Barclays CEO Jes Staley joins the growing line of high-profile figures who have stepped down due to their connection to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In February 2020, Barclays quietly announced that British regulators were investigating CEO Jes Staley’s nearly 15-year business connection to Jeffrey Epstein. While the head of the United Kingdom’s second-largest bank previously said that he had been “transparent and open” with the convicted sex offender, the inquiry may have found otherwise: After a preliminary version of the report was delivered to the bank on Friday, Barclays announced Monday that Staley would step down as chief executive and from his position on the board, though he plans to challenge the inquiry’s findings. The nearly two-year investigation focused on Staley’s relationship with the alleged sex trafficker when he was the head of JPMorgan Chase’s private banking division, where Epstein helped feed him rich clients to sign up for exclusive services. Though Epstein pleaded guilty to procuring a child for prostitution in 2008, the bank kept ties with him until 2013. According to the New York Times, Staley even visited him while he was serving time on a work-release program which was part of his lenient plea deal and allowed him to frequently leave prison.
