Howard Lutnick’s Epstein Island Visit Puts Spotlight on His Past Crypto Ties

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick faced questions this week about his visit to the private island of the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, as well as the fact that stablecoin issuer Tether hasn’t been audited. At first glance, it may not seem like those two issues are related in any way. But they’re intertwined in an environment where crypto prices are plummeting, and Tether potentially poses a risk to the broader economy. Fundamentally, the question is: How much can you trust Howard Lutnick?

Previously, Lutnick has made a big show of saying that while he was Epstein’s next-door neighbor on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, he didn’t have anything to do with the sex offender after a 2005 visit to his home gave him the creeps. Lutnick said that he saw a massage table during a visit to Epstein’s home and was made uneasy by the fact that he said he got massages frequently.

“My wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again,” Lutnick told the New York Post podcast Pod Force One back in October. “So I was never in the room with him socially, for business, or even philanthropy.”

A visit in 2005 would have happened before Epstein was arrested for solicitation of a minor in 2006 and his sweetheart plea deal with federal prosecutors in 2008.

But this week, Lutnick was forced to acknowledge he did have interactions with Epstein well beyond 2005, including a visit to his Caribbean island, Little St. James, in 2012. Speaking at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Lutnick was scheduled to testify on subjects like how the Commerce Department helps build broadband networks. Instead, he fielded questions about stuff like Epstein.

“I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation,” Lutnick said about his 2012 visit to Epstein’s island. “My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies. I had another couple, they were there as well, with their children. And we had lunch on the island. That is true. For an hour. And we left with all of my children, with my nannies, with my wife.”

Lutnick’s name appears in the Epstein files more than 250 times, according to the New York Times. The files show other interactions, including a meeting for drinks in 2011 and Epstein’s desire to meet Lutnick’s nanny in 2013. The Commerce Secretary testified Tuesday that he doesn’t know if Epstein met with the nanny and didn’t know what it was about.

As the Atlantic puts it, Lutnick’s story doesn’t make any sense. You can’t claim that you had nothing to do with Epstein after 2005 and then fess up to visiting the island of the most notorious sex criminal in modern American history in 2012, only after documents come out.

How much more is there to learn about Lutnick’s relationship with Epstein, whether it’s in the redacted Epstein files or from other sources? It’s a simple matter of credibility. Which brings us to questions that Lutnick faced about cryptocurrency.

Lutnick was asked about Tether during a hearing on Tuesday, since the Commerce Secretary’s firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, holds a 5% stake in the company. Cantor Fitzgerald is also the asset manager for Tether.

“Generally speaking, I absolutely agree with you, Tether should be audited,” said Lutnick. “I don’t have anything to do with it, but I agree with you that tether should be audited.”

Lutnick has reportedly divested himself of his holdings, but his sons, Brandon and Kyle Lutnick, now run Cantor Fitzgerald. Brandon Lutnick, who’s just 27 years old, said during a conference in May 2025 that he personally checked Tether’s reserves. Your faith in the stability of Tether relies on the Lutnick family because there hasn’t been an independent audit of its books, no matter how much Howard Lutnick says he supports one.

Why does it matter what happens to Tether? Because it’s central to the crypto economy in a way that could create serious problems if it fails. Tether’s usefulness as a stablecoin is only sustained if people think it’s backed by something of value. If Tether is shown to not be backed by real assets and depegs, becoming worth significantly less than one American dollar for an extended period of time, faith in the entire system collapses. And that’s important because stablecoins are used to swap out cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether to convert them into fiat currency. They’re the dollar replacement in the system as people buy and sell crypto.

Democratic opposition has called out Howard Lutnick’s conflicts of interest and the dangers they pose to the broader economy. When Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, was opposing Lutnick’s nomination as Commerce Secretary, she specifically called out his relationship with Tether.

“You cannot serve as a booster for Tether while impartially fulfilling the Department of Commerce’s mission to ‘create the conditions for economic growth and opportunity for all communities’ as ‘economic growth has taken on increased importance for national security,’” Sen. Warren said in a statement at the time.

Crypto is teetering on the edge of the abyss these days. Bitcoin has fallen 50% since its all-time high in October, currently trading at around $65,000. And there are plenty of traders who expect it to fall even further, with some alt-coins getting hit even harder. The question is whether this collapse in price will spiral even further out of control should Tether’s reserves prove to be a mirage.

Tether says it’s backed by about $122 billion in U.S. Treasury bills, accounting for roughly 83% of its reserves. But without an audit, you just have to take the word of people like Howard Lutnick.

Lutnick is arguably under more pressure to resign than any other member of Trump’s cabinet. Semafor quoted an unnamed person “close to the White House” who acknowledged the heat, explaining that visiting Epstein’s island is “sort of the red line.” Even President Trump hadn’t been on the island, as far as anyone can tell based on the publicly available documents. Though, as Epstein’s “best friend,” Trump is certainly connected to the scandal in plenty of other ways. The president’s name appears in the new files over a million times, according to Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland.

Lutnick seemed to think it was exculpatory that he brought his family to Epstein’s island and invoked his wife in his defense on Tuesday.

“I know, and my wife knows, that I have done absolutely nothing wrong in any possible regard,” Lutnick said. “I have nothing to hide, absolutely nothing.”