Jes Staley fined £1.8m over ‘reckless’ misleading statements on relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
Jes Staley, the former boss of Barclays, has been fined £1.8m and barred from senior management within financial services for misleading the regulator over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex trafficker.
“The FCA has found that Mr Staley recklessly approved a letter sent by Barclays to the FCA, which contained two misleading statements about the nature of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and the point of their last contact,” the regulator said in a statement this morning.
The fine hinges on a letter sent by Barclays to the FCA, signed off by Staley and based on information given by him, which distanced himself from Epstein and said the pair did not have a close relationship.
Epstein was largely cast aside by polite society after a conviction for sexual offences with a minor in 2008.
Staley’s letter to the FCA said that the Barclays CEO had had no contact with Epstein after being appointed as boss of the bank.
Later emails revealed however that Staley had described Epstein as one of his “deepest” and “most cherished” friends, and furthermore proved that there had been contact between the pair after the date of Staley’s appointment.
“While Mr Staley did not draft the letter there was no excuse for his failure to correct the misleading statements when he was the only person at Barclays who knew the full extent of his personal relationship with Mr Epstein and the specific timings of his contact with him.
“The FCA has found that Mr Staley was aware of the risk that his association with Mr Epstein posed to his career,” the regulator concluded this morning.
Therese Chambers, joint Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA said: “A CEO needs to exercise sound judgement and set an example to staff at their firm. Mr Staley failed to do this. We consider that he misled both the FCA and the Barclays Board about the nature of his relationship with Mr Epstein.
“Mr Staley is an experienced industry professional and held a prominent position within financial services. It is right to prevent him from holding a senior position in the financial services industry if we cannot rely on him to act with integrity by disclosing uncomfortable truths about his close personal relationship with Mr Epstein.”
Staley has referred his Decision Notice to the Upper Tribunal where he will present his case. Any findings in the Decision Notice are therefore provisional and reflect the FCA’s belief as to what occurred and how it considers his behaviour should be characterised.
Following the news, Barclays confirmed that it would scrap a series of payouts to Staley worth £17.8m. It had already suspend all of Staley’s deferred bonuses and long-term share awards.
“The remuneration committee of the board of Barclays exercised its discretion to suspend all of Mr Staley’s deferred bonus and LTIP awards pending further developments in respect of the regulatory and legal proceedings related to the FCA and PRA investigation regarding Mr Staley,” the bank said.
“Following consideration of the detailed findings in the decision notice and the information referred to in it, the remuneration committee has concluded that Mr Staley should be ineligible for or forfeit a number of awards.”
A Prudential Regulation Authority spokesperson said: “We support the FCA’s decision announced today against Jes Staley. It is imperative that senior managers act with integrity and are open and cooperative with the regulators”