US lawsuit alleges Jes Staley saw Jeffrey Epstein abuse young women – report
A US lawsuit filed today has accused former head of Barclays Jes Staley of “personally observ[ing] the sexual abuse of young women” by Jeffrey Epstein.
Staley is named in a lawsuit filed by one of Epstein’s victims, known as Jane Doe 1, who is suing JP Morgan for allegedly facilitating her sexual abuse.
Staley was chief executive of JP Morgan’s exclusive private bank until 2013 and had Epstein as a client.
It is alleged that Staley was aware of Epstein’s trafficking of young women and witnessed his abuse of them, according to a complaint filed at Manhattan federal court, first reported by The Guardian.
According to the report, the filing says: “To be clear, during his years as a top executive at JP Morgan, Staley was not only one of Epstein’s closest pals, but more importantly, he was a frequent visitor at Epstein’s townhouse, including visiting the massage room; Staley met many of Epstein’s trafficking victims, including Jane Doe 1; Staley visited the Epstein-owned victim stash house apartments at [an address on the Upper East Side], and Staley personally observed the sexual abuse of young women, including Jane Doe 1.”
“As a result of Staley’s direct and actual knowledge of Epstein’s sex-trafficking venture, JP Morgan had direct and actual knowledge of Epstein’s sex-trafficking venture,” the complaint states.
“To put it plainly, Epstein needed a bank that knew he was engaging in illegal activity and did not care, which Epstein had in JP Morgan.”
Staley’s alleged ties to Epstein date back to the early 2000s when Epstein was a client of JP Morgan’s private bank.
JP Morgan declined to comment, although the bank has previously called on the court to dismiss the lawsuit.
Staley’s lawyer declined to comment, but has previously said: “We wish to make it expressly clear that our client had no involvement in any of the alleged crimes committed by Mr Epstein.”