About this episode
The UK Financial Conduct Authority imposed a major penalty on former Barclays CEO Jes Staley over the way he described his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The FCA concluded that Staley had acted recklessly and without integrity when he approved a 2019 letter from Barclays to the regulator that contained misleading statements about how close he had been to Epstein and when the two men had last been in contact. The letter said Staley did not have a close relationship with Epstein and had stopped communicating with him well before becoming Barclays CEO, but hundreds of emails showed Staley had described Epstein as one of his “deepest” and “most cherished” friends and remained in contact with him much later than represented. In 2023, the FCA initially proposed a £1.8 million fine and a ban preventing Staley from holding senior management or significant-influence positions in the UK financial industry. Staley challenged the decision, but in June 2025 the Upper Tribunal upheld the FCA’s core findings and the industry ban, concluding that he had lacked integrity, failed to deal openly with the regulator and had a clear motive to minimize the true nature of his Epstein relationship. The tribunal reduced the financial penalty from £1.8 million to approximately £1.1 million, largely because Barclays had separately denied Staley deferred shares he otherwise might have received after the FCA announced its action. The FCA issued its final notice in July 2025, formally imposing a penalty of £1,107,306.92 and barring Staley from performing senior management or significant-influence functions at regulated financial firms. The punishment was significant because it was not based simply on the fact that Staley knew Epstein; it was based on the regulator’s finding that one of Britain’s most senior bankers had misled both Barclays and the FCA when confronted about that relationship. to contact me: bobbycapucci@protonmail.com
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