Former Barclays boss Jes Staley has begun a authorized bid to overturn a ban from the UK’s monetary providers trade, associated to his hyperlinks to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The Monetary Conduct Authority (FCA) proposed the management ban in 2023, alongside a £1.8m effective, discovering that Mr Staley had made deceptive statements about his relationship with Epstein in correspondence with the watchdog.
Mr Staley’s barrister informed the Higher Tribunal in a written assertion that Mr Staley, who had stop his job at Barclays in 2021 to contest the FCA’s findings, admits a “close professional relationship” with Epstein however denies they had been buddies.
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Their affiliation dates again to a time when Epstein was a shopper of JPMorgan Chase’s personal financial institution, which Mr Staley headed earlier than taking the function at Barclays in 2015.
The FCA’s ruling associated to the contents of a letter despatched by the Barclays chairman in 2019, however reviewed by Mr Staley, which summarised the depth of the 2 males’s ties in response to a request for “assurance” from the regulator.
The watchdog decided it contained two deceptive statements over their relationship, particularly over how shut they had been and that Mr Staley’s final contact with Epstein was “well before he joined Barclays in 2015”.
The FCA additional discovered that they maintained contact by means of Mr Staley’s daughter as much as at the least February 2017.
Its barrister, Leigh-Ann Mulcahy KC, mentioned in her written opening submission that he acted “recklessly and without integrity” by permitting the letter to be despatched with the deceptive statements.
“Mr Staley has consistently mis-stated the nature of his relationship with Mr Epstein, in particular downplaying thecloseness and extent of their connection, and the time they ceased contact,” she added.
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Jeffrey Epstein was discovered to have killed himself in jail in 2021. Pic: US Division of Justice
“While the origin of the relationship was professional, it evolved into a personal relationship,” the barrister mentioned.
Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019 whereas awaiting trial on intercourse trafficking expenses.
Along with his proposed FCA effective, Mr Staley missed out on pay and bonus awards above £18m after he left Barclays underneath a cloud.
Mr Staley’s barrister, Robert Smith KC, argued the letter despatched by Barclays chair Nigel Higgins to the FCA was “intended to achieve only one purpose, which was to inform the (FCA) that neither Mr Staley nor Barclays had had anyknowledge of or involvement in Mr Epstein’s unlawful conduct”.
He added that the letter was not meant to present a full account of their interactions.
Mr Staley is anticipated to present proof to the listening to in London subsequent week.
The Higher Tribunal can be anticipated to listen to from Financial institution of England governor Andrew Bailey, who was in control of the FCA between 2016 and 2020.
