American banker James “Jes” Staley sits for a closed-door interview Thursday after years of mounting questions about his links to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Staley abruptly stepped down as CEO of the British bank Barclays in 2021, as the United Kingdom’s financial regulator dove deeper into the nature of his relationship to Epstein.
The longtime bank executive, who spent years managing relationships with wealthy clients and later publicly said he regretted his ties to Epstein, has maintained that he had a working relationship with the late financier. But their ties have been the subject of a class-action lawsuit and faced intense scrutiny as banks and overseas regulators reexamine how the 69-year-old has characterized the relationship.
Staley was banned for life from senior management roles in the British financial industry after its regulatory authority found he misled investigators about his relationship with Epstein. He appealed the decision and lost.
Both of Staley’s former employers — JPMorgan, and later, Barclays — have sought to mitigate the legal blowback that resulted from Staley’s own on-the-record statements about his connection to Epstein. These legal challenges have also focused on why these institutions would continue financial dealings with Epstein after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Staley’s voluntary interview on July 23 is part of the committee’s ongoing investigation into the federal government’s handling of cases involving Epstein and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
A number of powerful figures from across the political spectrum and the worlds of finance, entertainment and beyond have been named in the Epstein documents released by the Justice Department. Inclusion in the files does not necessarily indicate wrongdoing, but the fallout has led to some high-profile resignations and calls for more accountability.
Other notable figures who have provided testimony include billionaire co-founder of Microsoft and philanthropist Bill Gates, former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, former Attorney General Pam Bondi, two of Epstein’s former assistants and a former prison guard who was working the night before the financier was found dead in his cell.
Why did the committee want to talk to Staley?
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said in a letter to Staley in May that the House Oversight Committee believes he has information that would help them in its ongoing probe into Epstein’s crimes.
Comer told reporters the morning of the interview that, based on documents the committee received, there were internal discussions at JPMorgan Chase about Epstein as a “high-risk” client. Staley, who worked at the banking giant for about three decades, was “the one person who continued to defend Epstein with that firm,” Comer said.
The committee also received emails between Staley and some of the Epstein survivors, though the Republican lawmaker didn’t provide more details.
Staley’s name appears approximately 8,000 times in the millions of documents the Justice Department has released related to the late financier.
Lawmakers have put pressure on U.S. banking regulators, like the Federal Reserve Board, to hold Wall Street executives accountable for ways they may have helped facilitate Epstein’s misconduct.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, sent a letter in November to a member of the Fed and other regulators, highlighting reporting from The New York Times’ on how Staley acted as Epstein’s “chief defender.”
The 2025 Times’ investigation looked into how JPMorgan downplayed internal concerns and ignored suspicious account activity related to Epstein, who was one of the firm’s most profitable clients. Though JPMorgan’s general counsel warned over email in 2011 that Epstein was “not an honorable person in any way” and shouldn’t be a client, Staley said he deserved a second chance, the Times reported.
The bank regrets its yearlong relationship with Epstein, a spokesperson told the newspaper, “but we did not help him commit his heinous crimes.”
The U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein had an estate, sought to hold JPMorgan liable for playing a role in Epstein’s trafficking ring, including not raising red flags about his account activity. JPMorgan agreed to pay $75 million to the U.S. territory in 2023, as well as a $290 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit with Epstein survivors.
READ MORE: Never-before-seen images of Epstein’s private island released
JPMorgan placed the blame more firmly with Staley, whom the bank sued in 2023. Lawyers representing the islands submitted a court filing that claimed that Staley and Epstein exchanged sexually suggestive emails about young women. In its own lawsuit against Staley, JPMorgan accused him of failing to disclose a fuller picture of his ties to the disgraced financier and for prioritizing their personal interests over the bank’s own.
JP Morgan reached a separate settlement with Staley, though the details of that arrangement are confidential.
What has Staley said about his connections to Epstein?
Former Barclays CEO Jes Staley walks near the London court in March, when the Governor of the Bank of England presented evidence at the upper tribunal in Staley’s appeal against a proposed financial services ban over his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters
As the head of JPMorgan Chase’s asset management and investment banking businesses, Staley said he developed a professional relationship with Epstein, who was a client at the bank for 15 years. When Staley left JPMorgan in 2013, the bank drew down its business with Epstein.
Staley became Barclays’ chief executive in 2015. Later, in 2019, the UK Financial Conduct Authority opened a probe that examined Staley’s past relationship with Epstein.
The British bank submitted a letter, with Staley’s approval, that said he “did not have a close relationship” with Epstein and that his last contact with the convicted sex offender was “well before” he joined Barclays in 2015.
But the British investigation and a host of uncovered documents complicate — and contradict — Staley’s narrative.
The UK authority found that Staley was in contact with Epstein weeks before he was appointed as chief executive at the bank in 2015 and maintained indirect contact in 2016 and 2017. The FCA concluded in 2023 that Staley’s prior statements were misleading. In the tranche of emails the British financial regulator examined, it said, Staley described Epstein as one of his “deepest” and “most cherished” friends.
As a result, the FCA issued a lifetime ban that prevents Staley from occupying senior financial roles in the UK. Though Staley challenged the regulator’s decision, an upper tribunal judge upheld the ruling about a year ago.
