Ex-Barclays CEO Jes Staley tells court bank ‘well aware’ of his Jeffrey Epstein links | Barclays

The former chief executive of Barclays, Jes Staley, is trying to convince a high court that the bank was well aware of the extent of his ties with child sexual abuse offender Jeffrey Epstein when it sent a letter to the financial regulator claiming that the pair “did not have a close relationship”.

The argument forms part of Staley’s attempt to challenge a decision by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to ban him from senior roles in the UK’s financial sector in 2023, after its investigation found he had misled the regulator over the depth of his relationship with Epstein.

The former Barclays boss, who resigned in 2021, was also fined £1.8m and subsequently lost out on £18m in pay and bonuses from the bank.

A two-week hearing into the matter, at the upper tribunal in London, started on Monday . It is due to continue until at least 14 March. Staley appeared in court for the start of proceedings. Wearing a dark grey suit and blue tie, the former executive sat with members of his legal team as opening arguments were delivered to a tribunal panel led by Judge Tim Herrington.

Staley’s legal team is disputing the true purpose of a letter that Barclays sent to the FCA in October 2019, as well as claim that members of the bank’s board had been briefed on the extent of his ties with the late financier, who died in August 2019.

“Barclays knew that Mr Staley had had a ‘close’ professional relationship with Mr Epstein which had extended over many years … [and] that there were aspects of that relationship which were not confined to business,” the opening statement said.

Barclays’ letter to the FCA stated that “Jes has confirmed to us that he did not have a close relationship with Mr Epstein” and that his “last contact with Mr Epstein was well before he joined Barclays in 2015”.

A formal FCA investigation, launched in December 2019 after the watchdog received further information from Staley’s former employer JP Morgan, found Staley was in contact with Epstein in the days leading up to his appointment being announced in autumn 2015.

The regulator is also alleging that the pair later used Staley’s eldest daughter as an “intermediary” to stay in touch long after he became Barclays’ chief executive, until at least February 2017.

The FCA’s barrister, Leigh-Ann Mulcahy KC, told the tribunal that Staley had a “motive to downplay his relationship” with Epstein, particularly after Epstein was arrested in 2019 for trafficking underage girls for sex.

She added that there had been a “pattern of underplaying his relationship” going back years, including when responding to media inquiries about their ties from titles such as the Mail on Sunday in 2015, and in talking points prepared for the board of Bowdoin College in September 2019, where he was a trustee, after it asked for more information.

The FCA’s wider case will outline the depth of their alleged relationship, including claims that Epstein messaged Staley about sex, women and foreign holidays, while working behind the scenes to bolster Staley’s career by liaising with government officials, business leaders and royalty.

Staley’s lawyers will argue that the FCA had only asked for assurances around whether Staley or Barclays “had any knowledge of, or involvement in, Mr Epstein’s unlawful conduct”, rather than the extent and nature of their relationship. The lawyers claim that the letter would otherwise have “been drafted and approved in very different terms”.

The opening statement by Staley’s lawyers says: “The letter was intended to achieve only one purpose, which was to inform the [Financial Conduct] Authority that neither Mr Staley nor Barclays had any knowledge of, or involvement, in Mr Epstein’s unlawful conduct.

“It was not intended to define the relationship between Mr Staley and Mr Epstein and the language employed was neither drafted nor approved for that purpose.”

Staley resigned four years ago after the FCA reached a preliminary decision over its investigation into his relationship with Epstein. The investigation was launched months after Epstein’s death in 2019. The financier died in prison while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking underage girls for sex.