Former Barclays boss denies friendship with Epstein, US Democrats skeptical

By Nupur Anand and Pete Schroeder

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, July 23 (Reuters) - Former Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley said on Thursday in a closed-door U.S. congressional hearing that he had no friendship with Jeffrey Epstein but failed to convince lawmakers, Democrats on the committee told reporters.

Staley appeared before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as part of its investigation into Epstein, the late convicted sex offender, and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. 

"Staley is not being truthful and is flat out lying," said U.S. Representative Robert Garcia of California, the senior Democrat on the panel, who noted Staley was not answering questions under oath. “He is claiming that he has no friendship with Epstein, which is ridiculous," he added.

OVER 1,000 EMAILS WITH EPSTEIN

Staley became CEO of top British lender Barclays in 2015 and resigned in 2021 after a dispute with the British financial regulator over how he described his ties to Epstein. In June 2025, Staley lost his appeal against a Financial Conduct Authority industry ban for misleading the British regulator about those ties. 

In that case, the FCA cited a cache of over 1,000 emails between Staley and Epstein, in which Staley described their friendship as "profound" and referred to Epstein as "family." 

Staley has previously said he had no recollection of those emails. He has maintained he had a close professional relationship with Epstein, but was unaware of his crimes.

Staley is also facing a lawsuit in Los Angeles that claims he and Barclays defrauded shareholders about his relationship with Epstein. The defendants have sought dismissal of the claims.

Staley's lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, has written to Barclays Chair Nigel Higgins, calling for urgent answers from the British bank over its "apparent failure to meaningfully investigate" Staley's ties to Epstein.

In a statement to Reuters, a Barclays spokesperson said, "the UK regulator concluded that Barclays was misled by Staley. We conducted an investigation based on the information that was available to us at the time."

"Since then, new information has emerged that was not available to Barclays that demonstrates Mr. Staley misled Barclays and many others as to the nature of the relationship with Epstein. That information relates to activities that predated his employment at Barclays," the bank said.

Warren's letter, sent jointly with Representatives Ro Khanna of California and Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, both Democrats, urged Barclays to answer questions about how the bank handled information on the links between Staley and Epstein.

Before joining Barclays, Staley was head of the private bank at JPMorgan Chase, where Epstein was one of his clients. 

The U.S. Virgin Islands sued JPMorgan for allegedly ignoring Epstein's sex trafficking. JPMorgan denied liability and later settled the lawsuit without admitting wrongdoing. The bank in turn sued Staley, before reaching a confidential settlement with him.

Epstein, who died in a New York City prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, had extensive ties to many prominent people in politics, finance, academia and business, including U.S. President Donald Trump. His death was ruled a suicide.

The oversight committee has interviewed figures such as former President Bill Clinton, current Commerce Secretary and former Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, as well as Goldman Sachs senior counsel Kathy Ruemmler.

(Reporting by Nupur Anand in New York, additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Chandini Shah, editing by Michelle Price and Rod Nickel)