A lawyer for ex-Barclays boss Jes Staley has denied the banker used ‘codewords’ in emails with billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mr Staley exchanged 1,200 emails with the paedophile financier, which included a reference to ‘snow white’, the Financial Times reported.
This comes just two weeks after 64-year-old Mr Staley resigned at Barclays following preliminary findings of an investigation into his relationship to Epstein. Epstein was a paedophile convicted and sentenced who committed suicide in 2019 prison.
Ex-Barclays boss Jes Staley (pictured) has denied the banker used ‘codewords’ in emails with billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
These emails were said to have been sent between 2008-2012. Regulators are said to have highlighted terms that had no clear meaning, including the reference to ‘snow white’ in a two-message chat.
Kathleen Harris, a lawyer for Mr Staley, said in a legal letter to the Financial Times: ‘We wish to make it expressly clear that our client had no involvement in any of the alleged crimes committed by Mr Epstein, and codewords were never used by Mr Staley in any communications with Mr Epstein, ever.’
Mr Staley got to know Epstein in 2000 when he ran JP Morgan’s private bank and Epstein was a client.
Following Epstein’s conviction in 2008 of prostitution soliciting from minors, the two remained in touch. He was on parole in 2008 and received work release in 2009.
Mr Staley has said relations began to ‘taper off’ in 2013. They reportedly last met in 2015, when Mr Staley and his wife sailed to Little Saint James, Epstein’s private Caribbean island.
Both the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority are investigating whether Staley adequately explained Epstein’s relationship.
Ms Harris told The Mail on Sunday: ‘There are ongoing regulatory proceedings and we have no comment to make.’
The Sunday Times reported that Lord Pannick QC has been appointed by Mr Staley to stand in for him against the regulators.