City watchdog launches probe after whistleblower’s death raises questions
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a probe into how the regulatory body interacted with a whistleblower who recently took his own life.
Simon Andriesz, a former managing director at BGC Partners, had blown the whistle on alleged links between the US secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He died last week after taking his own life at 57 years old.
In response, the Transparency Task Force, of which Andriesz was a member, has called for an inquiry into the FCA’s handling of whistleblowers, with John McDonnell MP, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on investment fraud and fairer financial services, leading the call.
The campaign group said the FCA had advised Andriesz that he had lost whistleblower protection because his identity had become known, which was incorrect, and that the FCA apologised and said it would provide further guidance and training to its whistleblowing team.
The group also highlighted that Andriesz had raised concerns over the “poor treatment of whistleblowers by the FCA” which led him to appeal to senior executives of the watchdog for help when he believed the retaliation against him was escalating and when he and his family were in crisis.
On the call for the inquiry, McDonnell said: “We are aware that research into the FCA’s handling of whistleblowers was carried out in 2021/2022, but
that time the FCA were allowed to ‘mark their own homework’.”
“Concerns have been raised about the suspiciously small sample size they used and even whether the FCA may have selected whom to survey,” he added.
FCA board member to lead review
In direct response to mounting pressure after Andriesz’s death, the FCA asked independent board member Lea Paterson to examine whether the FCA failed in its duty of care toward a vulnerable individual who took significant personal risks to report alleged wrongdoing.
In a press statement on Tuesday, Stephen Braviner Roman, the FCA’s general counsel, said the watchdog “shared our condolences, and our thoughts are with his family and loved ones”.
He said: “To build greater confidence, we’re sharing more information with whistleblowers about the action we take. We provided feedback on each of the 1,252 whistleblowing reports we closed last year.
“We know, though, frustrations remain. Legal restrictions can mean we’re not able to share as much as people understandably want, and sometimes the actions we take don’t meet people’s expectations.
“We must be open and consider if there are ways in which we can improve, especially in how we interact with people who may be particularly vulnerable. I’m grateful to Lea [Paterson] for taking on this important work. We plan to share any lessons she thinks we should learn from, and how we’ll take them forward, early next year,” he added.
The FCA was cleared of wrongdoing in 2024 after an investigation into his handling of a whistleblower complaint. In the same year, the watchdog said it will look to strengthen its internal whistleblowing policy after intense criticism over its handling of complaints from former staff.