Barclays Chair told FCA Epstein-Staley ties did not need board review in 2019

By Stefania Spezzati, Iain Withers and Sam Tobin

LONDON (Reuters) -Barclays chairman Nigel Higgins believed the bank's former CEO Jes Staley's ties with the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein did not warrant a board discussion in the summer of 2019 after Britain's financial regulator inquired over the matter, according to court documents.

Staley, who took to the witness box on Monday and said in his witness statement that his reputation is "irretrievably damaged", is challenging the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) decision to ban him from working in the British finance industry in a London court after the watchdog decided he misled it over his relationship with Epstein.

The case lifts the lid on Barclays' handling of the regulators' probe into Staley, who left the British bank in 2021 and shines a light on Epstein' ties with a variety of rich and influential people around the world.

Staley's ties to Epstein also raised questions on whether Higgins and the bank's board properly vetted the former CEO's relationship with the deceased financier.

Last month, the London-based bank said in its annual report it had extended Higgins' chairmanship for another three years.

The FCA's former executive Jonathan Davidson spoke to Higgins in mid-August 2019 and asked him whether Barclays had satisfied itself about the nature of the relationship between Staley and Epstein following media articles.

"I recall informing Mr Davison that there had been no board discussion, but that Mr Staley had come to me and told me about the nature of the relationship" with Epstein, Higgins said in a witness statement.

Higgins told Davidson that he "did not think it needed a board discussion, but that we would get something to him when we were all back from holiday."

Higgins later asked fellow Barclays board member Crawford Gillies to speak to Staley about the matter, who he said raised no issues and did not propose reporting it to the board.

Later in 2019, Barclays wrote to the FCA stating that Staley had told the bank he did not have a close relationship with Epstein.

Higgins said that prior to sending the letter to the FCA in 2019, he had a picture of a "diminution of the relationship" between the two men since Staley had left JPMorgan, where he was an executive in the private bank and Epstein was a client.

He said that subsequent revelations had painted "a different picture".

"Had my colleagues at Barclays and I been aware of all of the information of which I am now aware, I am sure that we would have questioned Mr Staley about that further information in depth," Higgins said in his witness statement.

'IRRETRIEVABLY DAMAGED'

In his written testimony, Staley said that he "was never asked to provide more than I did, nor did I consider that the request for information made by the FCA to Mr Higgins on 15 August 2019 needed me to do so".

"My reputation has also been irretrievably damaged, not least because of the publicity which has been attendant upon the FCA's actions," Staley said.

The FCA alleges Staley "recklessly" approved the letter, which it has said contained two misleading statements about how close he was to Epstein and that his last contact with the financier was "well before he joined Barclays in 2015".

The FCA's case centres on a cache of over 1,000 emails between Staley and Epstein, including those from JPMorgan in which Staley described their friendship as "profound".

Last week, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said that these emails "raised awkward questions".

Staley said in his statement: "The FCA took the most serious and drastic step that it could, ending my long and distinguished career in financial services and destroying my reputation without first asking me for an explanation".

The FCA said in 2023 it intended to ban Staley from senior roles. Staley resigned in 2021 over the investigation's preliminary findings and has been battling to clear his name since.

Epstein, who socialized with Wall Street titans, royalty and celebrities including Britain's Prince Andrew, died in 2019 while in jail on sex trafficking charges.

The court proceedings are due to continue this week.

(Reporting by Iain Withers and Stefania Spezzati; Editing by Angus MacSwan)