Peter Mandelson's former lobbying firm Global Counsel sought business with companies controlled by the Russian and Chinese governments shortly after he left ministerial office, according to emails the former minister forwarded to Jeffrey Epstein.
The emails show Mandelson and Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, co-founders of Global Counsel, pursued high-paying foreign clients including the Russian state investment firm Rusnano and the state-owned China International Capital Corporation (CICC). The correspondence also reveals that Wegg-Prosser met Epstein at his New York townhouse in 2010 to discuss business, with a person familiar with the matter saying the meeting was at Mandelson's request and lasted 25 minutes.
The disclosures come from a trove of 3 million files from the investigation into Epstein, who was convicted of child sex offences in 2008 and died in custody in 2019. The revelations have put pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who appointed Mandelson as US ambassador despite knowing about his friendship with Epstein.
Global Counsel has sought to distance itself from the scandal, revoking Mandelson's voting rights and urging him to divest his stake. However, the emails detail how Mandelson and Wegg-Prosser scrambled to secure work, with Mandelson writing in August 2010 that Russian state-owned Sberbank was a potential target. By October 2010, Wegg-Prosser wrote of discussions with Rusnano, and by January 2011 they were pursuing CICC, with advice from peer James Palumbo to offer expensive communications advice worth £250,000 a year.
Mandelson, who remained a member of the House of Lords after leaving office in May 2010, also sought roles with Glencore and BP. The emails suggest Global Counsel considered BAE Systems as a potential client, although BAE has said it never appointed the firm.
