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Rokos Capital Management has ended talks with Lord Peter Mandelson over a lucrative advisory role after further revelations about his relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The London-based hedge fund had been in discussions about retaining Mandelson as an adviser, even after he was fired in September from his role as Britain’s ambassador to the US over his relationship with the disgraced financier, but the talks ended on Friday.
Rokos Capital is run by Chris Rokos, one of the world’s best-known macro hedge fund traders, who paid himself almost £500mn last year after his firm doubled revenues to £1.2bn.
The hedge fund told the Financial Times on Wednesday: “RCM works with many consultants. We were in discussion with Peter Mandelson about adding him to our deep bench of consultants, but following the recent revelations on Friday, all such discussions were immediately terminated.”
Mandelson resigned this week from the Labour party and stepped down from the House of Lords after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had faced calls from dozens of his own MPs to strip him of his peerage.
The Lords’ register of interests shows that Mandelson had advised Rokos Capital in 2024 and 2025 but, because of a leave of absence from parliament’s upper house, has not been bound to disclose any further information.
Mandelson told the FT on Wednesday when asked if he was about to be retained again as an adviser by Rokos Capital: “I advised Rokos before becoming ambassador. We have not had any relationship since I was appointed as ambassador.”
Mandelson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the termination of the talks.
Rokos Capital makes bets on economic indicators such as inflation and interest rates through asset classes including commodities, equities and bonds, managing around $22bn for investors. Chris Rokos, who co-founded macro hedge fund giant Brevan Howard, is the firm’s main risk taker.
Through Global Counsel, which he set up in 2010 after Labour lost the general election, Mandelson provided political advice to a multinational roster of clients. He stepped back from the firm in 2024 before he was appointed Britain’s ambassador to the US later that year.
In firing Mandelson from his ambassadorial role in September, the UK government said at the time that newly uncovered emails had revealed his relationship with the disgraced financier was “materially different” than previously known.
Police on Tuesday launched a criminal investigation into Mandelson over possible misconduct in public office. A fresh tranche of emails released by the Department of Justice on Friday appears to reveal that Mandelson, while he was business secretary, passed sensitive UK government documents to Epstein.
The documents passed to Epstein included market-sensitive information about then prime minister Gordon Brown stepping down as Labour leader, details of a €500bn EU bailout of the euro and a £20bn asset sale and tax change.
Mandelson was also asked by Epstein for “inside” information on board appointments at Barclays, the newly released documents suggest.
The former minister has said he felt “regretful and sorry” that he had again been linked to Epstein in the DoJ’s latest publication of emails.
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