There is “overwhelming” evidence that the former executive president of Barclays, Jesus Staley, had a close relationship with the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, a court has governed.
Mr. Staley received a fine of £ 1.8 million and prohibited from having senior roles in the financial sector by the Financial Behavior Authority (FCA) in 2023, after he discovered that he cheated the regulator about the nature of his relationship with El Financiero.
The American challenged the prohibition and the fine in the Superior Court of London, with his lawyers saying that “he never tried to hide his relationship with Mr. Epstein,” which the banker described as “professionally quite close” but not “personally close.”
The FCA opposed the challenge, saying an audience held in March and April that Mr. Staley and Epstein had a “friendship.”
In a unanimous decision on Thursday, the judge of the Superior Court Tim Herrington and the members of the Martin Fraenkel Court and Cathy Farquharson dismissed the challenge of Mr. Staley, but reduced the fine to £ 1,107,306.92.
They said: “We consider the distinction between a close relationship that arises from personal friendship and one that arises from a professional relationship as fallacious.”
They continued: “In our opinion, the evidence that Mr. Staley had a close relationship with Epstein is overwhelming and there was no evidence before us to suggest that many others had a relationship that was similar in the nature to which we have found that existed between Mr. Staley and Mr. Epstein.”
They added: “In our opinion, there is no basis on which Mr. Staley could have concluded that the inclusion of” relationship of relationship without narrow “was precise.”
Staley acted as a private banker for Epstein during his time in JP Morgan, where he worked for more than 30 years before joining Barclays in 2015.
In 2019, Epstein was arrested again after being imprisoned for child sexual crimes in 2008. He died in prison later that year while waiting for the trial for crimes of sexual trafficking.
Leight-Ann Mulcahy KC, for the FCA, told the court in the written presentations that the Guardian dog contacted Barclays in August 2019 for a “security” that the bank's board had “informed and felt comfortable with respect to any association of Mr Staley or Barclays with Mr. Epstein.”
In a letter written to the FCA, approved by Mr. Staley, the president of Barclays, Nigel Higgins, said that “Jesus has confirmed that he did not have a close relationship with Mr. Epstein” and that “Jesus' the last contact with Epstein was long before Barclays” in 2015.
The authority found that the letter was misleading and that Mr. Staley acted “recklessly and without integrity” by allowing it to be sent, with Mrs. Mulcahy saying the audience that the couple maintained the contact through Mr. Staley's daughter until at least February 2017.
The lawyer said that the emails showed that Mr. Staley described Epstein as “family” and one of his “deepest” and “more appreciated” friends, and that between March 2016 and February 2017, Mr. Staley's daughter, Alexa Staley, was used as an intermediary.
In a witness statement, Mr. Staley told the court that he would describe his relationship with Epstein as “professionally quite close” and that his reputation had been “irremediably damaged.”
He said: “It was a professional relationship that was based on business. We weren't personal friends, nor were we personally close.”
Giving evidence in court, Staley said that “he was not aware” of Epstein's abuse.
He said: “I think it was important to emphasize that it was a professional relationship because I think someone with a very close personal relationship would probably have been aware.”
In written presentations, Robert Smith KC, for Mr. Staley, said it would be “completely illogical” to conclude that Mr. Staley would have approved the letter if he believed he was inaccurate or cheated the regulator.
But in his 93 -page ruling, Judge Herrington, Mr. Fraenkel and Mrs. Farquharson said “it was not credible that Mr. Staley did not think the letter would deceive” to the FCA.
They continued that “Mr. Staley would have been expected to have been particularly careful” by ensuring that the letter was precise, and that his infractions of the FCA rules were “a serious failure of judgment.”
The judges concluded that they did not see “no basis on which we must interfere” with the decision to ban Mr. Staley, who said “had not shown remorse for their conduct.”
But they reduced Staley's fine to reflect the fact that, after the FCA published its decision in 2023, Barclays prevented him from deferring the actions to which he could have had the right.
After the ruling, Therese Chambers, Joint Executive Director of Market Compliance and Supervision in the FCA, said: “Mr. Staley chose to run the calculated risk that we assume his inaccurate account of his relationship with Mr. Epstein to the nominal value.
“I hoped that the truth would never come to light and to come with his. A such serious lack of integrity goes against the requirements we place on those of the top.
“The Court's decision shows that we can and act to protect the financial system by keeping those of the roles greater than the high standards required of them.”
The FCA added that Mr. Staley has 14 days to appeal against the ruling.
