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October 14, 2025 12 mins
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) concluded that former Barclays CEO Jes Staley misled regulators about the depth of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The FCA determined that Staley “recklessly approved” misleading statements in a 2019 letter sent by Barclays, which downplayed his contact with Epstein and suggested their relationship had ended long before his tenure at the bank. In reality, correspondence revealed an ongoing relationship that continued for years after Epstein’s first conviction. The FCA ruled that Staley’s conduct demonstrated a lack of integrity and transparency expected of senior banking officials and issued a penalty totaling £1.8 million alongside a ban preventing him from holding any senior management or key function roles in the UK financial sector.

After a lengthy appeal process, the UK Upper Tribunal upheld the FCA’s decision in mid-2025, describing Staley’s behavior as a “serious failure of judgment” and noting his lack of contrition throughout proceedings. While the tribunal slightly reduced the fine to £1.1 million, it agreed that Staley’s conduct warranted a permanent ban from leadership positions within financial services. The ruling effectively ends Staley’s career in banking and cements his downfall from one of the UK’s most prominent financial figures to a cautionary tale of hubris, poor judgment, and the enduring fallout from his ties to Epstein.


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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up everyone, and welcome back to the Epstein Chronicles.
Yesterday we were talking about Jess Staley and the fact
that the FCA had slapped him on the ass a
bit over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. And it wasn't
just his relationship with Epstein, it was the fact that
he wasn't honest about that relationship and that led directly

(00:22):
to the downfall of Jess Staley. And he has nobody
it'll blame but himself. Another man that had everything you
could possibly want, all the money in the world, prestige, power,
and it wasn't enough. He had to have a little
bit more. And because he wanted more power, because he
wanted more prestige, and he wanted more money, he was

(00:44):
willing to look the other way while Jeffrey Epstein was
busy raping and trafficking literally hundreds to thousands of girls.
And Jess Staley has the audacity to go and sit
on this man's island and take a dumb in his
jacuzzi and then lie about the whole entire ordeal. Well,

(01:06):
those chickens certainly came home to roost, and not for nothing.
But if it wasn't for all of you out there
that have demanded that this occur, This would have never happened.
There would have never been renewed scrutiny on Epstein, there
would have been no scrutiny on Ghlaine Maxwell, and certainly
no scrutiny on the financial sector. But the folks out
there who refused to accept that continued on the path

(01:29):
until there was some movement and eventually, well, we saw
what we saw. Now is that good enough? Not? In
my opinion, I want people to be arrested. I don't
just want to see people lose their jobs or be shamed.
While that's okay, that's good if you're somebody that was
participating in Epstein's nonsense, it's not enough. And the fact

(01:51):
that only Ghlainne Maxwell and Jean Luke Brunel ended up
in jail is not exactly what I'd call a banner
moment for the Department of Justice. Today's article was published
by the Guardian and the headline call me FCA releases
messages between former Barclay's boss and Jeffrey Epstein. This article

(02:12):
was authored by Colleina Makertoff. The UK's Financial watchdog has
released a series of messages between former Barclay's boss Jess
Staley and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein referring to the
strength of their friendship. And for Jess Staley, it just
keeps getting worse and worse. Before he was able to

(02:34):
deny with at least some kind of plausibility that he
had a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, at least a relationship
that was being pitched. Well, now that we have all
of these documents, he can't do that anymore. And while
that might have worked with the legacy media and people
who are uninitiated when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein, the

(02:55):
rest of us knew that Jess Staley played a key
role in not only fostering the relationship between Epstein and
JP Morgan, but also in helping Epstein manipulate and make
his move through the JP Morgan system to wash his money,
because that's what he was doing. And it's amazing to
me that nobody has brought that up yet. Let's not

(03:17):
forget what Jeffrey Epstein's one skill was besides being a scumbag,
and that was hiding money. The man knew how to
work the offshore system. He knew how to stash money,
and he knew how to manipulate the tax system just
about everywhere he was at, and all of his rich
buddies were utilizing that, from Leon Black on down. The

(03:38):
messages form part of its seventy nine page report, which
says Staley and the late billionaire exchanged more than one thousand,
one hundred emails between July two thousand and eight and
December twenty twelve, and continued communicating between January twenty thirteen
and October twenty fifteen, exchanging almost six hundred emails during

(03:59):
that period. Yeah, but Jess Staley had no idea. They
weren't close. Come on, they weren't buddies. They weren't hanging out.
Jess Staley wasn't asking about snow white and beauty and
the beast. Oh wait, he was. The Financial Conduct Authority
also notes that Staley visited a number of Epstein's properties
throughout their relationship, including a private Caribbean island in April

(04:23):
of twenty fifteen. Well after everybody knew what Epstein was
up to, all these people that are like, well, he
served his time, and you know, he did his bid
in jail, so we could hang out with him again. Basically,
what they're saying is that Epstein can solicit children for prostitution,
and they're okay with it. That's what they're telling you.

(04:44):
And when somebody tells me something, you better believe I'm listening.
The FCA has provisionally concluded that it was misled by
Staley over the extent of the close personal relationship, prompting
it to find him one point eight million pounds and
banned him from holding senior city roles. He has referred

(05:04):
to the decision to the regulatory's Upper Tribunal for reconsideration. Oh,
of course, it's always someone else's fault, which is pretty
mind boggling, considering nobody forced anybody to hang out with
Jeffrey Epstein. All of these people did it with their
eyes open. They knew what they were doing, and they
thought they were going to benefit from it. That's why
they did it. Here we examine some of the regulators

(05:27):
striking findings from its three year investigation. July twenty fifteen,
Cross your toes. Staley turns to Epstein. In late twenty nineteen,
Barclays told the FCA that Staley's last contact with Epstein
was well before he joined Barclays. In twenty fifteen. Oh yeah,
that's the truth. Huh. What an absolute liar. And the

(05:50):
fact that Staley thought he was going to get away
with it tells you all you need to know about
the investigation or non investigation that was going on at
the time. You would think that with all of these
co conspirators still out there, sarah Vic and Keller's and
the rest of them, never mind people like Jess Staley,
that there would be a robust investigation behind the scenes.

(06:10):
None of that. Nobody else is going to jail. I
hope nobody's getting their hopes up thinking other people are
going to jail here because it's not going to happen. However,
unbeknownst to Barclay's board, Staley confided in the finance here
you mean pedophile right throughout the process to appoint him
chief executive of the bank, including in early July, when

(06:31):
he forwarded an email from Barclay's nominations committee commenting here
we go. Later that month, however, Epstein said better if
you not email me phone only. Staley followed up with
a blank email in August and September, instructing the billionaire
in the subject line to call my cell and call me.

(06:51):
So these two buffoons were actively trying to avoid any
kind of paper trail and still ended up leaving a
paper trail as long as a CVS receipt. He went
on to thank Epstein in an email with the heading
friendship in October, weeks before his appointment was made public.
You never wavered in your friendship these last three years.
That means a lot to me. Cross your toes, the

(07:14):
prospective boss kept Epstein informed as the nomination committee on
board approved his appointment. I should have the contract by
the weekend. We're very close. I love how he throws
that where very close in there, and that shows you
just how close these two were. I mean, everybody's happy
when their friend is going to get a promotion, right,
Jeffrey Epstein was no different, except he was happy for

(07:36):
a different reason. He was happy because with jeff Staley
getting this promotion, he knew that it was going to
make his life a lot easier and he was hoping
that he'd be able to use that as some sort
of tool or lever that he could have in his toolbox. Remember,
Epstein collected people. That was one of the things that
he loved to do, and he'd keep those people and

(07:58):
he'd use them when necessary. Stalee later told the FCA
that Epstein did not have a formal or informal advisory
role regarding his appointment, but that he had previously turned
to Epstein on matters relating to his career and wanted
to hear his thoughts on the matter. Staley said he
trusted him to be discreet. Oh isn't that nice? I

(08:19):
trust my buddy, Jeffrey Epstein, the human trafficker, the kid
raper to you know, be discreete. The FCA said no
one at Barclay's was aware Staley had shared confidential information
about the negotiations with Epstein in light of his impending
appointment as CEO. Mister Staley had an interest in giving

(08:39):
Barclay the impression of a greater distance between himself and
mister Epstein then was the case at the time, The
watchdog said October twenty fifteen, we will be fine. Media
questioned Staley's ties. In mid October, as his appointment drew nearer,
Staley sent an email apologizing to Ebstein, the press is

(09:02):
all over me, trying to lay low. Sorry. Epstein later
forwarded and emailed to Staley from an unnamed national newspaper
journalist who was inquiring about the pairs relationship that resulted
in the two of them discussing a previous meeting at
Epstein's home in New York, prompting Staley to reassure the financier,

(09:22):
don't worry, We'll be fine. Oh isn't that nice? Huh
So what was Staley even talking about? Don't worry, we'll
be fine. Okay, I guess what were you involved in?
You dirty, rotten scoundrel. That same day, Staley told Epstein, Okay,
I'm going to play is simple. I've known you as
a client. I will tell b tomorrow. Let me know

(09:45):
if they say something else, but stay away from them.
I'm fine. The journalist then told Barclays that the article
would allege that Epstein sought to influence Staley's appointment. After
speaking to Staley, Barclays instructed the law firm to send
the newspaper a letter that should major on quashing the
notion that the two are close and certainly for twenty

(10:08):
fifteen that there has been no collaboration. So it was
all about trying to whitewash it. It was always about
whitewashing his relationship. With Epstein and the fact that so
many people let him do it for so long is
just straight up gross. And that goes for Barclays too.
They knew what was going on here the whole Oh,
we had no idea. Does anyone really buy that? An

(10:30):
article later published by The Daily Mail on October twenty
fifth stated that the new head of top British bank
Barclays was secretly backed for the job by the notorious
billionaire pedophile former friend of Prince Andrew. The FCA said
in its report that no individual at Barclays was aware
that mister Staley and mister Epstein had discussed press inquiries

(10:53):
regarding their relationship. Twenty nineteen, Barclays denies boss close relation
relationship with Epstein. The FCA contacted Barclays four years later,
in August of twenty nineteen, just days after Epstein died
in prison while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking
underage girls. The regulator asked the bank to confirm what

(11:17):
it had done to satisfy itself that there was no
impropriety with respect to their relationship. After press reports alleging
deep ties between Epstein and Wall Street figures including Staley,
Barclays replied in October, saying at least three executives and
board members had conversations with Staley confirmed to us that

(11:38):
he did not have close relationship with mister Epstein and
his last contact with mister Epstein was well before he
joined Barclays in twenty fifteen. The watchdogs said both statements
were misleading but had been recklessly approved by Staley, leading
to its decision to find him and ban him from
Senior City Roles. Staley said on Thursday, I'm very disapos

(12:00):
pointed by the FCA's decision and I will continue to
challenge it. Well, he can challenge this to San Gennar.
It's not gonna matter. They're not going to change their mind.
The facts are the facts, and Jess Staley is certainly
somebody who is going to have to fall on his sword.
Now does that mean he's going to jail? Nope, not
at all. But he is pretty much finished as far

(12:21):
as the world of banking, at least in the world
of banking in England. All right, everybody that's gonna do
it for this one. All of the information, including my
contact information, can be found in the description box.
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