The House Oversight Committee released a transcript of its questioning of former JPMorgan and Barclays executive Jes Staley about his association with Jeffrey Epstein.
Staley, who exchanged thousands of messages with Epstein, testified on July 24 that he visited Epstein’s private island three times, visited his townhouse dozens of times and had sex with one of Epstein’s “assistants” around 2010.
“I had an encounter once with someone who was on Epstein’s staff but was a mature woman,” he told
The House Oversight Committee released a transcript of its questioning of former JPMorgan and Barclays executive Jes Staley about his association with Jeffrey Epstein.
Staley, who exchanged thousands of messages with Epstein, testified on July 24 that he visited Epstein’s private island three times, visited his townhouse dozens of times and had sex with one of Epstein’s “assistants” around 2010.
“I had an encounter once with someone who was on Epstein’s staff but was a mature woman,” he told the committee. He said the woman invited him to her apartment and he believed it was consensual. The woman subsequently sued Epstein for sexual abuse and settled with his estate.
Staley has previously said he didn’t know about Epstein’s crimes and regretted associating with him. His lawyer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Here are some excerpts from his testimony:
Staley said he didn’t have sex with a woman he called ‘Snow White’ in emails with Epstein
Staley said he didn’t recall meeting a woman that he referred to as Snow White in a 2010 email exchange with Epstein, and denied that he had sex with her.
“That was fun. Say hi to Snow White,” Staley wrote in a July 2010 email. Epstein responded: “[W]hat character would you like next?” and Staley replied, “Beauty and the Beast.”
Epstein received an email the next day from a redacted individual saying that Snow White had sex twice. Lawmakers said their review of unredacted files showed it was the same woman Epstein had directed to buy a Snow White costume weeks earlier.
Asked why he wrote the email, Staley said, “I may have seen her in apartment and prompted that email. But I was not with a person dressed as Snow White outside of potentially crossing at his apartment.”
Question: “So you may have seen her in his apartment, later emailed Mr. Epstein and said, “That was fun,” but it was not because you had sex with her?”
Staley: “That’s correct.”
Staley spent multiple nights on Epstein’s island in 2005, records show. He told UK regulators he was there for one.
Committee investigators produced 2005 passenger flight logs showing Staley and his family flew to Epstein’s island in the U.S. Virgin Islands with Ghislaine Maxwell and “three young women who worked for Mr. Epstein.” The logs showed the group flew in Feb. 18 and out Feb 21.
Question: “I believe you told the Financial Conduct Authority that you spent a single night on Mr. Epstein’s island with your wife.”
Staley: “I thought it was a single night. But this implies it was two nights or three nights.”
Staley said he warned Epstein that JPMorgan was concerned about large cash withdrawals from his accounts
Question: “Do you recall alerting him to that heightened sensitivity?”
Staley: “Again, I don’t recall the actual engagement, but quite possibly, yes…But I think I did, and I think Mary Erdoes did as well.”
Staley denied the move was to help Epstein evade scrutiny. When asked later if JPMorgan sat on red flags in Epstein’s accounts, including the withdrawals, for years, Staley responded, “Seems like it.”
Erdoes, head of asset and wealth management, has said she didn’t know about Epstein’s crimes and the bank has said it regrets its relationship with the sex offender.
Staley acknowledged JPM suspected Epstein of sex trafficking by 2011
Lawmakers produced an internal JPMorgan email summarizing a 2011 “rapid response” meeting on Epstein in which compliance officers advised that executives meet with Staley to explain “the HT project,” and Epstein’s potential impact. The committee said HT stood for human trafficking.
Question: “Would you agree that this statement makes clear that at this point in early 2011, J.P. Morgan already suspected that Mr. Epstein was engaging in sex trafficking?”
Staley: “Yes”
Staley disputed a line in the same email which said the bank’s decision to keep Epstein as a client was “due to Jes’s personal relationship.”
Staley repeated his prior claim that he spoke with Dimon about Epstein
Staley said he twice talked to CEO Jamie Dimon about Epstein when he was a JPMorgan client. Staley, who left JPMorgan in 2013, previously made similar statements in a deposition. Dimon has denied ever meeting Epstein or knowing about him until his 2019 arrest.
Question: “Did you ever speak to Mr. Jamie Dimon about Mr. Epstein?”
Staley: “Yes.”
Question: “When was that?”
Staley: “I believe once in 2006 when Epstein was indicted, and I believe once in 2008 when Epstein went to jail.”
A spokeswoman for JPMorgan said no such conversation ever occurred. “As [Dimon] has said under oath, he has never met with, emailed, or otherwise communicated with [Epstein] or made any decisions about his account,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.
Write to Maya Davis at maya.davis@wsj.com
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