Inside the hushed corridors of Washington, D.C., Elizabeth Warren, the most senior Democrat on the US Senate Banking Committee, sent a pointed letter to Barclays’s chair, Nigel Higgins, pressing for a clear and detailed accounting of the bank’s conduct regarding its former chief executive Jes Staley. The letter, seen by the Guardian, raises questions over Barclays’s failure to investigate Staley’s long-standing relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender.
Warren, joined by Congress members Ro Khanna and Raja Krishnamoorthi, gave Barclays two weeks to respond to a list of questions about how the bank assessed Staley’s professional and personal links to Epstein. Higgins, in particular, was called out for not having asked Staley directly about the last point of contact with Epstein, despite declaring to UK regulators that their relationship ended well before Staley’s appointment to Barclays.
A Pattern of Omission and Trust
The letter highlights what the signatories describe as an apparent failure by Barclays to conduct meaningful due diligence on Staley’s past. Higgins and the board allegedly took Staley’s word at face value without deeper scrutiny. The lawmakers pointed to a UK court hearing in which Staley failed to overturn the decision to bar him from the British financial sector, an outcome that brought long-buried details of his friendship with Epstein to light.
Staley first met Epstein in 2000 after he became head of JPMorgan’s private bank. By 2015, Staley was CEO of Barclays, but resigned in 2021 after UK regulators investigated the nature of his relationship with Epstein. The regulator found Barclays had been misled, and Staley was subsequently banned from working in the UK financial sector. As part of the ruling, he forfeited £18m in pay and bonuses.
Governance and Accountability in Question
The lawmakers raised concerns not just about past missteps but about the governance culture at Barclays. They warned that the bank’s ability to hold senior executives accountable for wrongdoing is under scrutiny. The letter also stressed that Barclays’s presence in the US — where it holds around $200bn in assets — depends on the integrity and conduct of its leadership.
Barclays Defends Its Position
A Barclays spokesperson told the Guardian that the UK regulator had concluded the bank had been misled by Staley. The spokesperson added that new information has since emerged, revealing how Staley misrepresented the nature of his relationship with Epstein — including activities that occurred before his time at Barclays.
The letter was sent hours before Staley was due to appear in a closed hearing before the House Oversight Committee, where Khanna and Krishnamoorthi serve. The timing suggests the lawmakers want to pressure the bank to act before Staley faces further questions in Congress.