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Barclays could have “written better” a letter setting out Jes Staley’s relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the former bank boss has claimed, as he blamed it and regulators for the ensuing fallout that cost him his job and reputation.
Staley, Barclays’ former chief executive, told a London court that “we wouldn’t be here today” if the Financial Conduct Authority had been “more explicit” about the information it sought from the UK bank.
The FCA asked Barclays in August 2019 to explain in a letter the nature of Staley’s relationship with Epstein after his death in a prison cell awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
“The letter could’ve been written better,” Staley said on Tuesday. “If the FCA had been more explicit in what they were asking for, we wouldn’t be in the position we are in today.”
“Barclays could’ve done a better job to make sure we responded in a more detailed and laid out way,” he said. “I regret that I did not push the bank harder at the time.”
The American banker, 68, was testifying for a second day in the legal challenge he has mounted against a 2023 ban and fine the FCA imposed on him for allegedly allowing Barclays to mislead the regulator about the nature of his dealings with Epstein.
The FCA alleges Staley downplayed his ties and was not candid with regulators. The watchdog does not allege that Staley was aware of Epstein’s criminality.
Leigh-Ann Mulcahy KC, representing the FCA, quizzed Staley at length on Tuesday about the extent of his ties with Epstein, including various visits the banker made to the financier’s properties.
The barrister also pressed him on information he had shared with Epstein, including details related to Staley’s candidacy for the top job at Barclays — first in 2012 and then successfully in 2015 — as well as his role at JPMorgan Chase, where he worked until 2013.
The court heard that Staley sought advice from Epstein on negotiating his salary with JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon, even after the disgraced financier had pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a minor.
Staley said Epstein had a “very deep impact on my career” but denied that the two had a close personal relationship.
The case centres on two statements Barclays made to regulators in the 2019 letter, which Staley approved. The bank asserted that its chief executive “did not have a close relationship” with Epstein and that Staley’s last contact with him was “well before” Staley had joined the UK bank.
Staley said he was “shocked and surprised” upon Epstein’s arrest in 2019 and stressed he had no knowledge of Epstein’s “monstrous activities”.
Staley acknowledged in his accompanying witness statement that he visited Epstein in 2009 while Epstein was on work release after his earlier conviction in Florida. Staley also conceded in court that he was aware of lawsuits from 2010 alleging human trafficking against Epstein.
The FCA contends that a cache of emails between the two shows that the statements in Barclays’ letter were inaccurate.
Staley, who worked for JPMorgan until 2013 and joined Barclays in 2015, also insisted he did not lobby the US bank to retain Epstein as a client after the Florida conviction.
Mulcahy put it to Staley on Tuesday that the “internal perception” within JPMorgan was that the two men were friends.
The barrister also posited that before Staley left the US bank in 2013, but in the period following Epstein’s Florida conviction, “you were the one wishing to retain Mr Epstein as a client”.
Staley told the court that he had not “lobbied” for Epstein and “left the process of whether he stayed as a client or not” with superiors at the bank, including in legal and compliance. “If people wanted to exit Epstein from the bank, they could’ve,” he said.
“When I left the bank, Epstein’s banking relationship didn’t follow me. He followed the Paul Morris banking team,” said Staley, referring to a wealth management executive who helped manage Epstein’s wealth while at JPMorgan and transferred him as a client when Morris joined Deutsche Bank.
