British police have opened a criminal investigation into politician Peter Mandelson over alleged misconduct in public office related to his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The British government says newly released Epstein files include documents that suggest Mandelson may have shared market-sensitive i.
British police on Tuesday opened a criminal investigation into politician Peter Mandelson over alleged misconduct in public office related to his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The U.K. government says newly released Epstein files suggest Mandelson – a former Cabinet minister, ambassador and elder statesman of the governing Labour Party – may have shared market-sensitive information with the convicted sex offender a decade and a half ago.
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London’s Metropolitan Police force said detectives had reviewed reports of misconduct and decided they met the threshold for a full investigation.
Commander Ella Marriott said the force “has now launched an investigation into a 72-year-old man, a former government minister, for misconduct in public office offenses.”
Misconduct in public office carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Opening an investigation does not mean Mandelson will be arrested, charged or convicted.
But his friendship with Epstein has now cost him his political career. Mandelson said Tuesday he was resigning from the House of Lords, Parliament’s upper chamber, to which he was appointed for life in 2008.
The Speaker of the Lords, Michael Forsyth, said Mandelson had informed officials he will retire effective Wednesday.
The announcement came as the British government prepared legislation to eject Mandelson from the Lords and remove the noble title, Lord Mandelson, that came with his seat in the chamber.
