LONDON – Former British ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson quit the Labor Party Sunday, seeking to avoid causing it “further embarrassment” after newly released US documents revived scrutiny of his connection to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson, 72, who was sacked as Britain’s ambassador to the United States last year over his ties to Epstein, allegedly received several payments from Epstein in the early 2000s, according to documents released on Friday by the US Department of Justice and reported in British media Sunday.
“Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me,” Mandelson wrote in a letter to Labour general secretary Hollie Ridley.
“While doing this I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party,” he added, saying he felt “regretful and sorry about this”.
Bank records released by the US Justice Department suggest Epstein transferred a total of $75,000 (55,000 pounds) in three payments to bank accounts linked to Mandelson between 2003 and 2004.
Speaking earlier Sunday on the BBC, Mandelson said he had no memory of the transfers and did not know whether the documents were authentic.
Mandelson also appears in newly released, undated photographs, wearing a T shirt and underwear beside a woman whose face has been redacted by US authorities.
He told the BBC he “cannot place the location or the woman and I cannot think what the circumstances were”.
Other documents suggest Epstein sent 10,000 pounds in 2009 to Reinaldo Avila da Silva, Mandelson’s partner, at a time when Mandelson was serving as a government minister.
