Howard Lutnick visited Epstein’s island despite claiming to cut ties, DOJ emails reveal

WASHINGTON, DC: Recently released emails from the Department of Justice reveal that Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island, despite previously claiming he had cut ties with the disgraced financier. The documents show correspondence indicating that Lutnick traveled to the island in December 2012 with his family and friends.

The disclosure contradicts Lutnick’s past public statements about his relationship with Epstein. The DOJ made the material public on Friday as part of a vast release that included roughly three million pages of documents, along with 180,000 images and 2,000 videos.

Emails reveals Howard Lutnick’s visit to Epstein’s island

In one exchange, Lutnick wrote to Epstein to propose meeting for dinner and noted that he would be accompanied by another couple and several children.

“Does Sunday evening for dinner sound good? I have another couple (Michael and Marcy Lehrman) with me on my boat, and each of us has 4 children—two 16’s, two 14’s, a 13, a 12, an 11, and a 7-year old,” Lutnick wrote.

Epstein, who at the time was Lutnick’s neighbor in Manhattan, responded by suggesting a meeting on his private island, writing, “come sat or sunday lunch? little St. James on the map, behind christmans cove.”

Lutnick then confirmed the plan, replying, “OK, lunch on Sunday. See you then.”

A later message in the documents, with both the sender and recipient redacted, read, “December 20, 2012 1.00 PM : can Howard Lutnick do lunch Sat or Sun on JE’s island?”

On December 24, 2012, an individual, whose name was redacted by the government, messaged Lutnick, “Good morning Howard. Jeffrey wished me to pass along the below to you: Nice seeing you. Please read #2 dot three.”

Lutnick stated last year that Epstein, who died in 2019, was the “greatest blackmailer ever” and said they ended contact around 2005. He explained that he and his wife, Allison Lutnick, chose to “never be in a room with that disgusting person ever again” after Epstein bragged about inappropriate massages in his townhouse.

The Commerce Secretary also told the New York Times on Friday, “I spent zero time with him.”

Howard Lutnick invited Jeffrey Epstein to Clinton fundraiser

Other emails from the DOJ release show that Lutnick had additional interactions with Epstein. Records indicate that Lutnick, then chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald, had a phone call with Epstein in April 2011 and met him for drinks in May 2011.

Additional documents include FBI forms from 2020 and 2021 that allege a suspicious financial relationship between the two former neighbors.

Among the newly released tranche are emails indicating that Lutnick also invited Epstein to a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in 2015. One email dated November 3, 2015, shows Epstein’s longtime assistant forwarding him a message from Lutnick inviting him to a “very =ntimate [sic] fundraising event” scheduled for November 11.

According to the document, Epstein’s assistant sent him the invitation the same day, though it remains unclear whether Epstein attended the event. Rep. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie have requested access to the unredacted Epstein files, according to a letter sent to the DOJ.

The lawmakers wrote that inconsistent redactions prevent Congress from properly assessing the Department’s handling of the Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases without access to the complete record.