UK MPs Demand Independent Inquiry Into FCA's Handling of Whistleblower After Lutnick-Epstein Trader's Death

British lawmakers are pressing for an independent investigation into how the country's financial regulator treated a whistleblower who died last month, saying his case raises serious questions about protections for those who expose wrongdoing at major financial institutions.

Simon Andriesz, a former senior employee at the international brokerage BGC Partners, died in Thailand on 23 September. His family said he took his own life and that there was no indication of foul play. His death has intensified scrutiny of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and its handling of his long-running complaints, which he said left him feeling abandoned by the system meant to protect him.

Andriesz was the source of evidence linking US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, a sex offender who died in prison in 2019. BGC Partners was founded and run by Lutnick before he joined President Donald Trump's administration. Lutnick has publicly played down his associations with Epstein, but the material Andriesz uncovered cast doubt on those statements.

Among Andriesz's findings was evidence that Lutnick had sought to "buy a prince" in his own words, offering to enter into business with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in 2013. The proposed arrangement would have drawn on the former prince's contacts to attract investors in exchange for a £1 million loan. BGC has told the BBC that the joint venture never went ahead.

Andriesz also provided the FCA with evidence supporting allegations of misconduct at Lutnick's former firm. One allegation concerned money from a commission pool earmarked for brokers' bonuses, which he said was "embezzled" for improper purposes. BGC has denied the allegation.

Earlier this year, Andriesz raised his concerns with the FCA, the FBI and other regulators, arguing that the evidence he had gathered contradicted Lutnick's public account of his ties to Epstein. He also told watchdogs that he had suffered retaliation after bringing the information forward.

Weeks before his death, Andriesz spoke at a public event organised by MPs, whistleblowers and campaigners who are calling for fairer regulation. He said he felt "thoroughly let down" and had been put through "absolute hell" by the FCA, to which he had submitted evidence of what he regarded as whistleblower retaliation by BGC and its lawyers.

The FCA had previously informed Andriesz that there was "insufficient evidence" to conclude retaliation had occurred. He believed that conclusion undermined his ability to pursue a claim against BGC at an employment tribunal. BGC has said it maintains strong policies to protect whistleblowers and has denied retaliating against him.

John McDonnell, the Labour backbench MP who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services, described Andriesz's death as a "profound and preventable tragedy". He argued that whistleblowers are "an essential part of the financial regulatory system" and warned that the integrity of that system would suffer if people did not believe they would be "treated properly, protected appropriately and listened to seriously".

The group of MPs has now called on the FCA to fund an independent evaluation of how it handles whistleblowers, saying Andriesz's death raises "deeply troubling questions" about the treatment people receive when they approach the regulator with concerns about wrongdoing and the retaliation that can follow.

In July, Andriesz told MPs and campaigners that the FCA had been fully informed about other serious allegations he had made as far back as 2018, and he accused the regulator of failing to act. The FCA told the BBC at the time that it had responded to his allegations and pointed to a supervision order it issued on the basis of his information.

Andriesz, however, regarded that order as little more than a regulatory "slap on the wrist", and said it made it harder for him to bring a whistleblower retaliation claim against BGC at tribunal. Later that month, he told a meeting of the Transparency Task Force that the FCA was not meeting its obligations to the public and to whistleblowers, and was merely "paying lip service" to the rules and regulations.

"It protects the institution and then exposes the whistleblower to extreme retaliation and devastation to their lives and families," he said at the meeting.

The FCA has said it is appointing a new non-executive director to its board, former Bank of England director Lea Paterson, to conduct a review into Andriesz's treatment and the regulator's handling of his whistleblower allegations. An FCA spokesperson said: "We are very sorry to hear of Mr Andriesz's death. Our thoughts are with his family and friends."

The case has renewed attention on the wider question of how regulators balance the interests of the institutions they supervise against the individuals who report misconduct inside them. Whistleblowers are often the only people with direct insight into practices that never appear in public filings, yet they frequently face professional isolation, legal pressure and lengthy disputes with former employers, all while regulators decide whether their evidence meets the threshold for action. For Andriesz, those pressures were compounded by a battle he believed was being fought without adequate support from the body tasked with protecting market integrity.