Newly released records from the US House of Representatives Oversight Committee show Jeffrey Epstein paid for travel by Lord Peter Mandelson on two occasions in 2003, with payments totaling more than $7,400 (£5,400). The disclosure comes as the Labour peer and former cabinet minister was sacked as the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States amid scrutiny of his relationship with the late financier.
The documents, provided by the Department of Justice and included among more than 33,000 Epstein-related records released earlier this month, show two travel payments recorded on Epstein’s account with a New York travel agent, Shoppers Travel Inc. The first payment is dated April 4, 2003, for $3,844.90 and a second payment a week later for $3,642.06. It is not clear from the receipts where the travel took place or whom the bookings concerned.
The Shoppers Travel account was reportedly used by Epstein to book commercial flights for associates and employees, and some victims have alleged they were flown on commercial flights arranged in this way. The payments for Mandelson are the first financial evidence disclosed publicly linking Epstein directly to covering Mandelson’s travel expenses.
Mandelson contributed a 10-page note to a 2003 “50th birthday book” for Epstein in which he referred to the financier as his “best pal.” Emails published previously show exchanges between Mandelson and Epstein in October 2005 in which Mandelson complained about a lack of British Airways air miles and Epstein offered to pay for a Caribbean flight. Other emails show Mandelson telling Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and writing “I think the world of you” the day before Epstein began his sentence in June 2008. Mandelson has said he does not deny the content of those emails.
A government statement accompanying Mandelson’s dismissal said the “depth and extent” of his relationship with Epstein had not been known when he was appointed ambassador last year. The BBC has contacted Mandelson for further comment.
In earlier comments to the BBC, Mandelson said he had “relied on assurances of [Epstein's] innocence that turned out later to be horrendously false.” In a letter to staff at the British embassy in Washington after his sacking, he said he “deeply regrets” the circumstances surrounding his departure and continued “to feel utterly awful about my association with Epstein 20 years ago and the plight of his victims.”
Epstein was convicted in Florida in 2008 of soliciting prostitution from a person under the age of 18. He died in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. The newly released travel receipts add to a body of documents the oversight committee has made public that investigators and victims’ advocates have said could shed light on Epstein’s network and financial arrangements with associates.
The records do not indicate whether the travel payments related to personal or official business, and they do not identify the destinations or itineraries. Officials and others are likely to press for further detail from both the UK government and US authorities as questions about Mandelson’s contacts with Epstein continue to be probed.