JPMorgan Blames Ex-Private Banking Chief for Epstein Ties, Demands 8 Years of Pay
About-Face
Until this week, the bank defended Staley, who left in 2013.
It pushed back in February, for example, on allegations he witnessed Epstein’s grabbing, calling the claims “unsupported” and “conclusory.” While “odious,” the bank argued, such groping wouldn’t establish she was a sex-trafficking victim, much less that Staley knew she was.
The bank struck a different tone Wednesday, arguing that “if the allegations of Doe and the USVI are true, Staley repeatedly abandoned the interests of JPMC and served his own and Epstein’s interests.”
The filing shows the bank is concerned some allegations may indeed be accurate, said Robert Mass, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. compliance executive. “That being the case, they want their employees, clients and regulators to know that this behavior was both not something that they supported and something that they think is reprehensible.”
Jump to Barclays
Staley joined JPMorgan in 1979, rising through its investment bank before moving over to run the private banking division in 1999. He soon took over asset management as well, overseeing the two businesses for nearly a decade — a period in which JPMorgan bought Bank One and Dimon took over the combined firm.
In 2009, Dimon picked Staley to lead JPMorgan’s investment bank. At the time it was considered a promotion as well as a signal to investors that he could one day succeed Dimon atop the firm.
That was short-lived: Less than three years later, Staley was demoted as part of a reshuffle in the wake of JPMorgan’s London Whale trading loss. Within months, he quit to join hedge fund BlueMountain Capital.
Staley reemerged in the banking world in 2015, when he was appointed CEO of Barclays. He held the post for six years, surviving a run-in with British regulators who said he repeatedly and improperly tried to uncover the identity of a whistleblower.
When his ties to Epstein first came to the fore in 2019, Staley volunteered to tell Barclays’s board his side of the story. Later that year, UK regulators opened their own inquiry. After authorities presented their preliminary findings to the board, Staley abruptly stepped down — but he’s still contesting the findings.
Past Pay
JPMorgan’s court filings don’t specify how it would tally Staley’s past compensation. Decade-old regulatory filings list his pay packages for all but two years from 2006 through 2013, showing he earned over $80 million in that period, and potentially significantly more.
Awards included stock, which would have gained value if he held onto it, but he also would have paid taxes on his income.
“In light of Staley’s intentional and outrageous conduct in failing to disclose pertinent information and abandoning JPMC’s interests in favor of his own and Epstein’s personal interests, JPMC is entitled to punitive damages,” the bank wrote.
Meanwhile, it has moved to dismiss both lawsuits and is set to argue its motions on Monday before U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan.
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