Staley Gets His Shot at Redemption Over Epstein Relationship

(Bloomberg) — Four years after his resignation from Barclays Plc, Jes Staley will finally give his account of the events that ended his career — in the hopes of overturning a lifetime ban from the finance industry. 

Staley has sat quietly in a windowless London court room for the past week, occasionally sipping from a can of Diet Coke as his closest former colleagues described how his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein led to his fall from the summit of global banking. On Tuesday, the 68-year-old former chief executive officer is scheduled to take the stand as part of the legal challenge he’s mounted against British regulators. 

Already, though, a detailed picture of his relationship with Epstein has been drawn by some of those who know Staley best. 

“He had a particular view about not abandoning people in trouble,” Stephen Doherty, Staley’s former communications head at Barclays, said in a witness statement to the court. 

Staley’s former chief of staff, Sasha Wiggins, seemed to agree. “I remember discussing with Mr. Staley why he remained friendly with Mr. Epstein after his conviction,” said Wiggins in her own statement. “He said that, in his opinion, Mr. Epstein had been arrested and convicted and has served his sentence.”

Epstein was jailed in Florida in June 2008 for soliciting sex from underage girls. He was arrested again in July 2019 on federal charges relating to, among other things, the sex trafficking of minors, shortly before his death in a New York jail cell. 

Staley was working for JPMorgan Chase & Co. when he first met Epstein around the 2000s, and went on to develop a relationship over the decades that saw him visit the late sex offender’s private Caribbean island and fly on his jet. 

The Financial Conduct Authority announced in 2023 that Staley had “recklessly misled” its officials about his bond with Epstein, as it gave him a lifetime ban from the British financial services industry and a £1.8 million ($2.3 million) fine.

That’s what Staley is seeking to overturn with his lawsuit this month — and he’s long maintained that he cut off ties once he joined Barclays in 2015 and that he was honest about the extent of the relationship.

Already, though, the case has revealed some startling truths about the ties between the two men.

As part of the FCA’s investigation, JPMorgan turned over hundreds of emails to the agency that offered a detailed picture of Staley’s relationship with Epstein. In several messages that have subsequently emerged in legal and regulatory filings, the men extolled the closeness of their friendship, with Staley sharing internal documents, as well as seeking career advice.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey testified that JPMorgan had made an “unusual request” to the UK financial regulator by asking it to compel the bank to hand over the documents. JPMorgan also told British regulators at the time that the bank believed Staley might have been involved in Epstein’s crimes, according to testimony provided by Mark Steward, who was then head of enforcement at the FCA. Steward, for his part, said that he did not agree with JPMorgan’s view.

Bailey’s testimony also shone a light on the lengths to which Barclays Chairman Nigel Higgins went in order to contain the fallout from the FCA’s probe. The central bank governor said Higgins urged the FCA to limit the length of its investigation in order to allow Barclays to avoid disclosing the existence of any probe when it published its annual report in February 2020.

Bailey also said Higgins told him the FCA’s investigation into Staley’s links to Epstein should not be about “the girls.” Bailey said Higgins told him that that could mean “Mr. Staley may never see his wife and children again.”

The chief regulator had other concerns. “There was a potential risk to financial stability for this one. It is such a big institution and Mr. Staley’s role was so prominent,” Bailey recollected in court. 

The upper tribunal is due to hear from Higgins this week.

Staley’s lawyer has cited interviews and documents to create a picture of his client as a warm and well respected boss, yet also someone who struggled with dyslexia and who very few people knew well.

“I am pretty much a loner,” said Staley in an interview with the FCA while it was investigating his links to Epstein. 

“Jes has many, many, many, many, many business relationships, close business relationships,” said Wiggins. “He doesn’t have very many friends. I could count them on one hand, probably less than one hand.”

“Almost of all our people that we associate with, my wife and I, are her close friends,” Staley told the FCA. “A personal friendship would be far broader than the type of relationship he [Epstein] and I had.”

Staley’s former colleagues say he provided details about his relationship with Epstein, often without them asking, though they also say that he did not tell them everything.

Doherty told the court he had no idea his old boss had been in touch with Epstein right up until he was named as Barclays CEO in October 2015. Messages have subsequently emerged in regulatory probes showing Staley and Epstein discussing the job days before he was appointed. 

“Concurrent communication with Mr. Epstein about press interest in their relationship and the potential role at Barclays is the type of information that would have obviously been relevant for me to have known at the time,” said Doherty.

Wiggins also found she had not known as much about Staley’s relationship with Epstein as she had thought. The first she had known about Epstein helping Staley’s eldest daughter, Alexa, with her application to Columbia University came when the FCA presented her with the evidence during her interview with the regulator. Wiggins also said she’d not known that Epstein had been invited to Alexa’s graduation from Columbia.

“I do not know why Mr. Staley did not mention these matters,” said Wiggins.

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