Former Barclays boss Jes Staley has admitted to having sex with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s staff at the Upper East Side building where the paedophile trafficked underage girls.
The married father made the shocking admission while giving evidence at London’s Upper Tribunal as he seeks to overturn a finance industry ban and £1.8m fine by the City’s regulator over his links to the disgraced millionaire.
The 68-year-old said he had grown close to the woman while attending meetings with Epstein who banked with him when he worked at JP Morgan.
The woman, who was not named, is among more than 60 Epstein victims represented by lawyer Brad Edwards, who later settled a claim against the financier’s £435m estate.
The encounter, which was described as consensual, occurred at 301 East 66th Street which was said to have been used by the sex offender to hold his young victims.
Leigh-Ann Mulcahy KC, for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), asked the retired banker: ‘The woman was someone connected with Mr Epstein, wasn’t she? You met this woman through Mr Epstein?’
To which Mr Staley admitted: ‘She was a part of his staff as I recall.’
He added: ‘This individual and I…sometimes I would go to his apartment, and he would be late, and we got to know each other.
Former Barclays boss Jes Staley has admitted to having sex with one of Jeffrey Epstein ‘s staff at the Upper East Side building where the paedophile trafficked underage girls
The FCA today detailed how the retired banker enjoyed a close relationship with disgraced financier Epstein and accepted countless favours from him
‘Much to my embarrassment, we had one encounter,’ he told the court but claimed Epstein was not aware of it.
The FCA today detailed how the retired banker enjoyed a close relationship with the disgraced financier and accepted countless favours from him.
Ms Mulcahy earlier told the court how Staley had hitched rides on his helicopter and private plane and used Epstein’s influence and contacts to further his daughter Alexa’s education.
The barrister said a cache of bombshell emails show how the late paedophile had often expressed his close ‘friendship’ with Staley to third parties repeatedly describing him as ‘like a brother’ to him.
In one email sent on May 27, 2010, Epstein emailed Prince Andrew about Staley who was head of investment banking at JP Morgan at the time.
‘I know you are seeing Jes Staley this morning, he is like family and can be trusted 100 per cent,’ he told the Duke of York, who was later stripped of his royal duties and military titles over his own relationship with Epstein and the allegations of sexual assault against him.
The barrister also told the court how Epstein emailed a member of a Gulf monarchy in February 2009 saying: ‘Jes Staley tells me he is to see you a week on Monday, he is one of us.’
Paedophile Epstein (pictured) emailed Prince Andrew to say that former Barclay’s boss Jes Staley was ‘like family and can be trusted 100 per cent’, a court has heard
The 68-year-old said he had grown close to the woman while attending meetings with Epstein who banked with him when he worked at JP Morgan
(L-R) Prince Andrew, Ghislaine Maxwell, Caroline Stanley and Jeffrey Epstein attend Royal Ascot together in 2000
She said other emails in 2012 showed that Epstein had written to several people and described Staley as ‘like my brother’.
The court was also read several emails in which Staley described Epstein as ‘family’ and a ‘profound friend’ including a 2011 message in which he told the sex offender: ‘Please know I am a friend forever’.
However, Staley maintained that their relationship was purely ‘professional’, adding: ‘I think he is using our business relationship in these terms to grow his own influence’.
Ms Mulcahy claimed that Epstein had also ‘pulled strings’ to help Staley’s eldest daughter get ‘her PhD place’ by emailing contacts at universities and as a result was invited to her 2015 graduation.
However, Staley vehemently denied these claims insisting: ‘She got her PhD place on her own, through incredible hard work…The implication that he secured this for her is wrong, unfair and not true’.
Staley was also grilled on accepting luxury favours from Epstein including a ride home from the Caribbean on the paedophile’s helicopter and flights on his private plane.
Epstein gave Staley countless favours and even paid $1,000 for commercial flights in 2005 on his Gold American Express for the banker
Prince Andrew is pictured with Virginia Roberts and Ghislaine Maxwell
The court was told records show that Epstein had even paid $1,000 for commercial flights in 2005 on his Gold American Express for the banker.
The former Barclays chief executive is trying to overturn a decision by the FCA to ban him from taking senior roles and fine him £1.8 million after it found he ‘recklessly misled’ it about his relationship with the disgraced financier, who died in prison in 2019.
At the heart of the case is a 2019 letter from Barclays to the FCA in which it said that Staley did not have a ‘close’ relationship with Epstein and ceased contact with him before joining the bank in December 2015.
The FCA found that this was ‘highly misleading’.
The hearing continues.
