Private Eye's In the City details the links between the American former CEO of Barclays Bank. Jes Staley, and the proven procurer of girls, Jeffrey Epstein.
Staley ran the JP Morgan private bank from 1999 until 2009, when he took over the investment bank. Epstein played an important role in Staley's rise, steering clients to JP Morgan and facilitating the $1bn plus Highbridge Capital hedge fund purchase in 2004. Epstein reportedly earned $15m from the deal.
Staley remained close to Epstein even after his conviction, visiting Epstein while he was serving his 18-month sentence [in 2008 for soliciting sex from a minor] which allowed Epstein to work at his Palm Beach office on day release. In 2011, Staley was photographed at Epstein's New York mansion along with [Microsoft co-founder] Bill Gates and former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. There were a number of mansion meetings.
Enough, one would have thought, for Barclays to avoid Staley like the plague, rather than pull strings to have him waved through by the UK authorities as the bank's chief executive. But one also has to question JP Morgan's ethics in taking Epstein on as a client in the first place. Even before news of his sexual empire broke, Epstein had been a partner with Steven Hoffenberg in Towers Financial, which turned out to be a glorified Ponzi scheme. In 1995, Hoffenberg was jailed for his part in the enterprise. Epstein got off scot free for reasons which remain unclear. Perhaps he was innocent - but in that case why employ a man who was totally oblivious to a massive fraud carried out for years by his partner? It is unlikely. Clearly, Staley and JP Morgan were not going to question the methods of a man who had a gift for attracting wealthy investors, and Barclays - that once-principled Quaker bank - were similarly seduced by Staley.
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