Simon Andriesz, the former Wall Street executive who reported alleged undisclosed business ties between Jeffrey Epstein and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, was found dead in Thailand last week at the age of 57.
According to the newspaper ABC, his family stated that it was a suicide, although the official cause of death had not been released by the time of this edition's publication.
The death was publicly confirmed on Monday by his representative, John Robertson, on X, and had been previously reported by the newspaper The Banker. Andriesz worked at BGC Partners, a subsidiary of Cantor Fitzgerald, from 2012 to 2017, a global financial services company that Lutnick led for decades, with profits intended for his children.
The informant claimed to have found, while reviewing the federal records of Epstein released in 2026, a chain of emails from May 2018 in which Lutnick —identified as "HWL"— and Epstein discussed the future of Adfin Solutions, a digital advertising company in which both had investments.
According to the documents, an entity linked to Lutnick invested approximately $350,000 in Adfin in December 2012, and an entity from Cantor Fitzgerald lent an additional $2 million to that company the following year. Epstein's investment in Adfin reached nearly $875,000 in March 2017.
This contradicts the statements of the Secretary of Commerce, who has categorically denied having any financial ties with the pedophile businessman.
In May, Lutnick appeared for over four hours before the House Oversight Committee, where he answered nearly 400 questions and claimed that his interactions with Epstein were "virtually nonexistent." However, he acknowledged having visited Epstein's private island in 2012, which contradicted his previous statements of having severed all contact in 2005.
Andriesz had filed his complaints with the FBI in 2020 and 2021, and with the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) earlier this year. In July, he participated in the BBC 'File on 4 Investigates' podcast, where he acknowledged experiencing "tremendous pressure" due to his accusations, but stated that he would not be stopped: "Fighting for Justice is in my DNA."
Following the announcement of his death, the British FCA stated that it would "review how it interacted" with the informant to "draw lessons for the future" and extended its condolences to the family.
The death of Andriesz also reignites the debate about the shadow of the Epstein case over President Donald Trump himself.
In July 2025, The Wall Street Journal revealed the existence of a letter featuring a drawing of a naked woman signed "Donald" in a birthday album for Epstein's 50th birthday, dated 2003.
Trump denied his authorship and sued the newspaper for 10 billion dollars, but a federal court dismissed the lawsuit in April of this year. Emails released by Democratic lawmakers from the Oversight Committee also suggested that Trump "knew about the girls."
Robertson launched a campaign on GoFundMe for the informant's son and dismissed criticisms from those questioning its necessity, arguing that Andriesz was a wealthy man. "Simon was scammed by a lawyer, and much of the money he later received through settlements and compensations was spent on years of legal fees and the costs of his lawsuits," the representative explained.
"He was a model family man, a very dear friend, and someone who showed extraordinary courage in defending what he believed was right," Robertson wrote about Andriesz, whose death comes seven years after Epstein died in a federal prison in New York under circumstances that continue to generate controversy.
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