The European Union’s anti-fraud office has opened a formal investigation into Lord Peter Mandelson, the bloc’s former trade commissioner and recently dismissed British ambassador to Washington, over alleged misconduct during his four years in Brussels. 

The agency, known as Olaf, confirmed the probe at the request of the European Commission to multiple news agencies. The Commission asked Olaf two months ago to examine allegations of misconduct during Mandelson’s 2004-2008 tenure as trade commissioner, and the agency said it had recently gathered “sufficient information” to launch the inquiry, according to the BBC.

Olaf told the BBC it was too early to say whether the case involved allegations of fraud, and that its mandate covered all four years of Mandelson’s time in Brussels and was limited to staff and members of EU institutions. Mandelson, a New Labour grandee sent to Brussels in 2004 by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, has denied wrongdoing. 

The investigation adds to mounting scrutiny of the peer, whose ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein led to his dismissal as British ambassador to the United States in September 2025, the BBC said. 

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, a former member of the European Parliament, wrote to Olaf chief Petr Klement in February calling for an inquiry after the U.S. Department of Justice released files related to Epstein that mentioned Mandelson, according to the Financial Times. Farage alleged that Mandelson “may have misused his position as the EU’s trade commissioner for personal gain and possibly leaked confidential Commission information,” the newspaper said. 

Documents released by the U.S. government earlier this year showed Epstein sent payments totaling $75,000 to Mandelson in 2003 and 2004, and that Mandelson passed UK government information to Epstein in 2009 and 2010, including details of a Downing Street document on upcoming tax changes and a proposed £20 billion in asset sales, the FT said. Mandelson also appeared to share confirmation of a €500 billion Eurozone bailout shortly before its public announcement.

The BBC similarly reported that emails surfacing around the 2010 Eurozone crisis included allegations that Mandelson gave Epstein advance notice of the €500 billion (£434 billion) bailout agreed when EU governments pledged to do “whatever it takes” to prevent Greece’s financial crisis from spreading.

Olaf said it had “no jurisdiction to prosecute” and would pass any criminal element to the European Prosecutor’s Office, the news agency said. Olaf could also recommend judicial, financial, administrative, or disciplinary sanctions, which could include revoking Mandelson’s commissioner pension, worth £31,000 a year, according to the Financial Times. 

Mandelson had cultivated controversy during his time as trade commissioner, including rejecting claims in 2008 that he had granted favors to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska after supporting the removal of aluminum tariffs, despite having spent time on Deripaska’s £80 million yacht that year. As UK business secretary, Mandelson said he “made no personal intervention to support the commercial interests of Mr. Deripaska,” the FT reported.