Jes Staley testifies on Capitol Hill over ties to Jeffrey Epstein

Epstein Files

Former Barclays chief took questions from House oversight committee 

over his links to the late sex offender

Lauren Fedor in Washington and Ortenca Aliaj in London

Published yesterday Updated10:21

Former Barclays boss Jes Staley appeared on Capitol Hill on Thursday to face questions from lawmakers over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Staley is the latest in a string of current and former Wall Street executives to be grilled by members of Congress over their links to Epstein.

Read the original here: https://www.ft.com/content/67928c74-bab1-4406-ac26-7e450b5d7c49?syn-25a6b1a6=1

Kathy Ruemmler, the former top lawyer for Goldman Sachs, last week took part in a transcribed, closed-door interview with the House oversight committee, telling lawmakers that thousands of emails she exchanged with the late sex offender were taken out of context and misconstrued.

The committee also issued two legally binding subpoenas last month to Leon Black, co-founder of Apollo Global Management, compelling him to hand over information after lawmakers said he refused to answer their questions.

The FT first reported that Staley had agreed to participate in his own closed-door interview with the panel after James Comer, the Republican chair of the committee, requested his testimony.

In a letter sent to Staley earlier this year, Comer said lawmakers believed the former banking executive had information that would assist the committee in its investigation into the government’s handling of the Epstein case.

Staley did not respond to reporters’ questions as he arrived at a congressional office building on Thursday morning. Lawyers representing him did not respond to requests for comment.

The former investment banker’s appearance on Capitol Hill came one day after a group of Democratic lawmakers wrote to Nigel Higgins, chair of Barclays, to press for more details about the lender’s efforts to investigate the relationship between Staley and Epstein.

Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren and Democratic House members Ro Khanna and Raja Krishnamoorthi said Barclays’ “apparent failure to meaningfully investigate or address Staley’s relationship with Epstein raises significant governance questions regarding the bank’s ability to hold senior executives accountable for wrongdoing”.

Barclays on Thursday said the bank “conducted an investigation based on the information that was available to us at the time”.

“Since then, new information has emerged that was not available to Barclays that demonstrates Mr Staley misled Barclays and many others as to the nature of the relationship with Epstein,” it added.

Before he became the chief executive of Barclays, Staley ran JPMorgan’s private wealth and asset management divisions, where he counted Epstein as a top client. Staley later said the men had been “very close” and once described him as a “friend”.

The Republican-controlled committee has been investigating the federal government’s handling of the Epstein case for more than a year. The congressional investigation is separate from the Department of Justice’s efforts to publish more than 3mn pages of materials relating to Epstein, who was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges.

DoJ documents released late last year revealed new details about Staley’s relationship with Epstein, including the fact the late financier had appointed him as an executor of his estate.

The DoJ files showed Staley was initially named in January 2012 as Epstein’s “successor executor” who would assume responsibility for executing the disgraced financier’s will in the event that the appointed executors could not fulfil their duties. The former banking chief was listed as an “executor” in two further wills, dated September 2013 and November 2014.

Last year, Staley failed to overturn a lifetime ban from working in financial services imposed on him by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.

In a two-week trial in London, Staley was asked about numerous intimate emails he had exchanged with the convicted paedophile, including ones in which the two men referred to each other as family, as well as whether he had acted as a trustee for Epstein’s estate.

Staley told the court he had declined Epstein’s request to be named a trustee of his estate, a claim that appeared to be undermined by the DoJ documents released late last year.