Jes Staley

James Edward Staley is an American banker who spent more than three decades at JPMorgan Chase, rose to run its asset management and then its investment bank, and served as group chief executive of Barclays from December 2015 until November 2021. During his JPMorgan years he was the senior executive who managed and advocated for the bank's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, a private-banking client from 1998 to 2013. In a Decision Notice dated May 30, 2023 and published on October 12, 2023, the Financial Conduct Authority banned Staley from holding senior management functions in UK financial services and fined him for recklessly approving a letter that misled the regulator about his relationship with Epstein, a decision the Upper Tribunal upheld on June 26, 2025 while reducing the penalty to 1,107,306.92 pounds.¹²³⁴

JPMorgan Career

Staley joined Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York in 1979 after graduating from Bowdoin College, and spent the 1980s in the bank's Latin America division, including as head of corporate finance for Brazil and as general manager of the firm's Brazilian brokerage.⁵ He headed JPMorgan's private bank from 1999 to 2001, led JPMorgan Asset Management, later Asset and Wealth Management, from 2001 to 2009, and then ran the corporate and investment bank from 2009 to 2013. Mary Erdoes, who ran the private bank from 2005, reported to him, and he reported to Jamie Dimon after Dimon became chief executive on December 31, 2005.⁴⁶⁷ At the height of his JPMorgan career he was discussed as a potential successor to chief executive Jamie Dimon.⁵

Staley managed the private-banking relationship between JPMorgan and Epstein, who became a client of the bank's private bank in 1998.⁸ The Upper Tribunal found that Staley first met Epstein in 1999 or 2000, when Epstein was a client of the private bank Staley headed, and that a senior JPMorgan executive of that period recommended he get to know Epstein as "an exceptionally well-connected man" who could help him form relationships with influential people; the executive is not named in the decision and was not Dimon, who joined the bank in 2004.⁴ In a July 2011 email, JPMorgan general counsel Stephen Cutler wrote to Staley and asset-and-wealth-management head Mary Erdoes that Epstein was "not an honorable person in any way" and "should not be a client," and Cutler later testified that Staley and Erdoes made the decision to keep Epstein.⁸ Epstein also functioned as a source of referrals and introductions for Staley and the bank, including to wealthy potential clients.⁹ Staley testified that Epstein arranged his meetings with former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, British cabinet minister Peter Mandelson and Bill Gates; in January 2008 Staley had his assistant set up a meeting between Barak and JPMorgan executives through Dimon's office. On June 5, 2009 Epstein wrote to Staley that "peter mandelson is now deputy prime minister."¹⁰

In 2013 Staley left JPMorgan after more than 30 years to become a managing partner at the hedge fund BlueMountain Capital.⁵ In February and March 2013, immediately after leaving, he tried to bring Epstein in as a BlueMountain client, which the FCA and the tribunal found contradicted his later statement that he had not done so.¹⁴ JPMorgan terminated its banking relationship with Epstein the same year.⁸ After BlueMountain, Staley was recruited to lead Barclays, joining as group chief executive on December 1, 2015.⁶

Epstein Emails and the 2015 Island Visit

Court filings in litigation brought against JPMorgan by the Government of the United States Virgin Islands disclosed that Staley exchanged roughly 1,200 emails with Epstein from his JPMorgan account between 2008 and 2012; the FCA counted more than 1,100 from July 2008 to December 2012 and about 600 more from January 2013 to October 2015.¹⁹ In a message dated November 1, 2009, sent from Epstein while Epstein was serving his Florida sentence, Epstein wrote, "I deeply appreciate our friendship. I have few so profound."⁹ In a 2010 exchange Staley wrote "That was fun. Say hi to Snow White," and when Epstein asked "what character would you like next," Staley answered "Beauty and the Beast"; Staley later said he had no recollection of the messages.⁹

Staley and his family visited Epstein's private island, Little Saint James in the U.S. Virgin Islands, three times, the last on April 12, 2015, when the family sailed there for lunch; he also visited Epstein's marina near the island twice, his New Mexico ranch, and went to Palm Beach for a birthday dinner while Epstein was under state supervision. Staley testified to two island visits, a count the tribunal treated as further evidence of unreliability.¹⁴⁹ After an April 2015 visit, which Staley described as his last in-person meeting with Epstein, Staley emailed Epstein, "Thanks for the flight and thanks for the lunch. Your place is crazy, and special ... I count u as a deep friend. The girls seemed to enjoy the sail. All the best Jes."¹¹ The April 2015 trip occurred months before Staley was named Barclays chief executive in October 2015.¹¹

JPMorgan filed a third-party complaint against Staley in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on March 9, 2023, within the Virgin Islands action.¹² The complaint asserted indemnification, contribution, breach of fiduciary duty, and "faithless servant" claims, alleging Staley concealed his personal activities with Epstein, and sought to recover compensation paid to him from at least 2006 through 2013.¹² Staley moved to dismiss, arguing JPMorgan was using him as a "shield" for the bank's own failures.¹³

Highbridge, the 2006 Arrest and 2008

In 2004, according to Staley, Epstein was instrumental in JPMorgan's acquisition of Highbridge Capital Management, in which Epstein acted as an adviser to another party. A March 18, 2004 memorandum from Staley and others to Dimon, William B. Harrison Jr. and David Coulter described Epstein as "a founding investor in Highbridge."⁴¹⁴

On July 25, 2006, after Epstein's arrest in Florida, Staley visited him at his home, where, by Staley's testimony, Epstein admitted "engaging in sex for money with young women" and denied only their ages. The next day Staley wrote to Erdoes: "I went and saw him last night. I've never seen him so shaken. He also adamantly denies the ages." Staley admitted in discovery that Dimon communicated with him about the arrest in 2006. After the indictment JPMorgan kept Epstein on a "banking only" basis, which continued until he was asked to leave in 2013. Staley admitted to the tribunal that he knew by 2010 that Epstein had lied to him about the girls' ages.⁴¹⁰

While Epstein was serving his Florida sentence in 2008, Staley sent him confidential bank information. On July 17, 2008 he asked Epstein's advice on his own pay: "Jamie wants me to tell him how much I should make... What do you think?" Epstein advised asking for "a one million dollar increase to 25 million." On August 23, 2008 Staley told him about a potential JPMorgan purchase of Dimensional and sale of American Century. On September 27, 2008 he disclosed that a named client was being exited and that "The Private Bank has brought in $44 billion dollars in the last two weeks," which he admitted breached client confidentiality. On October 10 and 11, 2008 he sent Epstein the term sheet for "Micawber," a proposed JPMorgan and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation special-purpose vehicle that would borrow from the Federal Reserve to buy short-term bank obligations during the financial crisis; the tribunal found that Epstein was the only person who received details of the proposal who was not involved in it.⁴ In 2009 Staley wrote to Epstein about the "danger" of their written correspondence and of wanting to give him a "long heartfelt hug."⁷

In a June 2010 email from London, Staley wrote to Epstein, "Andrew just sat next to me at dinner... Any word on M? This is fun," asked whether "she" was free that night, and declined a call from Epstein because "I'm w A." The tribunal received no innocent explanation from Staley and did not identify "Andrew" or "A." On December 22, 2010 Prince Andrew wrote to Staley: "Wishing you a very happy Christmas and New Year. Sorry to have missed you this week... I will be at Davos as usual."⁴¹⁰

On December 2, 2010 Jeffrey Epstein forwarded Staley a message he had received that day from an account displayed as "The Duke," under the subject "Aria Petroleum." The forwarded text, signed "HRH The Duke of York KG," reads: "I should have done something about this but not sure if the office did. I am checking but as this is a US institution do you know of anyone who might like to take a look?" Beneath it was a September 30, 2010 message to Prince Andrew, copied to his private secretary Amanda Thirsk, from Ed Scott, managing partner of Concord Investment Partners Holdings, who wrote that he was "going on board of Aria Petroleum," described as "Central Asia's 2nd largest fuel distribution company" and "the preferred vendor of US DoD Defense Logistics," and asked for an introduction to "the appropriate senior banker at Barclays or RBS" for a "$200 million working capital line." Epstein's message to Staley, sent at 6:42 PM (displayed from "Jeevacation"), consisted of "FYI."¹⁵ The document bears the production legend "Confidential Treatment Requested by JPMorgan Chase."¹⁵

The 2011 Retention

In 2011 the bank's anti-money-laundering staff asked to exit Epstein, and an internal email said the decision to keep him was "all due to Jes's personal relationship." The tribunal recorded internal evidence that general counsel Stephen Cutler believed Epstein "would have been exited as a client of JPM had not Mr Staley vouched for him," and found it more likely than not that Staley's advocacy caused the retention; Staley testified that Cutler had full latitude to exit Epstein and that he would not have stood in his way. Staley admitted in cross-examination that he knew of and discussed with Epstein the bank's 2011 concern about Epstein's "atypical cash withdrawals" and the trafficking allegations, contrary to his witness statement. An August 4, 2011 internal meeting concluded that the private bank's chief executive, John Duffy, would "reach out to Jes Staley and advise that we exit while things are a bit settled."⁴⁷¹⁰

During the same weeks Epstein was pitching Staley and Erdoes on business. On July 27, 2011 he wrote to both, copying Boris Nikolic, the chief science and technology adviser to Bill Gates, that for a proposed charitable fund "the mimimum donation would be 100 million," that "a portfolio will be established for each donor," and that "the charitable fees. audit fees, investment mgmt fees, trustee fees, will all be JPM."¹⁶ On August 27, 2011 he told them that senior staff of the Gates foundation "say they are getting confusing messages from JPM. They say that JPM wants to use the current foundation to do other things," and closed, "There are too many people without direction. lets speak,,"¹⁷

Project Jeep

After The New York Times reported on Epstein's Wall Street ties on July 22, 2019, JPMorgan's financial-crimes compliance unit began an internal review, later called Project Jeep, whose trade-surveillance staff summarized 222 email exchanges, most of them between Epstein and Staley, in a 22-page document dated September 17, 2019 and circulated on October 27 and 28, 2019. Its first heading read: "Jes Staley appears to have a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, regularly communicating with him and seeking advice from him including while Epstein is incarcerated."¹⁸¹⁹²⁰ Two items were singled out in the cover email. Under that heading, the reviewers quoted Epstein's December 30, 2008 message offering Staley his house while he was in custody ("everyone is gone except the housekeepers, you are more than welcome to use the house . you will be well looked after. the chef from paris is there"), and Staley's reply the next day that he had "asked Rosa to make a date free in early January for me to visit the Palm Beach office and spend some time with you." Under a heading on comments that "may have the appearance of relating to inappropriate behavior with one reference between Epstein and Staley to a modeling agency," they placed an August 27 to 29, 2009 exchange in which Staley wrote that he would be "In London with Jamie, mid week," Epstein asked "how long london? Do you need anything there?" and Staley answered "Yep," beside a 3,000 dollar wire from Epstein's JPMorgan account on August 29, 2009 to a woman in Lithuania associated with a ballet company there, who had received 2,000 dollars from Epstein on January 8, 2009.¹⁹ JPMorgan's counsel told the court that the summary was prepared after Epstein's death by employees with no contemporaneous knowledge of the relationship.²⁰

In its October 10, 2025 letter to Senator Ron Wyden, JPMorgan stated that "with the exception of former JPMC executive Jes Staley, the Firm's executives (current and former) are respected professionals who acted with integrity," described Staley as the only person claiming Dimon knew of Epstein before 2019, and quoted the tribunal's finding that he "lacked credibility."²¹ Wyden's August 2026 report named Staley among thirteen bankers whose conduct it said merited investigation.⁷

Barclays and the FCA Ban

While Barclays chief executive, Staley was separately sanctioned for attempting to identify a whistleblower who had sent letters criticizing a senior Barclays hire; in 2018 the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority fined him 642,430 pounds and Barclays cut his pay.²² Staley remained chief executive until November 2021, when he resigned as the FCA and PRA conclusions about his Epstein relationship became known.²

On February 13, 2020, the morning the FCA's inquiry into how Staley had described the relationship became public, a business editor at the London newspaper i asked the FBI National Press Office whether Staley had been asked to cooperate with its Epstein investigation. An FBI New York public affairs specialist replied that "it's not something we'd be able to comment on," and forwarded the query internally as "news of the day." A member of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York answered the FBI forward: "The FCA reached out to me this morning to give me a heads up as well. We too will not comment if asked."²³

The FCA's case centered on an October 8, 2019 letter that Barclays sent to the regulator after an FCA call on August 15, 2019, which Staley reviewed on October 6 and approved by email on October 7 as "comfortable with the language," stating that he "did not have a close relationship" with Epstein and had "ceased contact" with Epstein before joining Barclays.¹ The FCA found those statements misleading, citing emails in which Staley described Epstein as one of his "deepest" and "most cherished" friends, and evidence that Staley was in contact with Epstein in the days before his Barclays appointment was announced on October 28, 2015, and indirectly in 2016 and 2017.¹ On October 8, 2015, before the appointment was public, Staley told Epstein that the Barclays board's nominations committee had approved it, and their emails continued until October 25, 2015; Staley had described the April 2015 visit to Barclays colleagues as his last contact. The FCA's Decision Notice, dated May 30, 2023 and published on October 12, 2023, banned Staley from senior management functions and set a penalty of 1,812,862 pounds: 30 percent of his 5,493,526 pounds in relevant income from October 2018 to October 2019, raised 10 percent for his 2018 whistleblower sanction, with no settlement discount because the parties did not agree at the first stage. Staley referred the decision to the tribunal, which suspended its effect.¹²

The Upper Tribunal heard Staley's reference and, on June 26, 2025, dismissed it and upheld the prohibition, finding that he had acted recklessly and with a lack of integrity and that the evidence of his Epstein relationship was "overwhelming."³ The tribunal reduced the financial penalty from 1,812,862 pounds to 1,107,306.92 pounds, reflecting deferred Barclays shares that he forfeited, and applied the standard that recklessness as to the truth of statements on which others may rely amounts to a lack of integrity without proof of dishonesty. The FCA's Final Notice of July 23, 2025 imposed the prohibition from that date and required payment by August 6, 2025.³⁴²⁴ During the proceedings Staley testified that he had a sexual encounter with a member of Epstein's staff years earlier, and he maintained that he had not been dishonest.²⁵