Jeffrey Epstein ‘supplied Peter Mandelson with prescription drugs’
Jeffrey Epstein supplied Lord Mandelson with prescription drugs and arranged for him to have Botox while he was a serving government minister, emails suggest.
Exchanges between the two men appear to show the peer asking Epstein if he could help source a medication called Niaspan and the men discussing tablets referred to as “triangles”.
In one email in March 2010, Mandelson wrote to Epstein saying he had almost run out of his supply of “B plus tabs”, understood to be a reference to Niaspan, a cholesterol-lowering medication. “Can you get the B plus tabs … got one left!” he wrote. Epstein replied asking whether he was “Already done with triangles”, to which Mandelson said: “Yippee.”
Separate emails show Epstein offered to arrange a Botox cosmetic treatment for Mandelson during the same trip in 2010. Epstein emailed Mandelson: “Wed face and neck„?” Mandelson replied: “Do you think I should ??” to which Epstein replied: “Botox first step.” They then discussed timings. It is not clear who paid for the treatment and whether it went ahead. The emails give an insight into the closeness of the relationship between Mandelson and Epstein.
At the time of the correspondence in late 2009 and early 2010, Mandelson was serving as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s Labour government. Epstein had been convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution and was under house arrest.
They also raise questions about Epstein’s access to controlled drugs. Some women who have accused Epstein of sexual abuse also allege the late financier would arrange prescriptions of anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medications through a network of doctors.
Niaspan is a prescription-only medication generally used for lowering cholesterol but is sometimes used off-label for reducing anxiety symptoms. Another prescription drug, Xanax, is colloquially known as “triangles” due to the shape of its tablets.
It is not known how or whether the medication referred to by Mandelson was obtained and who prescribed it. Sharing or receiving prescription drugs without a prescription is against the law in both the United States and UK.
Epstein and Mandelson appear to have first discussed prescription drugs in December 2009, five months after Epstein was released from prison. In one email Mandelson made an apparent reference to a drug, asking Epstein’s advice on how much he should take. “One triangle or two??” he wrote. Epstein replied saying one.
The following day Epstein emailed Mandelson, “Any reaction from the B3”, to which Mandelson replied: “No!” Epstein wrote: “Try to notice whether you feel more calm as well.” Mandelson replied that he had been photographed for a magazine and was “very calm”.
Epstein responded: “It’s NIASPAN 750.. Have your doctor give you a prescription.. It will change your life.” Later that month Epstein emailed Mandelson asking him if he was “feeling better”, to which he replied “much” and then: “How will I get more triangles ?!” Epstein wrote, “London when” and Mandelson replied: “Wed morning.”
In March 2010, a few days before he was due to fly to the US, Mandelson wrote to Epstein again, appearing to ask for help sourcing “B plus tabs” as he had almost run out.
That June he sent another email which said: “I am feeling jangly. Do you think this is cos of flight? Nerves about book and job prospects? Or that I have stopped taking niaspan?” “All of the above,” Epstein replied.
A separate email to Epstein that month, from a sender whose name has been redacted, says: “By the way, can I have more niaspan ? And triangles are all very well but you need someone to use them on…”
In another exchange in summer 2010, Epstein told Mandelson that he should change his medication to improve the appearance of his “baggy eyes”. “After the election , we should change your meds … There are much newer more effective pills with many less side-effects,” he wrote.
Asked about the emails, a lawyer for Mandelson declined to comment. The former adviser to Tony Blair, who was reappointed to a government role under Sir Keir Starmer, was sacked as Britain’s ambassador to the US in September after revelations about his relationship with Epstein. He is under investigation for allegedly sharing sensitive information. Mandelson denies all wrongdoing.