Jes Staley Epstein ties draw House questioning over JPMorgan role
House Oversight Chair James Comer said lawmakers questioned Jes Staley about JPMorgan keeping Jeffrey Epstein as a client despite warnings.
By Dev Ramirez · Crypto Correspondent
· 3 min read
Former JPMorgan Chase executive Jes Staley’s Epstein ties came under fresh scrutiny Thursday as House lawmakers questioned him behind closed doors. For JPMorgan investors, the episode is a reminder that client-risk decisions can keep creating legal and reputational costs years after a banking relationship ends.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., told CNBC that Staley encouraged JPMorgan to keep Jeffrey Epstein as a client even though the bank had internal warnings about him. Epstein was a convicted sex offender.
“It appears that within JPMorgan there were flags, red flags, about Epstein, but Mr. Staley is on record defending Epstein and encouraging JPMorgan to keep him as a client,” Comer said outside the interview, according to CNBC. “So we have a lot of questions about that.”
Why is Congress questioning Jes Staley about Epstein?
The House Oversight Committee is examining Epstein’s connections to prominent people, according to CNBC. Staley is relevant to that inquiry because he was Epstein’s private banker during his long career at JPMorgan and had a personal relationship with him for years, according to records cited by U.K. regulators.
A private banker typically handles banking services for wealthy clients, which can put that banker close to major account decisions. In this case, Comer said lawmakers want to understand Staley’s role inside JPMorgan while concerns about Epstein existed at the bank.
Staley spent more than three decades at JPMorgan, where he became a senior investment banking executive. U.K. regulators later cited more than 1,000 emails between Staley and Epstein, including messages in which Staley called their friendship “profound” and described Epstein as “family,” CNBC reported.
Staley later became chief executive of Barclays. He stepped down from that role in 2021 amid a dispute with British regulators over how he described his relationship with Epstein, according to CNBC. He later lost an appeal of a decision that barred him from the U.K. financial industry for misleading regulators about those ties.
What did JPMorgan pay in Epstein-related settlements?
JPMorgan agreed in 2023 to pay $290 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Epstein’s victims, CNBC reported. The bank also agreed to pay $75 million to resolve a separate case brought by the U.S. Virgin Islands.
JPMorgan did not admit liability in those settlements, according to CNBC. The bank later reached a confidential settlement with Staley.
The congressional questioning adds a political layer to a matter that has already touched banking regulation, civil litigation and executive accountability. Comer’s comments indicate lawmakers are focused on what JPMorgan knew internally, how Staley responded to those warnings and why Epstein remained a client despite concerns inside the bank.
This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.
