The Worst Liar on 71st Street

The RATC Project
Lutnick-Epstein property connections infographic
Howard Lutnick’s Epstein story collapsed in 250 documents and one scrubbed photo

Welcome to The RATC Project – a series where I connect the dots using the Epstein Files. I’ll list the public evidence files I used – but some notations are from my own research notes.

Three days ago, a photo of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick standing next to Jeffrey Epstein on Little St. James Island vanished from the Department of Justice website. Just – poof. Gone. File number EFTA01230639. The DOJ’s explanation? It was “part of a batch of files that were flagged for nudity.” Five men standing on a cliff in full clothing. Flagged for nudity. Sure.

The photo got restored after CBS authenticated it, and the internet noticed. Because that’s how cover-ups work in 2026 – you can’t delete something three million people already downloaded. The DOJ released nude photos of Epstein’s victims without blinking, but a picture of the Commerce Secretary on the island? Emergency removal.

Here’s the thing about Howard Lutnick. He’s not in trouble because he knew Jeffrey Epstein. Half of Manhattan’s donor class knew Jeffrey Epstein. He’s in trouble because he is spectacularly, provably, almost impressively bad at lying about it.

October 2025, Pod Force One podcast. Lutnick tells the story. He moved next door to Epstein in 2005, toured the mansion, saw the massage table, and got creeped out. His exact words: “I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.” Then the kicker: “I was never in the room with him socially, for business, or even philanthropy.”

Never. Zero. Done.

Three months later, the Epstein files drop. Lutnick’s name shows up in more than 250 documents.

So let’s talk about 11 East 71st Street. In 1988, a company called SAM Conversion Corp bought the building (Crain’s NY property records). Wexner’s company. Epstein listed as Vice President. It sat right next to 9 East 71st – the mansion that would become ground zero for a sex trafficking operation, complete with hidden cameras and a safe full of CDs labeled with girls’ names. The adjacent building at 11 East 71st was purchased as “servant’s quarters” (INV-664, EVID-Leslie_Wexner). Because of course it was.

The property did what Epstein properties do. It bounced through trusts. SAM Conversion to the 11 East 71st Street Trust. Ten dollars. Epstein as trustee. That trust to the Comet Trust. Ten dollars (transfer tax $86,800 – real value ~$6.2M). The Comet Trust trustee was Guido Goldman, whose name sits in Epstein’s black book seized by the FBI. Then in 1998, the Comet Trust sold the whole building to Howard Lutnick. Ten dollars (transfer tax $106,400 – real value ~$7.6M, plus $4M mortgage same day) (Crain’s NY, Newsweek).

Three consecutive $10 sales through Epstein-controlled entities, and the last one lands with the future Commerce Secretary. An FBI whistleblower from inside Cantor Fitzgerald later told agents that Lutnick “bought the property for $10 through a trust” and that he “bought it in a very roundabout way from EPSTEIN” (Narativ, FBI EFTA00173881-83).

Now. About that “never again” claim.

April 2011 – six years after the supposed clean break – Epstein’s assistant Lesley Groff logs a message: “Howard Lutnick returned your call” (EFTA01777659, EFTA02022972). Same month, another note: “Reminder you want to speak to Howard Lutnick today” (EFTA02360594). May 2011: “5:00 Drinks w/Howard Lutnick” appears on Epstein’s calendar (EFTA02189429). The man who was never in the room again is having cocktails.

December 2012. This is the one that did him in. Lutnick emails Epstein directly. First-name basis. Groff had reached out weeks earlier: “Jeffrey Epstein understands you will be down in St. Thomas some over the holidays” (EFTA00401048). “Hi Jeff. We are landing in St. Thomas early Saturday afternoon.” Epstein writes back: “come sat or sunday lunch? little st fames on the map, behind christmans cove.” Lutnick: “OK, lunch on Sunday. See you then.” (EFTA02152119).

He brought his wife Allison, his four kids, nannies, and another family (EFTA02151310, EFTA02151240). To Jeffrey Epstein’s island (EFTA02152992, EFTA02152944 – calendar entries: “can Howard Lutnick do lunch Sat or Sun on JE’s island?”). Seven years after he supposedly couldn’t stand to be near the guy.

The day after the visit, Epstein’s assistant sends a follow-up: “Good morning Howard. Jeffrey wished me to pass along: Nice seeing you” (EFTA02152981).

When senators confronted him with this in February, Lutnick’s story shapeshifted in real time. He went from “I was never in the room” to “I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation.” Just a casual lunch. An hour. Family vacation. “I don’t recall why we did it.”

Senator Jeff Merkley pointed out the obvious: “You were planning a trip to the private island with your family. That sounds like somebody you know well enough to call up and say, let’s get our families together.”

But it doesn’t stop at the island picnic.

November 2015 – ten years after cutting ties – Lutnick personally invites Epstein to “a very intimate fundraising event with Hillary Clinton” at Cantor Fitzgerald’s offices (EFTA02671545, EFTA00617176). $2,700 a head. You don’t invite someone you find disgusting to an intimate fundraiser at your own firm. You just don’t. That’s not how disgust works.

November 2017. Epstein donates $50,000 to a UJA Wall Street dinner honoring Lutnick. Writes to John Paulson: “50k from me, hope pr is ok” (EFTA02572416, EFTA00965116, EFTA02568209). His assistant arranged the check (EFTA02228507, EFTA02229804). Twelve years after cutting ties and a convicted sex offender is dropping fifty grand at a gala in your honor while worrying about the optics. Epstein knew what he was. He was checking if it would be a problem for Lutnick. Apparently it wasn’t.

And then there’s the money. Four days after that island lunch in December 2012, Lutnick and Epstein both signed contracts to invest in Adfin Solutions, an ad-tech company. Lutnick’s entity CVAFH I, LLC on one page, Epstein’s Southern Trust Company on the next (EFTA00376028). A $2 million unsecured convertible promissory note. Wires from Southern Trust to Adfin (EFTA02575973). Stock purchase agreements (EFTA01733938, EFTA00289722). In 2014, a shareholder explicitly identified Epstein as Adfin’s backer: “Andrew Jeffery is the principal behind AdFin’s investor Southern Trust” (EFTA02097461). The partnership ran through at least April 2018, with Epstein still discussing the investment: “ok i can wait, we have 875 in” (EFTA02465936).

The Commerce Department’s defense? As a minority investor, Lutnick “would not have any knowledge of who the other investors were.” Their signatures are on neighboring pages of the same contract.

As late as 2018, Lutnick was emailing Epstein about the Frick Collection expansion threatening to block “your sunlight and views” at 9 East 71st. “You should put in a letter. I’m sending a lawyer. Don’t ignore this” (CBS News, Newsweek; Frick-related archive: EFTA02248911). Thirteen years of never being in the room.

And then there’s the nanny. In 2013, Epstein’s lawyer obtained the resume of one of Lutnick’s nannies and tried to arrange a meeting between her and Epstein (NYT, Fortune; EFTA01363377 – Worldbase background check on Lutnick also from this period). When senators asked about this, Lutnick said he had “no idea about that whole thing.”

A convicted sex offender was trying to meet your children’s caretaker and you have no idea.

Senators Van Hollen and Merkley are now demanding answers by March 13 – including the name of which nanny went to the island.

Here is what Howard Lutnick told the United States Senate: “Of these millions and millions of documents, there may be 10 emails connecting me with him over a 14-year period. I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person.”

Phone calls, drinks, an island visit with the whole family, a Hillary Clinton fundraiser invitation, a $50,000 donation to a dinner in his honor, a joint investment that ran for six years, emails about each other’s real estate, and a convicted pedophile requesting access to his nanny.

That’s “barely anything.”

A man bought the building next to a sex trafficking headquarters through the trafficker’s own trust chain for ten dollars. He maintained contact for at least thirteen years while telling everyone it ended in 2005. The DOJ tried to scrub his photo from the island. Republicans and Democrats are both calling for his resignation. Nancy Mace wants him before the Oversight Committee. Thomas Massie – the Republican who wrote the law forcing these files out – says he should just resign and make life easier on the president.

Trump’s response? “He’s a very innocent guy.”

The worst part isn’t what Lutnick did. Plenty of powerful men maintained relationships with Epstein after his conviction because power doesn’t care about what happens to teenage girls. The worst part is how badly he lied about it, how confidently, how specifically, and how recently.

“Never.” “Zero.” “Not socially, for business, or even philanthropy.”

He said those words out loud, on a podcast, knowing 250 documents with his name were sitting in a DOJ server waiting to be released.

He’s still the Commerce Secretary. Nobody asked about the house.

Sources

News Sources

Epstein Archive Documents (EFTA)

  • EFTA01230639 – Photo of Lutnick with Epstein on Little St. James (removed then restored by DOJ)
  • EFTA02152119 – Email chain: Lutnick coordinating Sunday lunch at Little St. James, Dec 2012
  • EFTA02152981 – Post-visit follow-up: “Nice seeing you,” Dec 24, 2012
  • EFTA00401048 – Groff to Lutnick: island logistics and holiday scheduling, Nov 2012
  • EFTA02151310 / EFTA02151240 – Cantor Fitzgerald staff sharing Lutnick family contact info
  • EFTA01777659 / EFTA02022972 – “Howard Lutnick returned your call,” April 2011
  • EFTA02189429 – Calendar entry: “5:00 Drinks w/Howard Lutnick,” May 2011
  • EFTA02671545 – Clinton fundraiser invitation sent to Epstein, Nov 2015
  • EFTA00617176 – Formal Clinton reception invite hosted by Lutnick at Cantor Fitzgerald
  • EFTA02572416 – Epstein to Paulson: “50k from me, hope pr is ok,” Nov 2017
  • EFTA00376028 – Adfin Solutions: $2M promissory note, CVAFH I LLC (executed)
  • EFTA02575973 – Wire: $125,000 Southern Trust to Adfin Solutions, Oct 2013
  • EFTA02465936 – Epstein: “ok i can wait, we have 875 in,” April 2018
  • EFTA01363377 – Background check on Lutnick obtained by Epstein’s lawyer, Nov 2013
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