- Advertisement -
HomeUK NewsBarclays boss Jes Staley resigns over Epstein inquiry

Barclays boss Jes Staley resigns over Epstein inquiry

Barclays boss Jes Staley has quit in a shock exit after a probe into his links with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein

Barclays has said that it had been made aware of the conclusions of the probe and “Mr Staley’s intention to contest them”.

The City watchdog, as well as the Bank of England have been investigating if Jes Staley’s relationship to the dead financier and convicted sex trafficker was closer than had previously been first thought.

Regulators began investigating after getting a cache of emails between the men from Mr Staley’s former employer.

Before joining Barclays the married father-of-two was an executive at US bank JP Morgan, where Epstein, who took his own life in 2019 while in prison, was already a client.

This comes after Scotland Yard will not be investigating sexual abuse allegations against the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, according to Met Police reports. The Met has reportedly spoken to the accuser Virginia Giuffre and are now said to have decided that they will not take any further action in regard to her claims.

Over many years, Epstein, who was convicted of trafficking a minor for prostitution in 2008 and served 13 months in custody, cultivated contact with the rich and powerful, including former US presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.

Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has spoken of his “huge mistake” in spending time with Epstein, while the equally super-rich Leon Black stood down from US private equity firm Apollo Global Management over his links.

Although Mr Staley, 63, has characterised his relationship with Epstein as professional, with contact starting to “taper off” from about 2013, regulators looked into whether the emails pointed to a friendlier connection.

Mr Staley had already admitted he maintained contact with Epstein for about seven years after his 2008 conviction. And it is also known Mr Staley visited Little St James, a retreat owned by Epstein in the US Virgin Islands in 2015, months before taking the top job at Barclays.

Mr Staley said last year: “Obviously I thought I knew him well and I didn’t. For sure, with hindsight with what we know now, I deeply regret having any relationship with Jeffrey.”

Barclays said in a announcement on Monday that it was “made aware on Friday evening of the preliminary conclusions from the FCA and the PRA of their investigation into Mr Staley’s characterisation to Barclays of his relationship with the late Mr Jeffrey Epstein and the subsequent description of that relationship in Barclays’ response to the FCA”.

This comes after face masks are being made mandatory again for all parliamentary staffers, but not MPs, amid concern over the recent rise in cases of the coronavirus and the safety of workers within the Palace of Westminster.

They continued by saying:

“In view of those conclusions, and Mr Staley’s intention to contest them, the board and Mr Staley have agreed that he will step down.

“It should be noted that the investigation makes no findings that Mr Staley saw, or was aware of, any of Epstein’s alleged crimes, which was the central question underpinning Barclays’ support for Mr Staley following the arrest of Mr Epstein in the summer of 2019.”

Barclays praised Mr Staley’s success at the bank, but added that “the regulatory process had still to run its full course and it was not appropriate for Barclays to comment further on the preliminary conclusions”.

Eve Cooper
Eve Cooper
I've been writing articles and stories for as long as I can remember and in the past few years I've had the fortune of turning that love & passion for writing into my job :)

Breaking News Today is a small UK business struggling to stay afloat during COVID lockdown. If you enjoyed this article or found it useful please subscribe to all of our social media outlets.

285,116FansLike
813FollowersFollow
764FollowersFollow
14SubscribersSubscribe
- Advertisement -

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisement -

Stay Connected

285,116FansLike
813FollowersFollow
764FollowersFollow
14SubscribersSubscribe

Must Read

- Advertisement -