UK police open criminal investigation into politician Peter Mandelson over alleged leaks to Epstein

British police launched a criminal investigation on Tuesday into former UK politician Peter Mandelson over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, focusing on potential misconduct in public office allegations.

The Metropolitan Police announced that detectives had determined the case met the threshold for a full investigation, with Commander Ella Marriott confirming they were investigating “a 72-year-old man, a former government minister, for misconduct in public office offenses.” The serious charge carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, though the investigation itself doesn’t guarantee any arrest, charges, or conviction.

In response to the investigation and mounting pressure, Mandelson announced his resignation from the House of Lords, Parliament’s upper chamber, effective Wednesday. The resignation came as the government was preparing legislation to forcibly remove him from the Lords and potentially strip him of his title—a measure not taken in more than a century.

The investigation stems from recently released documents from the U.S. Justice Department, which contain over 3 million pages of Epstein-related files. These documents have revealed troubling connections between Mandelson—once a senior Labour Party figure who served as a Cabinet minister and UK ambassador—and Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sexually abusing dozens of girls.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who fired Mandelson from his ambassadorial role in September over Epstein ties, told his Cabinet he was “appalled” by the revelations and concerned that more damaging details might still emerge. A government spokesperson confirmed officials had sent police their assessment that Mandelson had shared “likely market-sensitive information” with Epstein about the 2008 global financial crisis and its aftermath—information that should have remained confidential.

The documents revealed several concerning interactions between Mandelson and Epstein. Bank records suggest Epstein sent three payments totaling $75,000 to accounts linked to Mandelson or his partner, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, in 2003-2004. Mandelson has claimed he doesn’t remember receiving these funds and promised to investigate the authenticity of these records.

Perhaps most troubling, the files indicate Mandelson maintained his friendship with Epstein even after the financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution in Florida. In 2009, while serving as business secretary in the UK government, Mandelson appears to have shared confidential government information with Epstein, including an internal report on raising money after the financial crisis.

One particularly damaging message from May 2010 shows Mandelson informing Epstein about a “500 b euro bailout” hours before European governments publicly announced the 500 billion euro deal to support the single currency—raising serious questions about the improper sharing of market-moving information.

The Epstein connection has also revealed that in 2009, the disgraced financier sent £10,000 (approximately $13,650 in today’s rates) to Mandelson’s partner for an osteopathy course. Mandelson later acknowledged this as “a lapse in our collective judgment.”

UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting condemned Mandelson’s ongoing association with Epstein, calling it “a betrayal on so many levels”—both to Epstein’s victims and to the prime ministers Mandelson served under, including Gordon Brown and Keir Starmer.

The case represents a dramatic fall from grace for Mandelson, once considered an elder statesman of the Labour Party and key architect of its modernization under Tony Blair in the 1990s. His resignation from the House of Lords and the ongoing police investigation mark a definitive end to his political career, tarnished by his association with one of the most notorious sex offenders of recent decades.