The public affairs agency set up by former British ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson is set to shut down after an outcry over Mandelson’s links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Staff at Global Counsel, the firm co-founded by Mandelson in 2010, were told in an all-hands meeting in London Thursday that the firm is being placed into administration, according to five employees of the agency across its Brussels and London offices, who were granted anonymity to speak about a sensitive matter.
One said the firm had lost too many clients from its London office, the advisory firm’s main hub. Global Counsel will, the person said, be placed into administration, with administrators appointed tomorrow.
A note to staff from Chief Executive Rebecca Park, seen by POLITICO, said that “the decision to wind up the UK business affects all of GC. We will be discussing separately with each country office how the process will work for them.”
She adds: “This has proved to be a terrible time for all of us. We have had to endure seeing everything we have built together brought down by the inexcusable actions of others.
“In the long term I am confident that the people of GC I have come to admire so much will all go on to better things. But in the short term the consequences will be painful for all of you, and for that I am deeply sorry. But I hope with time that you will share the same sense of pride I have for every member of this team.”
The company, which says it helps clients “anticipate, shape and adapt to regulatory and political change,” has in the past advised firms including JP Morgan, OpenAI, Shein and TikTok. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Global Counsel had moved to distance itself from Mandelson in recent months, with co-founder Benjamin Wegg-Prosser — who has not been accused of any wrongdoing — quitting as chief executive, and the agency agreeing a divestment of Mandelson’s shares in the organization.
Global Counsel’s HQ is in London, but it has a substantial presence in Brussels, its major European hub, where it has doubled the amount of money it spends since 2020.
Mandelson, a veteran British politician who was fired as ambassador over his continued association with Epstein after the financier’s conviction for sex offenses, has said he “deeply regrets” those ties and attacked the “lies” that the “monster” told him. He has apologized “unequivocally” for his association with Epstein and “to the women and girls that suffered.”
John Johnston, Dan Bloom and Graham Lanktree contributed reporting.
Advisory firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson to close after Epstein scandal
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