--- alias: - Howard Lutnick - Howard W. Lutnick born: 1961-07-14 category: Business & Finance created: 2026-09-25 location: New York, New York relations: - fn: 1 role: president and chief executive from 1991; chairman from 1996 start: 1991 type: head_of with: '[[Cantor Fitzgerald]]' - fn: 2 role: Secretary of Commerce start: 2025-02-21 type: head_of with: '[[United States Department of Commerce]]' - fn: 2 reverse: true role: nominated as Secretary of Commerce start: 2025 type: appointed with: '[[Donald Trump]]' - end: 2014 fn: 1 role: co-investors in Adfin through separate LLCs (CVAFH I and Southern Trust Company) start: 2012-12-28 type: partner_of with: '[[Jeffrey Epstein]]' - fn: 6 role: FD-71A Guardian complaint alleging money laundering, filed under the Epstein case number start: 2020-10-14 type: subject_of with: '[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]' summary: Howard Lutnick is the Cantor Fitzgerald chairman and U.S. Secretary of Commerce who bought a house Jeffrey Epstein had sold, co-invested with him in 2012, and told the press their contact ended in 2005. tags: - Person - HowardLutnick - CantorFitzgerald - CommerceDepartment - JeffreyEpstein - TrumpAdministration - Finance updated: 2026-09-25 --- Howard Lutnick is an American financier who has led the brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald since 1991 and who became Secretary of Commerce in the second administration of [Donald Trump](/people/donald-trump/) in February 2025.[^1][^2] For more than a decade he lived next door to [Jeffrey Epstein](/people/jeffrey-epstein/) on East 71st Street in Manhattan, in a house that Epstein had sold in 1996 to an entity that resold it to Lutnick two years later. In October 2025 Lutnick said he had cut ties with Epstein in 2005; documents released by the [Justice Department](/organizations/department-of-justice/) in early 2026 showed correspondence through 2018, a family visit to [Little St. James](/places/little-st-james/) in December 2012, and a joint investment in an advertising-technology company signed four days after that visit.[^1][^3] ### Cantor Fitzgerald and the Commerce Department Lutnick became president and chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald in 1991 and chairman in 1996.[^1] The firm's venture arm, Cantor Ventures, is its venture-capital subsidiary.[^1] Trump nominated Lutnick as Secretary of Commerce after the 2024 election, and he took office in February 2025, with responsibility for trade policy, export controls, and the department's technology-standards bodies, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the [U.S. AI Safety Institute](/organizations/us-ai-safety-institute/).[^2] ### The House on East 71st Street In 1996 Epstein sold the property at 11 East 71st Street to an entity called Comet Trust. In 1998 Comet Trust sold it to Lutnick, and it became his primary residence, adjoining Epstein's own mansion on the same block.[^1] The houses stand near the Frick Collection. In 2018 Lutnick wrote to Epstein about the museum's planned expansion, warning that it might "block your sunlight and views," and pressed him: "You should put in a letter. I'm sending a lawyer. Don't ignore this."[^1] ### The 2005 Account In October 2025 Lutnick told the New York Post that he and his wife, Allison, had cut ties with Epstein in 2005 after touring Epstein's townhouse, and said, "I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again."[^1] ### The Correspondence After 2005 The released emails show Lutnick and Epstein arranging calls and planning drinks in 2011.[^1] On April 4, 2011, Epstein's assistant [Lesley Groff](/people/lesley-groff/) told him, "Howard Lutnick returned your call." On April 27 she wrote that Lutnick "will come see you at 5pm on Sunday May 1st," and Epstein's calendar for May 1, 2011 reads "5:00 Drinks w/Howard Lutnick."[^4] On November 20, 2012, Groff wrote to Lutnick: "Jeffrey Epstein understands you will be down in [St. Thomas](/places/st-thomas/) some over the holidays," passing on Epstein's telephone numbers and naming as contacts the staff of his St. Thomas office, "FTC," the [Financial Trust Company](/organizations/financial-trust-company/). Calendar alerts of December 20 and 21, 2012 read "can Howard Lutnick do lunch Sat or Sun on JE's island?" and "can Howard Lutnick do lunch on Sat. 22nd or Sun. 23rd?"[^5] In December 2012 Lutnick, his wife, and their four children planned a visit to Little St. James, and Lutnick was invited to lunch there on December 24, 2012; afterward Epstein's assistant wrote to Lutnick on Epstein's behalf, "it was nice seeing you."[^1] On December 28, 2012, four days after the lunch, Lutnick and Epstein each signed, on behalf of limited liability companies, a contract to acquire stakes in Adfin, an advertising-technology company since shut down. Epstein signed for [Southern Trust Company](/organizations/southern-trust-company/), Inc., the [U.S. Virgin Islands](/places/us-virgin-islands/) entity through which he conducted much of his business; Lutnick signed for an LLC named CVAFH I. Their signatures appear on neighboring pages, and the document lists nine shareholders.[^1] A person close to Lutnick told CBS News that "Cantor was a small minority investor in Adfin" and that Lutnick "would not have any knowledge of who the other investors were."[^1] Adfin correspondence continued into 2014, when the shareholder David Mitchell wrote to Epstein about further fundraising involving Cantor Ventures.[^1] On January 8, 2013, eleven days after the signing, Epstein had his assistant forward Lutnick a document concerning casino legislation in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein kept his island and a range of business interests. A Lutnick spokesperson said he "ignored the document sent to him."[^1] In 2017 Epstein agreed to give 50,000 dollars to a dinner honoring Lutnick organized in part by the hedge-fund manager John Paulson; Epstein wrote to Paulson, "hope pr is ok," and declined the table his donation bought, telling Paulson that Lutnick could fill the seats.[^1] ### The 2020 FBI Complaint On October 14, 2020, a caller who described himself as a former compliance employee of BGC and Cantor Fitzgerald, responsible for "reviewing, reporting, and compliance for all of North America," telephoned the [FBI](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/)'s National Threat Operations Center to report alleged money laundering by Lutnick "via BGC Financial and Cantor Fitzgerald." The FBI recorded the call on an FD-71A Guardian complaint form dated April 23, 2021, filed under a money-laundering zero file and under case 50D-NY-3027571, "EPSTEIN, JEFFREY; CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING."[^6] The caller said he had become a whistleblower after uncovering "fraud, money laundering, Ponzi schemes, and regulatory breaches," described a "global Ponzi share" scheme in which more than 3,500 BGC employees were "forced to contribute 10% of their earnings," and said Lutnick "is deeply rooted to the royal family" and used his charities as a "smokescreen." He said he believed he had documents "which could link Lutnick to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell": that [Ghislaine Maxwell](/people/ghislaine-maxwell/) and Sarah Ferguson hosted "La Dolce Vita Parties" to which Lutnick made "huge donations," and that "Epstein also sold Lutnick a house for $10 dollars through a trust fund, which was then sold for millions shortly after prior to the money going overseas." He called Lutnick's gifts to Haverford College suspicious but "cannot prove any illegal activity concerning this aspect."[^6] The recorded conveyance of 11 East 71st Street ran from Epstein to Comet Trust in 1996 and from Comet Trust to Lutnick in 1998.[^1] The FBI's own queries found that Sentinel and Guardian searches for Lutnick "revealed 26 results in the NY division case files," including a restricted closed case "concerning money laundering" and a control file "concerning a RICO violations/real estate scheme," and that a DIVS query "revealed 34 results, including three SAR's." The form notes: "Queries were not conducted on Epstein and Maxwell due to the sensitive nature of the case."[^6] No charge against Lutnick has been reported, and the Commerce Department has said he "has never been accused of wrongdoing."[^1] ### Senate and House Questioning At a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on February 10, 2026, Lutnick acknowledged the 2012 island visit, saying, "My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies," and that after first meeting Epstein as a neighbor, "Over the next 14 years, I met him two other times that I can recall."[^3] Senator Chris Van Hollen, the subcommittee's ranking member, told him that "the issue is not that you engaged in any wrongdoing in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, but that you totally misrepresented the extent of your relationship with him to the Congress, to the American people, and to the survivors of his despicable criminal and predatory acts."[^3] Senator Jeff Merkley listed eight interactions in the files after 2005, including a possible telephone call and an effort to schedule drinks, and said the planned family trip "sounds like somebody you know well enough to call up."[^3] Senator Jacky Rosen called the same day for his resignation, saying he had "clearly misled the American people."[^7] Representative Robert Garcia, ranking member of the [House Oversight Committee](/organizations/house-committee-on-oversight-and-government-reform/), said: "He said he had no interactions with Epstein after 2005, yet we now know they were in business together."[^1] The Commerce Department's statement called the reporting "nothing more than a failing attempt by the legacy media to distract from the administration's accomplishments" and said that "Secretary Lutnick had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing."[^1] In a closed-door House Oversight interview whose transcript was released in May 2026, Lutnick said he had "no recollection of anything being discussed" on the island, adding, "If you said chitchat, I'd go with that," and "'Discussed' sounds like there was like a discussion, which I don't think there was."[^8] He remained in office. [^1]: Ruetenik, Daniel, and Graham Kates. "Lutnick and Epstein were in business together, Epstein files show." *CBS News,* updated February 7, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/howard-lutnick-jeffrey-epstein-in-business-together/ [^2]: U.S. Department of Commerce, leadership biography of Howard Lutnick. https://www.commerce.gov/about/leadership/howard-lutnick [^3]: "Under fire for Epstein ties, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defends visiting his private island." *NBC News,* February 10, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/howard-lutnick-jeffrey-epstein-island-rcna258333 [^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00654552, DataSet 9, email from Lesley Groff to Jeffrey Epstein, April 4, 2011; EFTA01868626, DataSet 10, email from Lesley Groff, "Howard Lutnick Sunday 5pm," April 27, 2011; EFTA02189429, DataSet 10, calendar alarm "5:00 Drinks w/Howard Lutnick," May 1, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00654552.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01868626.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02189429.pdf [^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00401048, DataSet 9, email from Lesley Groff to Howard Lutnick, November 20, 2012; EFTA02152992, DataSet 10, calendar alert, December 20, 2012; EFTA02152944, DataSet 10, calendar alert, December 21, 2012. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00401048.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02152992.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02152944.pdf [^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01249210, DataSet 9, FBI FD-71A Guardian Complaint Form, "Alleged Money Laundering by Howard Lutnick via BGC Financial and Cantor Fitzgerald," April 23, 2021. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01249210.pdf [^7]: Office of Senator Jacky Rosen, press release calling for Lutnick's resignation, February 10, 2026. https://www.rosen.senate.gov/2026/02/10/after-secretary-of-commerce-howard-lutnick-admits-to-visiting-jeffrey-epsteins-island-in-2012-rosen-calls-for-his-resignation/ [^8]: *MS NOW,* May 2026, on the released transcript of Lutnick's House Oversight interview. https://www.ms.now/news/howard-lutnick-minimizes-epstein-island-visit-in-newly-released-testimony-transcript