2026年2月6日 / 美国东部时间晚上7:32 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
美国商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克表示，他与杰弗里·爱泼斯坦”交往有限”，但文件显示，直到2014年两人仍有商业合作。
所谓”爱泼斯坦文件”中公布的文件显示，卢特尼克与爱泼斯坦分别代表两家有限责任公司，于2012年12月28日同意收购一家现已关闭的名为Adfin的广告技术公司的股份。
在这份合同中，爱泼斯坦和卢特尼克的签名出现在相邻页面上，爱泼斯坦代表其南方信托公司（Southern Trust Company, Inc.）签字，卢特尼克则代表一家名为CVAFH I的有限责任公司签字。文件共列出了九名股东。
![图片：霍华德·卢特尼克和杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的签名出现在2012年Adfin公司合同的页面上。由美国司法部发布]
曾在金融服务公司Cantor Fitzgerald担任董事长（一度住在爱泼斯坦隔壁）的卢特尼克告诉《纽约邮报》，2005年在参观了爱泼斯坦位于纽约的联排别墅后，他和妻子艾莉森与爱泼斯坦断绝了关系，”我再也不会和那个令人厌恶的人在同一个房间里了。”
然而，爱泼斯坦和卢特尼克似乎仍保持联系，电子邮件显示他们在2011年安排了通话并计划一起喝一杯。
电子邮件显示，次年，这对夫妇和他们的四个孩子计划访问爱泼斯坦的小圣詹姆斯岛。2012年12月24日，卢特尼克受邀共进午餐，后来爱泼斯坦的助手代表爱泼斯坦写道：”很高兴见到你。”
四天后，他们签署了Adfin交易协议。
一位与卢特尼克关系密切的消息人士告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻：”Cantor Fitzgerald是Adfin的少数投资者。在交易时，作为少数投资者，卢特尼克先生并不清楚其他投资者是谁。”
十一天后，即2013年1月8日，爱泼斯坦让助手向卢特尼克转发了一份与美国美属维尔京群岛赌场立法相关的文件，爱泼斯坦在那里拥有自己的岛屿和各种商业交易。卢特尼克的发言人表示，他忽略了发送给他的这份文件。
美国商务部发言人表示：”这不过是老牌媒体试图转移公众对政府成就的注意力的失败尝试，包括争取到数万亿美元的投资、达成历史性贸易协议以及为美国工人奋斗。”
发言人还称：”卢特尼克部长在妻子在场的情况下与爱泼斯坦先生仅有有限接触，从未被指控有不当行为。”
与Adfin相关的通信持续到至少2014年，当时股东之一大卫·米切尔（David Mitchell）就坎托风投（Cantor Ventures，Cantor Fitzgerald的风险投资子公司）的额外融资事宜致信爱泼斯坦。自1991年起，卢特尼克担任Cantor的总裁兼首席执行官，并于1996年升任董事长。
同样在1996年，爱泼斯坦将纽约东71街11号的一处房产出售给了一家名为Comet Trust的实体，两年后该实体将房产出售给了卢特尼克。这处房产成为他的主要住所，就在爱泼斯坦位于纽约的豪宅隔壁。
当爱泼斯坦和卢特尼克同意购买Adfin股份时，距离爱泼斯坦就佛罗里达州涉嫌为未成年人卖淫提供场所和招揽妓女的罪名认罪已过去四年多。这起案件引发了关于更广泛的性交易和侵害女童的指控，但直到2019年，爱泼斯坦才因包括性交易在内的联邦重罪被起诉。他在被捕数周后死于狱中。
在爱泼斯坦文件公布后，卢特尼克成为了与这位金融家疏远的广泛国际权贵网络之一，但现在却被要求澄清其与爱泼斯坦的关系，这些关系似乎比他们之前承认的更密切或持续时间更长。
爱泼斯坦似乎意识到自己给身边人带来的公关挑战。电子邮件显示，2017年，他同意向一场向卢特尼克致敬的晚宴捐赠5万美元。
“希望公关没问题，”爱泼斯坦在给这场晚宴组织者、亿万富翁对冲基金经理约翰·保尔森的邮件中写道。爱泼斯坦拒绝接受该级别捐赠者的席位，并表示卢特尼克可以填满这些座位。
他们的关系一直持续到2018年，当时卢特尼克向爱泼斯坦发电子邮件，显然是在抱怨他们隔壁弗里克收藏馆（Frick Collection）艺术博物馆的扩建计划。
卢特尼克警告爱泼斯坦，翻新可能会”遮挡你的阳光和视野”。
“你应该写一封信。我会派律师过去。别忽略这个，”卢特尼克给爱泼斯坦写道。
Lutnick and Epstein were in business together, Epstein files show – CBS News
February 6, 2026 / 7:32 PM EST / CBS News
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said he had “limited interactions” with Jeffrey Epstein, but documents show they were in business together as recently as 2014.
Lutnick and Epstein each signed on behalf of limited liability companies that agreed on Dec. 28, 2012, to acquire stakes in a now-shuttered advertising technology company called Adfin, documents released among the so-called Epstein files show.
Epstein and Lutnick’s signatures appear on neighboring pages in the contract, with Epstein signing for his Southern Trust Company, Inc. and Lutnick for a limited liability company called CVAFH I. The documents list nine shareholders in total.
Signatures of Howard Lutnick and Jeffrey Epstein appear on pages in a 2012 contract for Adfin. Released by Department of Justice
Lutnick, the former chairman of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald who at one point lived next door to Epstein, told the New York Post in October that he and his wife Allison had cut ties with Epstein in 2005, deciding after taking a tour of Epstein’s New York townhouse, “I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.”
However, it appears Epstein and Lutnick continued to maintain contact and emails show they arranged calls and planned to have drinks in 2011.
The following year, the couple and their four children planned a visit to Epstein’s island, Little St. James, emails show. Lutnick was invited for lunch on Dec. 24, 2012, and later, Epstein’s assistant wrote on behalf of Epstein, “it was nice seeing you.”
Their Adfin deal was signed four days later.
A source close to Lutnick told CBS News “Cantor [Fitzgerald] was a small minority investor in Adfin. At the time of doing the deal, as a minority investor, Mr. Lutnick would not have any knowledge of who the other investors were.”
Eleven days after that, on Jan. 8, 2013, Epstein had his assistant forward Lutnick a document related to casino legislation in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein had his island and a variety of business dealings. A spokesperson for Lutnick says he ignored the document sent to him.
A spokesperson for the Commerce Department said, “This is nothing more than a failing attempt by the legacy media to distract from the administration’s accomplishments including securing trillions of dollars in investment, delivering historic trade deals and fighting for the American worker.”
“Secretary Lutnick had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing,” the spokesperson said.
Correspondence relating to Adfin continued until at least 2014 when one of the shareholders, David Mitchell, wrote to Epstein regarding additional fundraising involving Cantor Ventures, a venture capital subsidiary of Cantor Fitzgerald. Lutnick had been president and CEO of Cantor since 1991 and was elevated to chairman in 1996.
Also in 1996, Epstein sold a property located at 11 East 71st St. in New York to an entity called Comet Trust, which two years later sold the property to Lutnick. It became his primary residence, next door to Epstein’s New York City mansion.
By the time Epstein and Lutnick agreed to buy stakes in Adfin, it had been more than four years since Epstein agreed to enter a guilty plea to Florida state charges of procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. The case brought forth allegations of far broader sex trafficking and victimization of girls, but it wasn’t until 2019 that Epstein was charged with federal felonies including trafficking. He died in jail in the weeks after his arrest.
In the wake of the release of the Epstein files, Lutnick has been one of a broad international network of powerful Epstein associates who distanced themselves from the financier, only to be asked now to clarify relationships with him that appear to be closer or lengthier than they previously acknowledged.
Epstein appears to have been aware of the public relations challenge he posed to people close to him. Emails show in 2017 he agreed to donate $50,000 to a dinner in honor of Lutnick.
“hope pr is ok,” Epstein wrote to billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson, an organizer of the dinner. Epstein declined to take a table awarded to donors of that level, writing that Lutnick could fill the seats.
Their relationship continued into the next year, 2018, when Lutnick emailed Epstein apparently complaining about an expansion plan for their neighboring Frick Collection art museum.
Lutnick warned Epstein that the renovation might “block your sunlight and views.”
“You should put in a letter. I’m sending a lawyer. Don’t ignore this,” Lutnick wrote to Epstein.