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Lord Peter Mandelson made more than £1.5mn selling his shares in Global Counsel before the advisory firm collapsed over his links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mandelson was paid £250,000 for his remaining stake in Global Counsel just days before it went bust last month while his former colleagues’ shares ended up worthless, three people close to the situation told the FT.

The former business secretary had already received between £1.3mn and £1.4mn in 2024 in an earlier sale of shares to friends and associates, the people said.

The firm collapsed into administration on February 19 after clients including Barclays, Vodafone, Tesco, Klarna and Phoenix Group were spooked by fresh revelations about the close ties between Mandelson and Epstein.

Mandelson had sought Epstein’s advice when he was setting up Global Counsel, including how to target clients, the FT previously reported.

He founded Global Counsel in 2010 with former Labour adviser Benjamin Wegg-Prosser soon after Labour lost the general election that year.

Clients had pressed Global Counsel to sever ties with Mandelson and ensure he was no longer an investor since last September, when he was fired as British ambassador to the US by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. His dismissal came after documents released by the US Department of Justice shed new light on the extent of the men’s past dealings.

Amid efforts to save the firm, Rebecca Park, who was promoted to Global Counsel chief executive following the resignation of Wegg-Prosser, bought out Mandelson’s remaining stake for £250,000 on February 6 with an upfront payment, according to three people close to the situation.

In the earlier 2024 share sale, Park had bought the largest amount, paying £975,000, the people added.

“It’s a shame for all the Global Counsel people who were impacted by this — a team of 120 brilliant people who lost their jobs while the one person who benefited was him,” one of the people close to the situation said.

In 2024 Global Counsel was valued at about £30mn when Messina Group, run by a former aide of Barack Obama, bought a 20 per cent stake in the business. The remaining investors were wiped out when the company collapsed.

A second person familiar with the firm said the £250,000 payment to buy out Mandelson’s final stake had been agreed “when there was still a belief that the company could be saved” if he was removed from its shareholder register.

The deal with Park also included a provision under which Mandelson would receive a payout of up to £4.58mn if Global Counsel were to ride out the crisis and then be sold at a later date or if she sold her shares at a higher valuation.

It emerged last week that Mandelson also sought a £500,000 payout from the government when he was sacked as US ambassador but instead received £75,000 in severance.

Some of the 80 Global Counsel staff who were made redundant when it collapsed are now applying for compensation of up to eight weeks’ pay, known as a “protective award”, according to two people familiar with the situation. The effort to secure protective awards was first reported by Politico.

At the time of administration Global Counsel blamed the “legacy of Peter Mandelson”, while Park said: “We have had to endure seeing everything we have built together brought down by the inexcusable actions of others.” Park has since joined advisory firm FGS.

A third person close to the company said Mandelson was a wealthy man who received money “from a business that he destroyed, adding: “If he had any decency he would donate the money to the victims of his friend Jeffrey Epstein.”

Mandelson was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on February 23 and then released on bail.

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He is no longer on police bail but has been released under investigation and has denied any criminal wrongdoing, saying he never acted for personal gain.

Files from the US Department of Justice indicate that when he was in government Mandelson passed some information to the disgraced paedophile. The files also suggest that Epstein sent $75,000 to Mandelson, gave him free flights and stays in his luxury properties and sent tens of thousands of pounds to his husband Reinaldo. 

Sir Mark Rowley, head of the Metropolitan Police, is expected this week to urge the US authorities to accelerate the release of unredacted exchanges between the two men.

Mandelson’s lawyers did not respond to a request for comment. Park declined to comment.