MPs Demand Independent Inquiry Into FCA's Handling of Whistleblower After British Trader's Death

British lawmakers are calling for an independent investigation into how the country's financial regulator treats whistleblowers, following the death of a former City trader who exposed undisclosed business ties between US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Simon Andriesz, who had worked as a senior employee at the international brokerage BGC Partners, died in Thailand last month. His family said he took his own life on 23 September and stressed that there was no indication of foul play.

The case has now drawn urgent attention from a cross-party group of MPs, who say the circumstances surrounding Andriesz's final months raise "deeply troubling questions" about the protections available to people who report wrongdoing in the financial sector.

At the centre of their concerns is the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK's financial watchdog, which Andriesz had approached with evidence and allegations. According to the MPs, his experience suggests whistleblowers who come forward may face inadequate support — and potentially retaliation — rather than the protection they are entitled to.

Andriesz was not a peripheral figure in the story. Earlier this year, he handed evidence to the FCA, the FBI and other authorities concerning business links between Epstein and Lutnick, who founded and ran BGC Partners before being appointed to President Donald Trump's cabinet. That material appeared to contradict Lutnick's public account of his association with Epstein, who was a convicted sex offender.

Among the disclosures was evidence that Lutnick had sought in 2013 to go into business with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, with the aim of drawing on the former prince's contacts to attract investment. In Andriesz's own words, Lutnick wanted to "buy a prince," offering a £1m loan in exchange for the arrangement. BGC has told the BBC that the proposed joint venture never went ahead.

Andriesz also submitted evidence to the FCA supporting his allegations of misconduct at BGC, including a claim that money held in a commission pool earmarked for brokers' bonuses had been "embezzled" for improper purposes. The firm has denied that allegation.

But it was the way his whistleblowing was handled that became the defining battle of his final months. Weeks before his death, Andriesz spoke at a public event organised by MPs, whistleblowers and campaigners pressing for fairer regulation. He said he felt "thoroughly let down" and described being put through "absolute hell" by the FCA, to which he had reported what he regarded as retaliation by BGC and its lawyers.

The FCA had earlier told him there was "insufficient evidence" to conclude that retaliation had occurred — a finding Andriesz believed undermined his chances of winning a claim against BGC at an employment tribunal. BGC has previously said it maintains strong policies to protect whistleblowers and denies retaliating against him.

John McDonnell, the Labour backbench MP who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services, called Andriesz's death "a profound and preventable tragedy." He argued that whistleblowers are "an essential part of the financial regulatory system" and warned that public confidence in 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 asked the FCA to fund an independent party to assess how it handles whistleblowers — a demand that amounts to an external audit of the regulator's own conduct.

In July, Andriesz told MPs and campaigners that the FCA had been fully aware of other serious allegations he had raised as far back as 2018, and he accused the regulator of failing to act. The FCA responded at the time by saying it had taken action on his allegations and pointed to a supervision order issued on the basis of his information. Andriesz, however, regarded that measure as little more than a regulatory "slap on the wrist," and said it made it harder for him to pursue a whistleblower retaliation claim against BGC at tribunal.

Later that same month, he told a meeting of the campaign group the Transparency Task Force that the FCA was not meeting its obligations to the public or to whistleblowers, and was merely paying "lip service" to the rules. In his view, the regulator "protects the institution and then exposes the whistleblower to extreme retaliation and devastation to their lives and families."

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

The appointment of an internal reviewer is unlikely to satisfy the MPs, who have explicitly called for independent oversight of the FCA's whistleblowing processes rather than a review conducted from within. The dispute now touches on a broader question: whether Britain's financial regulators can credibly police the institutions they oversee when the people who report misconduct say they end up bearing the cost.

Andriesz's evidence had already placed him at the intersection of several sensitive stories — the Epstein files, the business history of a sitting US cabinet member, and the treatment of royal contacts in financial deal-making. His death has added a further dimension, turning attention from what he uncovered to how the authorities responded when he brought it to them.

For his family, the loss is personal. For the MPs pressing for an inquiry, it is also a test of whether the UK's regulatory system can be trusted to protect those who expose wrongdoing — or whether, as Andriesz himself concluded, the system ultimately shields the institutions and leaves the whistleblower exposed.