LONDON (Reuters) -Former Barclays boss Jes Staley on Thursday lost his high-stakes appeal against a proposed financial industry ban for misleading Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The FCA said in 2023 that it would ban Staley and fine him 1.8 million pounds ($2.4 million) for misleading the watchdog over his ties to late disgraced financier Epstein, which Staley challenged at London’s Upper Tribunal.
Staley said he had no idea about Epstein’s “monstrous activities”, though the case and his evidence brought to light Staley’s emails with Epstein – whom he once called “family”.
The 68-year-old’s case centred on a 2019 letter sent by Barclays Chair Nigel Higgins to the FCA, which approached the British bank shortly after Epstein’s arrest on sex-trafficking charges brought scrutiny on Staley and the financier’s other high-profile associates.
The FCA says the letter contained two misleading statements: that Staley “did not have a close relationship” with Epstein and their last contact was “well before he joined Barclays in 2015”.
Staley, however, said both statements were accurate and that his “close business relationship” with Epstein diminished after he left his previous employer JPMorgan, where Epstein was once a major client.
Upper Tribunal Judge Timothy Herrington ruled in the FCA’s favour, meaning Staley’s ban from holding a senior management role in the financial services industry was upheld.
The fine, however, was reduced to 1.1 million pounds to take account of Barclays suspending the vesting of deferred shares after Staley left the bank.
Staley said he was disappointed with the decision but that he welcomed the tribunal accepting he was not dishonest.
“I have worked tirelessly for my prior employers for the entirety of my career,” he said in a statement.
“I am proud of the support I gave to many individuals during that career and the strategy I developed to help Barclays when it faced immense challenges.”
Barclays did not immediately comment.
Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said Staley “chose to take a calculated risk that we would take his inaccurate account of his relationship with Mr Epstein at face value”, which showed “a serious lack of integrity”.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin and Lawrence White; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
Comments