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The former Barclays chief, Jes Staley, was released by fighting in his battle with the British authorities for his ties with the late sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein, after the president of the bank told a court of London that his vision of the couple’s relationship had changed.
In the statements published Monday, Staley, 68, accused regulators of “destroying” his reputation when he sought to cancel the ban and the fine that the Financial Conduct Authority had imposed him for having allowed Barclays to mislead the regulator on the nature of his relations with Epstein.
The case focuses on two statements that Barclays made in a letter in 2019 – that Staley approved – that the managing director “had not had a close relationship” with Epstein and that his last contact with him was “long before” that he had joined the British bank in 2015.
The FCA, which imposed its ban in 2023, argues that an email cache between the two shows that the declarations of the Barclays letter were inaccurate.
Staley said: “The FCA has crossed the most serious and drastic measure that it could, ending my long and distinguished career in financial services and destroying my reputation without asking me to explain any perceived difference” between the letter and the e-mails.
“It has become clear to me. . . that the [Prudential Regulation Authority] And the FCA has prejudiced to the investigation, “he said. “I consider that the case of the FCA against me lacks objectivity and does not have logical control.”
Staley went to the positions of witnesses on Monday shortly after the president of Barclays, Nigel Higgins, who told court that the bank would have questioned Staley about her relationship with Epstein if she then knew what she knows now.
In his witness declaration, Higgins said that during Staley’s time in Barclays: “I understood that the relationship between him and Mr. Epstein was essentially linked to business.”
However, he added: “The information I am aware of put in my mind an image different from the nature of the relationship.”
“If my colleagues in Barclays and I knew all the information I am now aware, I am sure we would have questioned Mr. Staley about this in -depth in -depth information.
“At this distance, and without the advantage of discussing this information with Mr. Staley and other colleagues, I cannot be sure of what we would have concluded.”
In an interview in 2021 with regulators, Higgins had explained that Staley Messis was “affectionate” that Staley sent to Epstein as “the way he writes” to “many people,” the court told the court on Monday.
Staley, in his declaration as a witness, defended his business ties with Epstein, highlighting his links with a long list of influential characters, notably Bill Clinton, Leon Black and Lawrence Summers and describing it as “precious” contact to cultivate.
But he insisted that it was a “professional relationship” which “was based on business”, contesting the characterization of their connection by the FCA as “near”.
“We were not personal friends,” he said in his witness declaration.
Staley said that as long as he remembered, his last meeting with Epstein was in April 2015, when he and his wife visited the island of Epstein for a few hours during the sailing holidays. The sentence in the letter “long before” has referred to this, he said.
Staley said that his last email exchange was October 25, 2015 and that his last phone call was a few days later, when he told Epstein that there would be no more communication.
While the FCA argued that the contacts continued later via his daughter, Staley said did not accept that this contact constituted. He said he had “no memory of having had a discussion with my daughter about this correspondence”.
Staley argues that it was imperfect for the authority to compare the content of the emails between the two with the letter from Barclays to the FCA, the actual aim of which was not to provide an overall report of the pair relationship but simply to ensure the FCA that neither Staley nor Barclays knew or were not involved in Epstein’s criminal conduct.
“I have never tried to hide my relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” added Staley. “If I had known that it was to note that he was a prolific sex offender, I would not have had a relationship with him at all.”
The case continues.
