Former banking titan's dirty secret with Epstein employee revealed during failed appeal
A former major banker with ties to Jeffrey Epstein lost a bid to clear his name and go back to work in one of the world's key cities for global finance this week.
Jes Staley, a former Barclays CEO and a longtime executive at JPMorgan, lost his appeal in a UK court this week to overturn a lifetime ban from London banking stemming from his ties to the disgraced financier and sex trafficker, who died in 2019.
During the course of the appeal, the 68-year-old Staley, who is from Boston, admitted to having sex with an Epstein employee, the Guardian reported. He told the tribunal it happened behind Epstein's back.
Excerpts from a cryptic 2010 email chain were also revealed in court, with no explanation given.
"That was fun," Staley wrote to Epstein, according to the BBC. "Say hi to Snow White."
"What character would you like next?" Epstein replied.
"Beauty and the Beast."
While the court agreed to cut his fine from £1.8 million, about $2.47 million, to £1.1 million, or around $1.5 million, the ban remains intact, BBC reported. The court took issue with a 2019 letter that a Barclays board member sent to British financial regulators after Epstein's arrest in the United States on sex trafficking charges.
Staley didn't write it but admitted he had approved the draft, he told the tribunal. It claimed he and Epstein did not have a close relationship and that they had cut off ties before 2015, the year Staley became Barclays CEO.
The judge disagreed, finding the evidence that the two were close "overwhelming," according to the UK reports.
The emails described visits to Epstein's New York City mansion and his private island in the Caribbean, and Epstein reportedly lobbied for Staley to get the Barclays job.
Staley later stepped down amid pressure over his ties to the suspected trafficker and child sex abuser.
Epstein died in 2019 in his jail cell while awaiting trial on trafficking charges.
A federal investigation determined he had hanged himself, but his family disputes that finding.
Staley has denied any knowledge of Epstein's crimes and condemned them.
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