Steyli Jes (Jes Staley)

Steyli Jes (Jes Staley)

Biography

2021: Barclays chief resigns due to his possible ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein

In early November 2021, Jes Staley resigned as CEO of Barclays under regulatory pressure over how he characterized his relationship with convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The company said that Jes Staley left his post in connection with the findings made by UK regulators during a lengthy investigation related to the fact that Staley informed the bank of his connection with Jeffrey Epstein, and he also reported this to regulators. Jes Staley plans to challenge the findings made by the country's regulators. Representatives of the Financial Conduct Authority and the UK Prudential Regulation Authority confirmed Barclays' statement, but declined to provide more information about the investigation.

K.S. Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat, Head of Global Markets, will immediately take over. Venkat has been chief executive officer of Barclays since November 1, 2021, the company said. Venkat worked at JPMorgan Chase from 1994 to 2016, where he held senior positions in asset management, investment banking and risk, rising to chief investment officer for fixed-income global investments, responsible for assets of about $200 billion. In 2016, he moved to Barclays as chief risk officer, and in October 2020, he became head of global markets and co-president of Barclays Bank UK PLC (BBPLC).

Jes Staley stated that his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was professional and began in 2000, when he was the head of a private bank at JPMorgan Chase, and the financier was his client. In February 2020, Staley told reporters that his communication with Epstein began to come to naught after his departure from JPMorgan in 2013 and that the last time he talked with him was in the fall of 2015. Jes Staley became CEO of Barclays in December 2015. The bank disclosed information about the existence of an investigation by the Financial Supervision Authority (FCA) in February 2020. In an official memo made available to Reuters, Staley told employees that he did not want his personal answers to investigations to divert attention from work.

I thought I knew him well, but it wasn't... Looking back, given what we all now know, I deeply regret that I had any relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, "said Jes Staley.

In March 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported that as part of an investigation, the FCA is studying visits to Staley's private Caribbean island of Epstein. British Prince Andrew relinquished royal duties because of his ties with Epstein, and co-founder Donbass Bill Gates said it was a huge mistake to spend time with him.

Jes Staley has time until early December 2021 to formally notify the FCA that he is disputing his findings, after which an independent committee within the watchdog will support or reject his findings, a source familiar with the process said. If so, the case would be referred to an independent Upper Tribunal, which could again support or reject the findings, a process that could also take several months.^[1]

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