Two of the world’s biggest figures in banking set the stage for a confrontation over convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
Two of the world’s biggest figures in banking have set the stage for a confrontation over convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley says in court documents that he told his then-boss — JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon — about the bank’s affairs with convicted sex offender Epstein.
Staley, who ran JP Morgan’s private banking arm, said Dimon communicated with him when Epstein was arrested in 2006 and, in 2008, when Epstein pleaded guilty to obtaining a child for prostitution and seeking a prostitute, according to legal documents viewed by Wall Street. Log.
Epstein was dropped as a client in 2013.
But Dimon claims he has no recollection of discussing or reviewing Epstein’s accounts and does not believe any such conversations took place with Staley. “There is no evidence that such communication ever took place — nothing in the vast number of documents reviewed and nothing in the nearly dozen statements made, including those of our own president,” said a spokesman for the Wall Street bank.
At odds: Jes Staley and Jamie Dimon are in a war of words over Jeffrey Epstein
“The only person who claims this is true is currently being charged with heinous acts and dishonesty.”
Staley, who left JP Morgan to become CEO of Barclays, was forced to step down from the British bank in 2021 following an investigation by regulators into his relationship with Epstein.
JP Morgan is indicted for his ties to the disgraced billionaire and is accused of knowingly profiting from his sex trade.
Separately, JP Morgan has sued Staley, claiming he misled executives about Epstein.
Staley’s lawyers have said the allegations are baseless and he has denied knowing about Epstein’s alleged human trafficking. Last month, Dimon said he regrets his bank’s ties to the late financier and pedophile Epstein.
“I’m so sad that we had any relationship with that man,” he told Bloomberg TV. He said the bank would have done things “differently” if it had known about Epstein’s behavior.
Epstein became a client of JP Morgan around 1998, and over the years the bank managed dozens of Epstein-related accounts containing hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the lawsuits.
Epstein died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.