the note that he could meet her.
image: x
In 2015, Howard Lutnick invited Jeffrey Epstein to a “very intimate” fundraiser for Hillary Clinton at Cantor Fitzgerald.
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Two years later, in 2017, Jeffrey Epstein donated $50,000 to an organization honoring Lutnick.
Lutnick calls Epstein “disgusting”
In an interview about Epstein last year, Lutnick said how well he knew Epstein – because they were neighbors for ten years. When he and his wife moved in next door to Epstein, they invited him for coffee.
Epstein gave the couple a tour of his “huge” house. There was a double door in the living room – Lutnick said he assumed it was the dining room. Instead, there was a massage table in the middle of the room, surrounded by candles. Lutnick asked Epstein:
«A massage table in the middle of your house? How often do you get a massage?”
Epstein’s answer is said to have been: “Every day.” He then became “strangely close” to Lutnick and added:
“And the right kind of massage.”
Lutnick’s wife and he then decided to leave and “never be in the same room with this disgusting person again.” Since then, Lutnick has had no personal, business or charitable dealings with Epstein. “Because he’s disgusting.”
This is how Howard Lutnick talks about Epstein in the 2025 interview:
Video: watson/x
A spokesman for the US Department of Commerce said after the publication on Friday that Lutnick had only limited contact with Epstein in the presence of his wife and had never been accused of wrongdoing.
Howard Lutnick negotiated with Switzerland last year – particularly regarding Trump’s punitive tariffs. In an interview in September 2025, he also made fun of Karin Keller-Sutter and Switzerland.
(hkl, with material from sda/dpa)