Wire flash
PoliticsHouse panel grills ex-JPMorgan executive Jes Staley over Epstein ties
Editorial responsibility
- No named human review is recorded for this page.
- Source reporting is collected, normalized, translated or condensed automatically when needed.
- Automatically published source-backed update
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer stated that former JPMorgan Chase investment banking chief Jes Staley defended Jeffrey Epstein and encouraged the bank to retain him as a client despite internal red flags about the convicted sex offender. Staley, who served as Epstein's private banker for over three decades and maintained a close personal relationship, spoke with the committee behind closed doors. UK regulators previously cited over 1,000 emails between the two, including messages where Staley described their friendship as 'profound' and referred to Epstein as 'family.' Staley later became CEO of Barclays but resigned in 2021 amid a dispute with British regulators over his characterization of the relationship and was subsequently banned from the UK financial industry. JPMorgan settled lawsuits with Epstein's victims for $290 million and with the US Virgin Islands for $75 million, without admitting liability.
Source report
Jes Staley, former CEO of Barclays, arrives at the offices of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP in New York on June 11, 2023. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer said Thursday that former JPMorgan Chase investment banking chief Jes Staley encouraged the bank to retain Jeffrey Epstein as a client despite internal red flags about the convicted sex offender.
"It appears that within JPMorgan there were flags — red flags — about Epstein, but Mr. Staley is on record defending Epstein and encouraging JPMorgan to keep him as a client," Comer, R-Ky., told CNBC outside Staley's closed-door interview with the committee. "So we have a lot of questions about that."
Key Details
- Staley's role: Served as Epstein's private banker during his more than three decades at JPMorgan and maintained a close personal relationship with him for years.
- Regulatory findings: U.K. regulators cited more than 1,000 emails between the two men, including messages in which Staley described their friendship as "profound" and referred to Epstein as "family."
- Barclays tenure: Staley later became CEO of Barclays but resigned in 2021 amid a dispute with British regulators over how he characterized his relationship with Epstein. He subsequently lost an appeal of a decision banning him from the U.K. financial industry for misleading regulators about those ties.
Legal Resolutions
JPMorgan agreed in 2023 to:
- Pay $290 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Epstein's victims
- Pay $75 million to resolve a separate case brought by the U.S. Virgin Islands
The bank reached these settlements without admitting liability. JPMorgan later reached a confidential settlement with Staley.
— Karen James Sloan contributed to this report.
Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
Source
US Top News and AnalysisWestern
Part of this Story
House lawmakers grill former JPMorgan executive Jes Staley over Epstein ties