British financier and co-founder of Lion Capital, a London-based consumer sector private equity firm with investments including AllSaints, Weetabix, Jimmy Choo, Wagamama, Kettle Foods, and Gordon Ramsay's restaurant chain. Lea was introduced to Jeffrey Epstein in 2009, shortly after Epstein was released from a Florida prison following his 2008 sex crimes conviction. DOJ-released emails show Lea was in regular contact with Epstein between 2010 and 2014 about arranging meetings with younger women.
Epstein connected Lea with Jean-Luc Brunel, the French model agent found dead in a French prison cell in 2022 while awaiting trial on rape and trafficking charges. Emails released in 2026 show Epstein introduced a young Romanian woman to Lea, who referred her to an internship at Findus and later to AllSaints. In one email, Epstein wrote to Lea that she was "serious, not a toy, toys are also available." In 2011, Lea was appointed to the board of Not for Sale, a US anti-human-trafficking charity.
WWD and the Santa Barbara Independent reported on Lea's Epstein correspondence.