Former bank executive Jes Staley is said to have been at Epstein’s sex parties

Former top executive Jes Staley is being sued by his former employer. What is going on?

A remarkable case in the American banking world. JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the country, is suing former top manager Jes Staley (66). He spent years in the highest circles of JPMorgan, and managed the money of Jeffrey Epstein, among others. This well-known financier was arrested in 2019 for abusing a large number of underage girls, who were recruited by his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. That same year he committed suicide in his cell.

JPMorgan Chase itself fears prosecution for facilitating the recruitment network of customer Epstein: two cases are already pending. But JPMorgan wants if it is at fault in these matters, the bank can hold Jes Staley responsible. This way it does not have to pay any fines itself. That is why the bank is now prosecuting the ex-top manager, so to speak.

What is Staley’s role according to JPMorgan?

According to lawyers for the bank, Staley was deeply involved in Epstein’s network. For example, he would have visited sex parties and also seen Epstein abuse women there. JPMorgan also suspects that Staley himself assaulted a woman at one of the parties, the indictment said.

Staley never reported any of this to his employer, the bank said. He should have, because Staley knew from his presence at the parties that Epstein was a criminal client. The bank would also have explicitly asked Staley whether Epstein could be a customer or not.

JPMorgan is also demanding paybacks from Staley, from 2006 to 2013. In those years, his lack of “loyalty” to his employer, as the bank describes it, played a role. In total, the bank paid him about $80 million between 2006 and 2011, said the Financial Times.

Staley left JPMorgan in 2013 after three decades and joined Barclays in 2015 as the top man. There he took a step back in 2021 after authorities in the United Kingdom launched an investigation into his ties to Epstein.

What does Staley herself think of the charges?

No response has yet been received from Staley. But it already seems clear what his defense will be: at the top of JPMorgan Chase, many more people would have known about Epstein’s behavior. The bank would have deliberately chosen not to exclude him as a customer because he brought in a lot of money.

This point was already made last week by a lawyer for one of Epstein’s abuse victims, who brought one of the original two cases against JPMorgan Chase (the other was brought by the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned a home).

According to this Brad Edwards, the big bank wants to shift the blame onto Staley, he said against the Financial Times. He has been trying – together with the lawyers of the US Virgin Islands – for some time to seize correspondence from current JPMorgan chairman Jamie Dimon: in fact the most famous and most important banker in the United States. They also want him to testify under oath.

In the absence of columnist Marike Stellinga, who is on writing leave, NRC chooses a person of the week every Saturday.