Donald Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick opened up on his former neighbour and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, calling him “the greatest blackmailer ever”, contradicting the Justice Department’s July findings that there is “no credible evidence” of such blackmail. Speaking to the New York Post, Lutnick alleged that Epstein used hidden recordings to ensnare his wealthy and well-connected associates. “They get a massage, that’s what his MO was. ‘Get a massage, get a massage,’ and what happened in that massage room, I assume, was on video,” Lutnick said.

Lutnick suggested that Epstein may have traded compromising videos of powerful men in return for his controversial 2008 plea deal. “This guy was the greatest blackmailer ever, blackmailed people. That’s how he had money.” Recounting his personal encounter, Lutnick said he and his wife were invited into Epstein’s notorious East 71st Street townhouse in 2005, soon after they moved in next door. Epstein personally showed off the infamous “massage room,” according to Lutnick.“I say to him, ‘Massage table in the middle of your house? How often do you have a massage?’” Lutnick recalled. “And he says, ‘Every day.’ And then he gets, like weirdly close to me, and he says, ‘And the right kind of massage.’” Lutnick said the incident left him disturbed. “We quickly excused ourselves and left Epstein’s home, and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again,” he told the Post. The commerce secretary further alleged that some of Epstein’s influential friends — including Britain’s Prince Andrew and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates — were not merely bystanders. To a question on whether these associates might have ignored Epstein’s activities, Lutnick responded bluntly: “They participated.” Epstein, a financier with ties to politicians, businessmen and royalty, was arrested in 2019 on sex trafficking charges but died later that year in a New York jail cell. His 2008 plea agreement in Florida, under which he served just 13 months in custody despite facing serious allegations, has long been the subject of criticism and suspicion.