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Former Barclays boss Jes Staley mentioned confidential deals and clients with the late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein, together with particulars about fraudster Bernard Madoff, in accordance with a courtroom submitting by the UK monetary watchdog.
Emails Staley despatched to Epstein had been cited by the Monetary Conduct Authority as proof the banker had misled the regulator when he assured it that the pair “didn’t have an in depth relationship”.
When Staley labored at JPMorgan Chase, previous to becoming a member of Barclays, he requested Epstein for recommendation on easy methods to get a better pay package deal out of his boss Jamie Dimon, and shared personal particulars of a shopper of the US financial institution, the FCA mentioned in its written argument towards the previous Barclays’ boss.
Staley has launched a authorized problem towards the FCA’s decision in 2023 to ban him from working in UK monetary providers and nice him £1.8mn for having “recklessly misled” it and performing “with an absence of integrity” over the character of his relationship with Epstein, a shopper of the Wall St financial institution.
Staley is because of testify within the case in March and faces three days being cross examined by the FCA’s attorneys, a London courtroom heard on Thursday at a pre-trial evaluate.
The regulator mentioned the main points of electronic mail site visitors between Staley and Epstein, which first got here to mild in a US lawsuit, supported its discovering that the previous Barclays boss had supplied “inaccurate and deceptive” statements to the UK regulator when requested about their relationship.
“Between 2008 and 2011, Staley shared confidential data referring to his former employer, JPMorgan with Epstein exhibiting the closeness of their relationship and Staley’s willingness to breach obligations owed to his employer together with the place there was a battle of curiosity between JPMorgan and Epstein,” the FCA mentioned.
It mentioned that Epstein forwarded to Staley an electronic mail written by Larry Summers, the previous US Treasury secretary, asking: “What’s the actual story on Madoff? Shouldn’t JPM have identified higher?” Madoff, a former shopper of the US financial institution, was sentenced to 150 years in jail in 2009 for orchestrating a $65bn Ponzi scheme. He died in 2021.
The FCA mentioned that Staley had answered: “I can’t reply in electronic mail. Will name”, which the regulators mentioned indicated “he was ready to debate the problem with Mr Epstein”.
The regulator mentioned it discovered proof that Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 after being arrested on prices of intercourse trafficking minors, had “supplied vital assist” to Staley’s daughter in her schooling and profession and she or he invited him to her 2013 commencement.
In response to the FCA’s written argument, Staley acknowledged that the knowledge he shared with Epstein was “not public data” however denied that it was confidential to JPMorgan.
A letter despatched by Barclays to the FCA and permitted by Staley had assured the regulator that Staley ceased contact with Epstein “nicely earlier than” he joined the financial institution in 2015.
However the regulator mentioned Staley was involved with Epstein within the days main as much as his appointment as Barclays chief government being introduced in 2015 and the convicted intercourse offender had tried to assist him get the job.
In its most up-to-date response filed with the courtroom, the FCA claimed that contact between the 2 males had truly continued into “at the least” February 2017, utilizing Staley’s daughter Alexa as an middleman.
Staley has responded that the FCA didn’t absolutely bear in mind “the sporadic nature” of the emails exchanged between his daughter and Epstein, which passed off over a interval of 11 months and began 5 months after the banker’s final correspondence with Epstein.
The previous Barclays boss put his incapability to remember conversations together with his daughter concerning the emails right down to “the passage of time and his skilled commitments”.
Attorneys for Staley, 68, argue that the FCA’s course of was “unfair” and that the penalty it imposed was “grossly disproportionate”.
The FCA determined to launch an investigation with out giving Staley a chance to offer an evidence for “any obvious inconsistency” in his statements, they mentioned.
In written arguments, Robert Smith KC, for Staley, mentioned the FCA’s rivalry that Staley was involved with Epstein as late as 2017 through his daughter was “not supported by the proof”.
He added that the FCA had been in a position to level to solely “a handful of events” during which the 2 interacted socially over a interval of virtually 10 years.
Staley met Epstein in about 1999 whereas head of JPMorgan’s non-public financial institution, of which Epstein was a shopper. Epstein was convicted of procuring a minor for prostitution and sentenced to 18 months in a Florida jail in 2008.
Leigh-Ann Mulcahy KC, representing the FCA, mentioned in authorized paperwork that Staley’s affiliation with Epstein “inevitably raised questions on his conduct and judgment”. She mentioned the sanctions imposed on Staley had been “applicable” and “proportionate”.
