Barclays CEO Jes Staley stands down 627 days after his links to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein were exposed; ‘Epstein’s fat cat’ leaves with a £2.5 million golden handshake
It’s taken 627 days, but today James ‘Jes’ Staley has stepped down over his links to the croaked paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. A man cited as a “cat running out of lives” by Markets.com’s Neil Wilson on 13th February 2020, the now former chief executive officer of Barclays has finally realised his days as a powerhouse are numbered.
Coming just prior to alleged mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell’s New York trial commencing on the 29th November, Staley’s fall from grace has interestingly come about not because of a decision by Barclays itself. Here, in fact, is a move that has occured because of regulatory bodies and public relations considerations.
It now transpires that Staley’s resignation followed the investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority reaching a preliminary conclusion that effectively condemned Staley as “unfit” to continue to act as the chief of a banking giant whose revenue was £21.766 billion in 2020.
Boston, Massachusetts born Staley now intends to contest the regulator’s decisions and in a statement this morning, Barclays announced:
“In view of those conclusions, and Mr Staley’s intention to contest them, the board and Mr Staley have agreed that he will step down from his role as group chief executive and as a director of Barclays.”
“The board is disappointed at this outcome. Mr Staley has run the Barclays Group successfully since December 2015 with real commitment and skill.”
Going further, the firm added that the investigation did not conclude that Staley “saw, or was aware of, any of Mr Epstein’s alleged crimes, which was the central question underpinning Barclays’ support for Mr Staley following the arrest of Mr Epstein in the summer of 2019.”
However, with the vultures unsurprisingly circling, clearly the financial giant have finally realised that negative media attention around both Maxwell and Prince Andrew’s links to Epstein – a man first convicted of sexual offences in 2008 – are about to return to haunt them also.
In October 2015, the Daily Mail published an article suggesting they had seen emails written by Epstein indicating he had “begun arguing for Mr Staley in financial circles in the summer of 2012″ while Barclays was searching for a new CEO.”
Astoundingly, Jes Staley will leave the firm with a 12 month golden handshake worth some £2.5 million. Who said associating with a paedophile doesn’t pay?
