Jeffrey Epstein was ‘particularly close’ to Peter Mandelson – shock report

Labour peer Peter Mandelson’s “particularly close relationship” with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein has been detailed in a shock report by JPMorgan Chase.

The dossier laid bare the senior political figure’s ties to the late paedophile – who was close enough to the former Labour cabinet minister to call him “Petie”.

The report also suggests that Lord Mandelson stayed at Epstein’s New York home in June 2009 – when he was still Gordon Brown’s business secretary and the financier was serving 18 months in prison for soliciting prostitution from a minor.

The internal JPMorgan Chase “Project Jeep” report from 2019, first reported on by the Financial Times, was filed to a New York court this week as part of the bank’s tentative settlement deal with some of Epstein’s victims.

It found that “Jeffrey Epstein appears to maintain a particularly close relationship with Prince Andrew the Duke of York and Lord Peter Mandelson, a senior member of the British government”.

In the emails reported by the FT, Epstein wrote to JPMorgan executive and Epstein associate Jes Staley while in prison to tell him that “Peter will be staying at 71st over weekend, do you want to organize”.

It is not clear when Mandelson was introduced to Epstein, though a 2002 New York Magazine said he had a dinner party at Epstein’s Manhattan home. A photo of Mandelson and Epstein celebrating a birthday at Epstein’s Paris home in 2007 emerged last year.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Mandelson, and his spokesman said he “very much regrets” the connection with Epstein.

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Epstein’s connection to Mandelson appears to have continued during his time back in government and after Labour lost the 2010 general election.

The disgraced financier is said to have written to Mr Staley only days after Lord Mandelson returned to the Labour government as business secretary and “first secretary of state” in 2008.

Epstein reportedly wrote to the associate, who was then his personal banker at JPMorgan: “Well for all intends [sic] and purposes peter mandelson is now deputy prime minister.”

The emails also show that in January 2010 – only months after Epstein was released from prison – he set up a meeting between Lord Mandelson and Mr Staley at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

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The emails in JPMorgan’s report also show Epstein saying “Petie” was with him in Paris on two occasions after Mandelson left office, in November 2010 and January 2011.

A spokesman for the Labour peer would not confirm or deny that he stayed at Epstein’s homes in New York and Paris.

Lord Mandelson’s said: ‘‘Lord Mandelson very much regrets ever having been introduced to Epstein. This connection has been a matter of public record for some time. He never had any kind of professional or business relationship with Epstein in any form.”

On Monday it was announced that JPMorgan Chase reached a tentative settlement with some of Epstein’s victims, following a slew of embarrassing revelations about his ties to the bank and its executives.

The agreement was “in the best interests of all parties, especially the survivors who were the victims of Epstein’s terrible abuse,” according to the joint statement.

In November, an unidentified woman filed a lawsuit against America’s largest bank on behalf of multiple victims who were sexually abused by wealthy financier Epstein over a 15-year period.

It alleged that JPMorgan ignored repeated warning signs that Epstein was sex trafficking teenagers and young women and continued to do business with him even after he was convicted of procuring an underage girl for prostitution in 2008.

JPMorgan Chase declined to comment on its internal report on Epstein.