The US release of documents on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has exposed compromising interactions with the disgraced former British minister Peter Mandelson. The documents show that Epstein made three payments of $25,000 each to accounts linked to Mandelson between 2003 and 2004, when he was a Labour MP. In December 2009, Epstein asked Mandelson if Jamie Dimon, then CEO of JP Morgan, should call the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, to push back on a planned tax on bank bonuses. During their relationship from 2002 to 2011-12, Mandelson sent numerous supportive messages to Epstein, even while he was serving a prison sentence for a sex offense in 2008. Mandelson responded: "It is certainly a serious problem… The cure is arriving in London from Shanghai next weekend." Epstein also helped his friend and JP Morgan executive Jes Staley close the purchase of the RBS Sempra energy business in 2010. In June 2009, while serving as a minister in Gordon Brown's government, Mandelson forwarded an internal email to Epstein about selling public assets to raise funds after the 2008 credit crisis. On May 9, 2010, Epstein wrote to Mandelson that "sources say the €500 billion bailout package is almost complete", referring to the EU's plan to rescue the Greek economy. In December 2009, Epstein asked Mandelson to limit the 50% tax on bonuses over £25,000 to only the cash portion. In 2009, he also transferred £10,000 to Mandelson's partner for an osteopathy course.
