Epstein scandal reignites Barclays war with Bramson
Jes Staley under pressure over links to convicted paedophile
CORPORATE raider Edward Bramson has revived his campaign for change at Barclays after it emerged the bank’s boss was being probed over his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Bramson, 69, claimed the investigation into Jes Staley’s conduct was just the latest fiasco in a damaging ‘cycle of disruption’ at the lender.
He blamed weak governance at Barclays, saying it had caused ‘recurrent public disappointments and embarrassments’.
It marked the American activist’s first major attack on the bank since his attempts to win a board seat were defeated last year. Bramson also renewed his long-running calls for cuts at Barclays’ struggling investment banking arm, which has been criticised for low returns.
His comments emerged in a letter to backers of his private equity firm, Sherborne Investors, sent after the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority opened investigations into Staley’s conduct. The regulators are looking at whether Staley, 63, was truthful about the extent of his friendship with US financier Epstein when he took over as chief executive of Barclays five years ago.
The pair’s relationship goes back to 2000, when Staley was running JP Morgan’s private bank and Epstein was a client he was reportedly instructed to befriend.
However, Epstein was convicted for soliciting a child for prostitution in 2008 and Staley remained in touch with him. He visited the predator’s Caribbean retreat, dubbed ‘Paedo Island’, in 2015 with his wife, Debora, as they holidayed on their yacht.
Staley claims to have cut off contact not long after, and says he regrets having any relationship with Epstein, insisting he did not know the US financier’s true nature. Epstein killed himself in a New York jail in August last year. Barclays has said its internal review had no concerns over the way its chief executive had described his dealings with the convicted sex offender.
But analysts have said Staley’s behaviour calls his judgment into question, after he was fined £640,000 in 2018 for trying to unmask a whistleblower at Barclays.
The chief executive has told colleagues he will leave next year, and Bramson’s fresh attack is expected to pile further pressure on him.
The American raider has previously accused Barclays bosses of pursuing a flawed strategy, and wants massive cutbacks at its investment bank. But despite campaigning to win a seat on the lender’s board, his bid won just 3.9pc support from shareholders.
In the letter, he said it had been around a year since he met with Barclays chairman Nigel Higgins to discuss his concerns and that he was now requesting another meeting.
Sherborne Investors still holds 5.47pc of Barclays shares, according to Reuters. New York-based Bramson holds the stock through a controversial loan arrangement which he has extended to July 2022.
Barclays declined to comment.