Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suspects that Jeffrey Epstein might have received his light 2008 prison sentence by offering prosecutors incriminating videos of clients involved in his sex trafficking network.

This bold assertion seems to contradict a statement made by FBI Director Kash Patel at a congressional hearing last month. Patel emphasized that the federal authorities have ‘no credible evidence’ that Epstein trafficked women to anyone aside from himself.

Lutnick, a New York native, lived next door to Epstein for 10 years.

In a conversation on the New York Post’s Pod Force One podcast, Lutnick recalled a story about his first—and only—visit to his neighbor Epstein’s residence, where he noticed a massage table prominently placed on the main floor.

After Lutnick asked Epstein how often he got a massage, the financier said: ‘Every day… and the right kind of massage.’

‘It’s gross, the guy’s gross,’ the Trump cabinet secretary said, claiming that he thinks others are silent on this because they ‘participated’ in the massages and are on camera.

Pod Force One host Miranda Devine asked how Epstein’s rich and powerful associates, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, ‘could hang around him and not see what you saw, or did they see it and ignore it.’

Lutnick responded: ‘They participated.’

‘And what happened in that massage room, I assume, was on video,’ he continued. ‘This guy was the greatest blackmailer ever, blackmailed people. That’s how he had money.’

‘I assume way back when they traded those videos in exchange for him getting that 18-month sentence, which allowed him to have visits and be out of jail,’ Lutnick said of the plea deal Epstein struck with Florida prosecutors in 2008. 

‘I mean, he’s a serial sex offender. How could he get 18 months and be able to go to his office during the day and have visitors and stuff? There must have been a trade.’

Speculation has long swirled around Epstein’s client list and the alleged existence of evidence implicating high-profile figures in his sex trafficking operation.

But Patel told lawmakers last month that the FBI does not have evidence in its possession linking specific individuals to Epstein’s crimes.

‘You’ve seen most of the files, who if anyone did Epstein traffic these young women to besides himself?’ Sec. John Kennedy (R-La.) asked Patel during a Senate Judiciary hearing on September 16.

‘There is no credible information, none – if there were I would bring the case yesterday – that he trafficked to other individuals,’ Patel replied.

‘So the answer is no one?’ the Republican senator pressed.

Patel affirmed: ‘For the information that we have… in the case file.’

‘I am not saying that others were not trafficked and others were not involved. What I am telling you is that based on the information that we have… we have released all credible information,’ he added.

‘I know that’s not going to satisfy many, many, many people,’ the FBI Director admitted.

He says that the original search warrants from then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Alex Acosta were ‘limited’ and therefore do not include names.

In 2008, Epstein reached a plea agreement with Acosta’s office where he was charged with one count of solicitation of prostitution and one count of soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Evidence suggested more extensive criminal activity involving multiple victims.

The deal made it so Epstein only received an 18-month prison sentence in the Palm Beach County jail with work release allowing him to leave for 12 hours, six days a week.

He served only 13 months of his sentence.

The favorable sentencing and questionable stipulations of the plea agreement had conspiracy theorists wondering for years what else Epstein might have turned over to get him the light punishment.