Jeffrey Epstein sent £10,000 to Peter Mandelson’s husband, the latest Epstein files suggest.
Emails published today by the US Department of Justice appear to show Reinaldo Avila da Silva contacting the sex offender in September 2009 to ask for money to fund an osteopathy course and other related expenses.
‘I will wire your loan amount immediated’y [sic],’ Epstein replied on the same day.
Several days later, da Silva reportedly sent Epstein an email saying ‘thank you for the money which arrived in my account this morning’.
Lord Mandelson married da Silva in 2023 after a relationship lasting three decades.
At the time of the alleged payments to da Silva, the Labour politician was business secretary and the de facto deputy of prime minister Gordon Brown.
Epstein was jailed from 2008 until July 2009 after pleading guilty to charges of soliciting prostitution.
Lord Mandelson with Reinaldo Avila da Silva at a garden party in London
Lord Mandelson finally apologised to Epstein’s victims last month.
His grovelling statement came amid fierce criticism for an earlier interview that saw him refuse to apologise for his own conduct, before making the extraordinary claim Epstein’s depravity had been hidden from him because he is gay.
Speaking to BBC Newsnight, the Labour peer admitted he had not wanted to be ‘held responsible’ for Epstein’s crimes, of which he was ‘ignorant, not indifferent’.
He said: ‘I was wrong to believe him following his conviction and to continue my association with him afterwards.
‘I apologise unequivocally for doing so to the women and girls who suffered.’
Lord Mandelson was sacked from his post as US ambassador last September after revelations about his relationship with Epstein.
Emails showed the pair had been in contact after the financier’s first conviction in 2008, when he pleaded guilty to soliciting girls as young as 14 for prostitution, with Mandelson firing off messages of support and advice.
In his first TV interview since his dismissal as ambassador, Mandelson told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that he did not apologise for maintaining the friendship, insisting he would have done so if he were ‘in any way complicit or culpable’.
The former Labour peer said he believed he was ‘kept separate’ from Epstein’s sordid sex life because he is gay, and denied ever seeing young girls at Epstein’s properties.
He extended an apology only for the ‘system that refused to hear their voices’, but not for his own conduct.
The Labour peer (left) with Epstein as he blows out candles on a birthday cake
Sir Keir Starmer, who handpicked Lord Mandelson as US ambassador before going on to sack him, said the emails showed ‘the depth and extent’ his relationship with Epstein was ‘materially different from that known at the time of his appointment’.
The Prime Minister had defended Lord Mandelson until the emergence of the emails.
Asked if he deserved to be sacked by Sir Keir, Lord Mandelson said: ‘I understand why I was sacked.’
He added: ‘I understand why he took the decision he did. But one thing I’m very clear about is I’m not going to seek to reopen or relitigate this issue. I’m moving on.’
Emails showed Lord Mandelson told Epstein to ‘fight for early release’ shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
He is also reported to have told Epstein ‘I think the world of you’ the day before the disgraced financier began his jail sentence.
The daily Mail has contacted Peter Mandelson’s representatives for comment.
