Jes Staley exchanged 1,200 emails with Jeffrey Epstein from 2008 to 2012 and the correspondence showed a close relationship between the pair, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the correspondence.
The emails between Staley, who was then working at JPMorgan Chase, and Epstein are part of a U.K. regulatory investigation that prompted the banker to step down as chief executive of Barclays.
Staley abruptly resigned last week after the Financial Conduct Authority told the bank of the preliminary findings of a multiyear probe into the CEO’s account of his relationship with the convicted pedophile Epstein. Staley dealt with the former money manager for 15 years in his former role as head of JPMorgan’s private bank, and has always said that relationship ended before he started at Barclays in 2015.
Regulators have highlighted some terms in the emails whose meaning wasn’t obvious from the context, the FT said, including one that referenced “snow white.”
Kathleen Harris, a lawyer for Staley, told the FT that Staley had “no involvement in any of the alleged crimes committed by Mr. Epstein, and codewords were never used by Mr. Staley in any communications with Mr. Epstein, ever.” She said all the emails were innocuous.
A spokesperson for Staley said “he intends to contest the initial findings of the FCA and PRA investigation. He will not be making any further public statements at this point.”
The FCA declined to comment. Barclays, which declined to comment, has previously said “the investigation makes no findings that Mr. Staley saw, or was aware of, any of Mr. Epstein’s alleged crimes.” JPMorgan declined to comment.
Epstein was found dead in his U.S. jail cell in 2019, after being arrested and charged with sex trafficking. Epstein spent decades cultivating ties to U.S. and British elites including several Wall Street figures.
