Epstein's former private banker appears before House Oversight Committee

Jes Staley, Jeffrey Epstein's former private JPMorgan Chase investment banker whose career as a finance executive came crashing down after the convicted sex offender's death in 2019, is appearing Thursday before the House Oversight Committee as part of the panel's Epstein probe.

"We know that he was very close friends with Mr. Epstein," Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told reporters on his way into the hearing room for the closed-door proceedings. "We know that while Mr. Staley was at JPMorgan there was internal discussions, according to some of the documents that we received, that JPMorgan was concerned about Epstein as a client, that he was a high-risk client, but Jes Staley was the one person who continued to defend Epstein with that firm."

Comer said the panel also has "a lot of questions" about emails and messages between Mr. Staley and some of Epstein's survivors.

"It appears that within JPMorgan there were flags, red flags about Epstein," Comer said.

Staley, 69, spent more than thirty years at JPMorgan Chase, including in senior roles in the private banking and investment divisions, where he managed relationships with ultra-wealthy clients, including Epstein.

After Staley left JPMorgan Chase, he became the CEO of the British multinational bank Barclays in 2015.

Staley agreed to a voluntary transcribed interview with the committee after Comer requested his appearance as part of the panel's wide-ranging inquiry into the federal government's handling of the criminal investigations of Epstein.

Barclays CEO Jes Staley participates in the Finance All Markets Summit at Union West, Oct. 10, 2019, in New York.

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Staley's interview, like others that have occurred in recent months, will not be recorded.

Following Epstein's arrest and death in 2019, Staley came under scrutiny in a lawsuit brought by Epstein's victims, who contended in court filings that JPMorgan Chase and Staley had allegedly ignored red flags that helped enable Epstein to traffic women and girls. JPMorgan Chase settled the case in 2023 for $290 million, without any admission of wrongdoing.

Barclay executives told U.K. financial regulators after Epstein's death that Staley and Epstein did not have a close relationship and that Staley had cut off contact long before he joined the bank as its CEO. But the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) subsequently determined -- based partly on hundreds of emails and records that emerged from the victims' lawsuit -- that Staley had provided misleading information about the extent of the relationship and its timing.

Staley stepped down from Barclays in 2021 and was subsequently banned by the FCA from working in Britain's financial sector.  

Staley lost his appeal of the regulatory body's findings. During the appeal proceedings last year, Staley acknowledged that he had what he described as a consensual sexual encounter with one of Epstein's adult assistants at an apartment building in New York City, owned by Epstein's brother, where Epstein housed some of his employees.

"We had one encounter," Staley testified, according to an account in The Guardian. "Much to my embarrassment today."

Staley has also acknowledged visiting Epstein's private estate in the U.S. Virgin Islands, though not while Epstein was there. He also claimed to have no specific recollection of a series of emails in which Staley and Epstein refer to women using names of Disney characters.

"That was fun. Say hi to Snow White," Staley emailed to Epstein in 2010, according to documents made public in the victims' litigation.

"Which character would you like next," Epstein asked.

"Beauty and the Beast," Staley answered.

"Well, one side is available," Epstein responded, according to the documents.

A lawyer believed to be representing Staley for his interview on Capitol Hill did not respond to a request for comment in advance of Staley's appearance.

Staley, who has not been charged, has denied all wrongdoing and has said he had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes. 

An attorney representing Staley in the victims' civil lawsuit said claims that Staley aided and abetted Epstein were "baseless."

"The allegations against him are slanderous, and the potential damages are astronomical," attorney Brendan Sullivan wrote in a 2023 court filing.

Records released by the Justice Department earlier this year in response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act include unproven allegations of wrongdoing by Staley. The allegations, raised by an alleged Epstein victim, were detailed in an 86-page internal prosecution memo from December 2019.

It's unclear if federal prosecutors pursued those allegations. The Department of Justice has said repeatedly since the disclosure of the Epstein files that there are no credible allegations or evidence that would lead to new federal criminal investigations.