The Sexual Violence Prevention Association (SVPA) is calling for full accountability and swift resignation from U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over his documented ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Working alongside UltraViolet and partner organizations, the SVPA submitted questions for Lutnick’s House Oversight Committee interview, petitioned for his resignation, and mobilized more than 10,000 people to contact their members of Congress. This is part of our ongoing fight for systemic reform and accountability from every individual and institution that enabled, or participated in, Epstein’s abuse.
Howard Lutnick is the former chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a major Wall Street firm, and the current U.S. Secretary of Commerce appointed by President Donald Trump in 2025. He is among at least half a dozen top officials in the Trump administration whose name appears in the Epstein files. In 2005 Lutnick publicly claimed to have cut ties with Epstein, calling him a “disgusting person.” The Epstein files show a vastly different story.
The files depict email correspondence between the two starting in 2009, after Epstein’s state-level sex offense convictions, including child prostitution, continuing through 2018. This entails a 2011 evening where Epstein scheduled Lutnick for drinks, followed by a 2012 Christmas family trip to Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Four days later, Lutknik and Epstein were among the signatories on a stock purchase agreement in a digital advertising technology company called AdFin. Notably, AdFin was connected with Cantor Fitzgerald, which has federal charges of money laundering and illegal gambling. This has raised major public concerns over the possibility that Lutnick helped illicitly fund Epstein’s sex trafficking network, especially after Epstein donated $50,000 to a charity event honoring Lutnick in 2017.
On May 6, 2026, Lutnick appeared before the House Oversight Committee for a voluntary interview regarding his ties to Epstein. In the days prior, the SVPA and UltraViolet sent questions to the Oversight Committee members aimed to expose his harmful actions, demand accountability, and press for his resignation. Over 10,000 people contacted their members of Congress urging them to ask these key questions.
The SVPA has also co-signed a petition organized by UltraViolet calling on Lutnick to resign as Secretary of Commerce. It has been co-signed by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Demand Progress, The People United, Progress America, Civic Shout, and the Juggernaut Project. You can add your name here.
“Lutnick lied about his ties to Epstein. He knows there is no excuse for his actions,” said Omny Miranda Martone, Founder and CEO of the SVPA.
“Howard Lutnick is a powerful man who maintained a professional and personal relationship with a convicted sex offender. Lutnick benefited from that proximity. He benefited professionally and financially from Epstein’s abuse. After all that, Lutnick still chose silence, lies, and self-protection over truth and justice for the victims he helped harm.”
Two weeks ago, the SVPA joined congressmembers, advocates, and Epstein survivors at a vigil calling for action in honor of Virginia Giuffre, a prominent survivor of Epstein’s sex trafficking network. In November 2025, following months of advocacy that included an SVPA-led letter to Congress and a historic press conference on Capitol Hill, the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law. This compelled the DOJ to release millions of files, images, flight logs, and other materials from investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Transparency is not the finish line. It is merely the start! From the beginning, the SVPA has fought for justice, not just transparency.
“We will continue fighting until every individual and institution named in the Epstein files is held accountable. We will continue fighting until there is institutional reform, government restructuring, and systemic change that prevents these harms from happening again,” Martone said.
“That fight has brought us to Howard Lutnick. He must be held accountable for the harm he has caused. Our government and institutions cannot be led by people who enabled abuse. Lutnick must be removed from his role as US Secretary of Commerce immediately.”
