Epstein emails reveal close friendship with Barclays CEO

FPI / February 19, 2023

Newly-released emails shed new light on the close relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and former JPMorgan executive and Barclays CEO Jes Staley.

Epstein and Staley exchanged more than a thousand emails, many of which included photos of young women in seductive poses, according to court documents released this week by the U.S. Virgin Islands government.

“I’m in the hot tub with a glass of white wine … I owe you much. And I deeply appreciate our friendship. I have few so profound,” Staley emailed Epstein in 2009, according to court documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Epstein in 2009 had completed a sentence for soliciting a minor for prostitution.

One month later, Staley allegedly wrote to Epstein to say how great it had been to give him “a long, heartfelt hug,” after which Epstein allegedly sent Staley two pictures of young women.

Epstein was a client of JPMorgan from about 2000 to 2013. Staley served in a variety of senior private banking and wealth management roles at JPMorgan until leaving the bank in 2013.

Epstein was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

The U.S. Virgin Islands is suing JPMorgan, alleging that the bank facilitated Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking, including at his home on the island of Little St. James, by allowing him access to bank accounts and approving transfers he used to pay young women. The suit says the bank approved payments by Epstein to at least 20 young women or girls who were victims of Epstein.

The newly released emails show Epstein sending Staley photos of young women and discussing trips to Little St. James. The photos, which the suit describes as featuring “young women in seductive poses,” are redacted.

“That was fun. Say hi to Snow White,” Staley wrote in a July 2010 email to Epstein, according to court documents.

Epstein responded: “[W]hat character would you like next?” and Staley replied, “Beauty and the Beast.”

The suit also alleges Epstein wired money to a woman after Staley stayed at Epstein’s Palm Beach, Florida, mansion and then again to the same woman when Staley told Epstein he would be in London.

The suit also alleges that Staley had vouched for Epstein as a client of JPMorgan when internal compliance officers raised questions. Court documents show the bank’s compliance team repeatedly asked for reassurances after Epstein was first indicted on sex-crime charges in 2006, when he pleaded guilty to those charges in 2008, and in later years when news reports about similar behavior continued to surface.

JPMorgan has said it cut off Epstein’s accounts in 2013, shortly after Staley left the bank.

JPMorgan claims it didn’t facilitate any possible crimes committed by Epstein. The U.S. Virgin Islands, the bank has said, should have stopped Epstein.

Staley resigned from Barclays in November 2021 amid a British regulatory investigation into whether the bank had been truthful about his relationship with Epstein.

Staley claims he was friends with Epstein but never knew about his alleged crimes. Staley said he ended the friendship before he became Barclays CEO.

Barclays has said its own investigation found no evidence Staley knew about Epstein’s alleged crimes.

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