Ex-Barclays boss fined £1.8m for misleading watchdog over Epstein links

Former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley has been fined £1.8 million by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for misleading the watchdog over the nature of his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mr Staley has also been banned from holding senior roles in the financial sector.

The FCA said Mr Staley recklessly approved a letter sent by Barclays to the regulator which claimed the bank’s former boss did not have a close relationship with financier Mr Epstein, who died in 2019.

The bank had been asked to explain what it had done to be sure there was no impropriety in the relationship between the pair, which Barclays provided in a letter read and approved by Mr Staley.

In reality, in emails between the two Mr Staley described Epstein as one of his “deepest” and “most cherished” friends, the FCA found.

Nearly 600 emails were exchanged between January 2013 and October 2015 despite Mr Staley claiming his last contact with Epstein was “well before” he joined Barclays in December 2015. The FCA said this statement was therefore incorrect and misleading.

Mr Staley acted as a private banker to the disgraced financier during his time at JP Morgan, where he worked for more than 30 years.

He stepped down from Barclays in November 2021 amid the investigation into whether the bank and Mr Staley downplayed his relationship with Epstein.

He still received his contractual entitlement to £2.4 million in cash and shares – the equivalent of 12 months in fixed pay – as well as a pension allowance of £120,000 and other undisclosed benefits.

Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “A CEO (chief executive officer) needs to exercise sound judgment and set an example to staff at their firm. Mr Staley failed to do this.

“We consider that he misled both the FCA and the Barclays board about the nature of his relationship with Mr Epstein.

“Mr Staley is an experienced industry professional and held a prominent position within financial services.

“It is right to prevent him from holding a senior position in the financial services industry if we cannot rely on him to act with integrity by disclosing uncomfortable truths about his close personal relationship with Mr Epstein.”

The FCA’s decision is provisional and Mr Staley will present his case at a following tribunal.

In a statement from law firm Arnold & Porter on behalf of Mr Staley, he said: “If I had known who Jeffrey Epstein really was, there is absolutely no doubt that I wouldn’t be in the position I am in today.

“Prior to undertaking my former role, it was known that I had had a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

“I have worked tirelessly over the last 43 years and have genuinely supported many people and social causes, where others might not have done so.

“I am very disappointed by the FCA’s decision and I will continue to challenge it.”

Barclays said that following the FCA’s decision, it decided Mr Staley was ineligible for, or would forfeit, bonuses and share awards totalling £17.8 million.

The banking giant had already suspended all of Mr Staley’s deferred bonuses and long-term share awards while the watchdog investigated.

Mr Staley has previously said he “deeply regrets” his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in a federal jail in 2019 while awaiting a sex-trafficking trial.

He said he had no contact with Epstein once he joined Barclays in December 2015. Earlier that year, he and his wife sailed to Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean for lunch.

Last month, JP Morgan Chase said it had agreed to pay 75 million US dollars (£61 million) to the US Virgin Islands to settle claims that the bank enabled the sex-trafficking acts committed by Epstein.

The Virgin Islands had sued the American banking giant, arguing that it was complicit in Epstein’s behaviour. The settlements averted a trial that had been due to start this month.

JP Morgan also reached a confidential settlement with Mr Staley, who it had sued for allegedly concealing his personal activities with Epstein from the bank.

Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal charges accusing him of paying under-age girls hundreds of dollars in cash for massages and then molesting them at his homes in Florida and New York.