Ex-Barclays boss denies ‘snow white’ code
A LAWYER for ex-Barclays boss Jes Staley has denied the banker used ‘codewords’ in emails with billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mr Staley exchanged 1,200 emails with the paedophile financier, which included a reference to ‘snow white’, the Financial Times reported.
It comes less than two weeks after Mr Staley, 64, resigned from Barclays after being shown preliminary conclusions of a probe into his relationship with Epstein, a convicted paedophile who killed himself in prison in 2019.
The emails are said to have been exchanged between 2008 and 2012. Regulators are said to have highlighted terms that had no clear meaning, including the reference to ‘snow white’ in a two-message chat. Kathleen Harris, a lawyer for Mr Staley, said in a legal letter to the Financial Times: ‘We wish to make it expressly clear that our client had no involvement in any of the alleged crimes committed by Mr Epstein, and codewords were never used by Mr Staley in any communications with Mr Epstein, ever.’ Mr Staley got to know Epstein in 2000 when he ran JP Morgan’s private bank and Epstein was a client. They stayed in contact after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008. Mr Staley visited him while he was serving his sentence and on work release in 2009.
Mr Staley has said relations began to ‘taper off’ in 2013. They reportedly last met in 2015, when Mr Staley and his wife sailed to Little Saint James, Epstein’s private Caribbean island.
The Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority have been investigating whether Mr Staley properly explained his relationship with Epstein. Ms Harris told The Mail on Sunday: ‘There are ongoing regulatory proceedings and we have no comment to make.’
Mr Staley has also lined up Lord Pannick QC to represent him in his battle with the regulators, The Sunday Times reported.