New Jes tie to Jeff

Staley stood up for pal Epstein at JPM

Eight years before he was ousted as Barclays CEO over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Jes Staley went to bat for the convicted sex offender when Staley ran the investment banking division at JPMorgan, according to a report.

JPMorgan was considering whether to drop Epstein as a client after his 2008 conviction and subsequent 13month prison sentence for soliciting sex from a minor, but Staley argued that Epstein had paid his debt to society and should be retained, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

Dropped as client

JPMorgan eventually severed its relationship with Epstein in 2013, the same year Staley departed for a job at hedge fund BlueMountain Capital before moving again to run Barclays in 2015.

Staley’s earlier support for Epstein underscores Staley’s long-standing ties to the financier and how Staley advocated on Epstein’s behalf well before it resulted in Staley’s exit from Barclays late last year.

In November, reports surfaced that Staley and Epstein had exchanged around 1,200 e-mails during Staley’s 30year tenure at JPMorgan. Some e-mails contained suspicious phrases such as “snow white,” according to the FT.

Staley stepped down from Barclays in November after he reviewed initial findings from a probe by British regulators into whether he had mischaracterized his relationship with Epstein as purely professional, according to the FT. Staley is contesting the findings.

Relationship ended

Staley has stated his relationship with Epstein fizzled following the banker’s departure from JPMorgan, yet he later visited Epstein at his private island in the Caribbean, according to reports.

After Epstein was cut off from JPMorgan in 2013, he began working with Deutsche Bank, according to the FT. Epstein committed suicide in his cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex-trafficking minors.

Both JPMorgan and a spokesman for Staley declined to comment to the FT.