Jes Staley, the former boss of Barclays, has been accused of holding discussions with the late billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein about photographs of young women in sexually suggestive poses.
Staley, 66, is accused in a US lawsuit of exchanging more than 1,200 emails with Epstein, including messages about “women who they referred to by the names of Disney princesses that Epstein [allegedly] procured for Staley”. It is also claimed that Epstein “emailed Staley photos of young women in seductive poses”.
The allegations, which Staley denies, are included in fresh court documents filed in the US Virgin Islands’ (USVI) lawsuit against Staley’s former employer the US investment bank JPMorgan Chase. Staley is not a party to the lawsuit.
The USVI lawsuit accuses JPMorgan of helping Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of women and girls. As part of that claim, it alleges that Staley continued to communicate with Epstein even after the financier had been charged with soliciting a minor for prostitution and was sentenced to house arrest in 2008.
The lawsuit claims that: “In July 2010, Staley sent an email to Epstein, saying: ‘Maybe they’re tracking u? That was fun. Say hi to Snow White.’ Epstein responded: ‘[W]hat character would you like next?’ When Staley said ‘Beauty and the Beast’, Epstein replied: ‘well one side is available’.”
The USVI lawsuit also claimed that Staley appeared to have visited Epstein at his home in Palm Beach, Florida. “On 8 January 2009 – around the time of Staley’s scheduled visit to Palm Beach – Epstein wired $2,000 from his JPMorgan account to a woman with an eastern European surname,” the lawsuit alleges.
In August 2009, Staley is said to have told Epstein that he was coming to the UK. “Epstein inquired whether Staley would need anything while in London, and Staley replied, ‘Yep’. On 31 August 2009, Epstein wired $3,000 from his JPMorgan account to the same eastern European woman Epstein paid in January 2009.”
In another message, Staley told Epstein: “I owe you much”.
It is also claimed that Staley appeared to have visited Epstein’s private island of Little St James in the USVI. Much of Epstein’s abuse is claimed to have taken place on the island and it is why the USVI government has filed the lawsuit against JPMorgan, which it accuses of having “direct and actual knowledge of Epstein’s sex-trafficking venture”.
JPMorgan declined to comment. The bank has previously called on the court to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming it did not participate in or benefit from sex trafficking by its former client.
“Jane Doe 1 is a survivor of Epstein’s sexual abuse, and she is entitled to justice” but has filed meritless claims against the “wrong party”, the bank said in December.
The court filing claims that Epstein used accounts at JPMorgan to pay more than 20 of his victims.
“At least 20 individuals paid through JPMorgan accounts were victims of trafficking and sexual assault in Little St James, New York, and/or other Epstein properties,” the lawsuit alleges.
“These women were trafficked and abused during different intervals between at least 2003 and July 2019, when Epstein was arrested and jailed, and these women received payments, typically multiple payments, between 2003 and 2013 in excess of $1m collectively.
“Epstein also withdrew more than $775,000 in cash over that time frame from JPMorgan accounts, especially significant as Epstein was known to pay for ‘massages’, or sexual encounters, in cash.”
The USVI lawsuit also claims that JPMorgan staff regularly raised concerns about Epstein, but the bank failed to act. In 2010 employees at the bank’s risk management division discussed new allegations against Epstein.
“See below new allegations of an investigation related to child trafficking – are you still comfortable with this client who is now a registered sex offender,” one employee said to others in an internal email.
The lawsuit claims that: “In JPMorgan’s January 2011 review of Epstein’s accounts, the bank concluded there were ‘no material updates’ but noted: A few news stories during 2010 connects Jeffrey Epstein to human trafficking. The coverage team … all met to discuss the situation and agreed to enhance monitoring and document a discussion with the client.
“Jes Staley discussed the topic with Jeffrey Epstein, who replied there was no truth to the allegations, no evidence and was not expecting any problems.”
Staley’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comment, but has previously said: “We wish to make it expressly clear that our client had no involvement in any of the alleged crimes committed by Mr Epstein.”
Last month Staley was accused in a separate US lawsuit of “personally observ[ing] the sexual abuse of young women” by Epstein.
Staley, who resigned as chief executive of Barclays in November 2021 after a preliminary investigation by the UK regulators into his relationship with Epstein, is named in a lawsuit filed by one of Epstein’s victims.
The woman, known only as Jane Doe 1, is suing JPMorgan, where Staley was chief executive of its exclusive private bank until 2013 and had Epstein as a client.
In the complaint filed at Manhattan federal court she alleges that Staley knew of Epstein’s trafficking of young women and witnessed his abuse of them.
Epstein was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019 where he was being held without bail after his arrest on sex-trafficking charges. He was facing trial in Manhattan on federal crimes, having worked out a plea deal in Florida years earlier on charges of sex offences.
