But the reverberations of this shock decision will likely be felt long beyond the UK’s banks headquarters in Canary Wharf. How many more rich and powerful people are cursing the day they were ever introduced to Epstein, and reviewing how they have characterised their relationship with him since he died?

It is understandable that even those who did nothing wrong will worry their reputations might be tarnished by association with a man who prosecutors allege sexually assaulted girls as young as 14 years old. The questions are all the more difficult for those who continued to associate with Epstein after his 2008 conviction.

The aftershocks of the scandal have been rumbling for months. In March, Leon Black unexpectedly stepped down as the boss of Apollo Global Management, the powerful Wall Street investment firm he founded, following an inquiry into his ties to Epstein.

Black is said to have severed ties with Epstein in 2018 in the wake of a “fee dispute”, after which the two men ceased communicating and Black terminated using Epstein’s services. 

But an independent review found Black paid Epstein a total of $148m for his financial advising services between 2012 and 2017. This may have been small change for a man who once paid nearly $120m for one of the four pastel versions of Edvard Munch’s The Scream. 

But there have long been questions about the kind of advice Epstein, a college drop-out, was giving one of the most successful investors of his generation. According to Black’s spokeswoman, he now “deeply regrets having any involvement with [Epstein]”. 

Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder, got to know Epstein around the beginning of 2011, something about which his wife, Melinda French Gates, was reportedly uncomfortable even at the time, according to The New York Times. The two men’s relationship became public in 2019. This is said to have been one of the catalysts for French Gates to hire divorce lawyers.

In interviews since, Bill Gates has said he had several dinners with Epstein in the hope of raising money for charity through his contacts. He said he broke off the relationship when it didn’t look like that would happen. “It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility,” the billionaire told CNN in August. “I made a mistake.”

In February last year, Les Wexner, one of Epstein’s early clients, stepped down as the boss of L Brands, the company that owns Victoria’s Secret, in the wake of several multiple internal investigations. It is understood that Wexner gave Epstein sweeping powers over his finances, including allowing him to borrow money on his behalf and sign his tax returns. 

In 2019, at his company’s annual investor day, Wexner said: “Being taken advantage of by someone who is… so depraved is something I’m embarrassed I’m even close to.”

It has been separately reported that Epstein identified himself to women as a talent scout for Victoria’s Secret and invited them to his hotel room to audition for the brand’s catalogue.

At a company investor conference in 2019, Wexner said: “Being taken advantage of by someone who was so sick, so cunning, so depraved is something that I am embarrassed that I was even close to, but that is in the past. At some point in your life, we are all betrayed by friends, and if we haven’t, we’re really fortunate to have lived a perfectly sheltered life.”

Epstein also cultivated politicians such as Bill Clinton, who, a spokesman confirmed, took several trips on Epstein’s private jet (dubbed the “Lolita Express”); and Donald Trump, who described Epstein as a “terrific guy”.

A spokesman for the former president tweeted in 2019 that: “President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York. 

In 2002 and 2003, President Clinton took a total of four trips on Jeffrey Epstein’s airplane: one to Europe, one to Asia, and two to Africa, which included stops in connection with the work of the Clinton Foundation.”

Trump told New York magazine in 2002 that: “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” During his term in office, the now-former US president repeatedly offered well wishes to Ghislaine Maxwell, who is in an American prison awaiting trial on charges she procured teenage girls for Epstein.

The late financier’s tentacles reached into almost every facet of high business, finance and high society. Guests as varied as the director Woody Allen, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, magician David Blaine and British politician Peter Mandelson are understood to have dined at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse.

The likes of Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker flew on his plane. Professor Stephen Hawking attended a barbeque on his Caribbean island and took a ride in a submarine that Epstein had specially modified.

Many of those who knew Epstein and have since downplayed their relationship with the sex offender, can at least comfort themselves they are not under the purview of the FCA. There will be no regulator deciding whether they are “fit and proper”.

However, the media scrutiny is unlikely to lessen and the court of public opinion is always in session. It is unlikely that Prince Andrew will be the only person not sweating.