• Warning: References to suicide •
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services has today called for an investigation into the FCA’s handling of whistleblowers.
MPs have acted following the death by suicide of whistleblower Simon Andriesz.
The APPG said Mr Andriesz’s experience has raised deeply troubling questions about the way whistleblowers can be treated when they approach the FCA with concerns about wrongdoing and subsequent retaliation.
It said Mr Andriesz spent 35 successful years in the securities industry before becoming a whistleblower, reporting what he believed to be serious wrongdoing at his former employer.
His disclosures were later validated, the APPG said and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission gave him a formal whistleblower award, and HMRC issued a substantial determination concerning matters he had raised.
His case was featured in a BBC File on 4 Investigates broadcast on 14 July, ‘Epstein Files: Lutnick, the Royals and the British Whistleblower’.
He told the BBC how he unearthed evidence suggesting that his former Wall Street employer failed to disclose a business relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. In 2016, Mr Andriesz raised concerns internally about accounting irregularities at the firm leading to him being sacked in 2017.
Mr Andriesz made repeated appeals to senior FCA figures, including the FCA chief executive, for help when he believed the retaliation against him was escalating and when he and his family were in crisis.
The FCA subsequently acknowledged that advice given to Mr Andriesz by an FCA official - that he had lost whistleblower protection because his identity had become known - was incorrect. The FCA apologised and said that further guidance and training would be provided to its whistleblowing team.
John McDonnell MP, chair of the APPG said: “Simon Andriesz’s death is a profound and preventable tragedy. Simon believed he had done what society asks of responsible citizens and professionals: he spoke up when he believed he had encountered serious wrongdoing.
“He then spent years asking the regulator to listen to his concerns and help protect him and his family from what he believed was retaliation.
“Simon’s story reminds us that behind every whistleblowing case is a human being. A career can be lost. A family can be placed under enormous strain. Financial security can disappear. A person’s sense of safety and trust can be badly damaged. And yes, lives can be tragically lost.”
The APPG has called for the FCA to pay for an independent party to forensically and objectively evaluate its handling of whistleblowers. It said it is aware that research into the FCA’s handling of whistleblowers was carried out in 2021/2022, but, “at that time the FCA were allowed to ‘mark their own homework.’”
The APPG said concerns have been raised about the small sample size the FCA used and even whether the regulator may have itself selected whom to survey.
Mr McDonnell said: “It is vital that this time a truly independent and non-conflicted organisation carries out the work needed. This whole issue requires proper scrutiny, transparency and accountability.”
Last year the FCA said: “The FCA is committed to ensuring all of our staff, all the way up to board level, are aware of how to appropriately handle whistleblowing matters. We provide guidance and mandatory training which reinforces the importance of protecting whistleblower confidentiality and understanding the internal processes for escalation.”
The number of new whistleblowing reports received by the FCA rose 25% year on year to 315 between April and June 2025. The most common allegations reported by whistleblowers were compliance (199), fitness/propriety (162), culture of the organisation (147) and Consumer Duty (98).
• The Samaritans offers support to those with suicidal thoughts or facing difficult times, day or night, 365 days a year. You can call them for free on 116 123 or visit www. samaritans.org for more ways to speak to a Samaritan.