Ex-Barclays boss ‘watched Epstein girls being abused’
THE former boss of Barclays ‘personally observed’ the sexual abuse of young women while with Jeffrey Epstein, a US lawsuit claimed last night.
Jes Staley faced the most damning allegations yet about his links to the billionaire paedophile since he was forced out of the bank.
The lawsuit filed in New York claimed he saw a woman named as Jane Doe 1 and others being assaulted.
Mr Staley, 66, knew the names of ‘ many’ of Epstein’s victims and exchanged emails with the financier about ‘sexual topics’, it is alleged.
He also visited Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean and an apartment block in Manhattan where Epstein would ‘stash’ his victims.
Mr Staley resigned from Barclays in November 2021 amid an investigation by British regulators into his relationship with Epstein, who hanged himself while awaiting trial in 2019.
The lawsuit accuses Mr Staley and JP Morgan, the bank at which he previously worked for 30 years, of turning a blind eye to Epstein’s sex trafficking and enabling it by allowing him and his co- conspirators to retain accounts and pay victims. It calls the bank’s conduct ‘outrageous’.
According to the civil lawsuit, Mr Staley was ‘one of Epstein’s closest pals’.
It claims: ‘He [Staley] was a frequent visitor at Epstein’s [ Manhattan] townhouse, including visiting the massage room; Staley met many of Epstein’s trafficking victims, including Jane Doe 1; Staley visited the Epstein-owned victim stash house apartments… and Staley personally observed the sexual abuse of young women, including Jane Doe 1.’ The lawsuit claims Mr Staley was ‘well aware’ Epstein ran a ‘sex trafficking venture’.
This was based on claims including that he ‘went to Epstein’s house in New York many times; personally spent time with young girls whom he met through Epstein on several occasions; personally visited young girls at Epstein’s apartments; [and] personally visited Epstein on his island’.
Mr Staley also ‘personally observed Epstein sexually grab young women in front of him’, it is alleged.
The lawsuit states: ‘As a result of Staley’s direct and actual knowledge of Epstein’s sex trafficking venture, JP Morgan had direct and actual knowledge of Epstein’s sex trafficking venture.’
The relationship between Mr Staley and Epstein dates back to the early 2000s when Epstein was a client of JP Morgan’s private bank.
They were so close that Mr Staley visited Epstein while he was serving a prison sentence in Florida in 2009 for procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. Like Prince Andrew, Mr Staley stayed in touch with him after he was released. In a separate US court filing last week, prosecutors in the US Virgin Islands, which is pursuing its own case against JP Morgan over its links to Epstein, said the paedophile and Mr Staley were so close it could ‘even suggest Staley may have been involved in Epstein’s sex trafficking operation’.
Mr Staley’s lawyer declined to comment, but he has previously said: ‘We wish to make it expressly clear that our client had no involvement in any of the alleged crimes committed by Mr Epstein.’
JP Morgan declined to comment but has previously asked the judge overseeing the case to dismiss it.
‘Well aware of sex trafficking’