Former Barclays CEO Jes Staley accused of 'whining' over Epstein case

Jess Staley tried to delay his trial date until March 2024. Credit: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Former Barclays CEO Jes Staley has been accused of whining by a judge handling multiple lawsuits related to his relationship with the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Mr. Staley filed a case to separate a lawsuit filed against him by his former employer JP Morgan from two others alleging that the bank knowingly profited from the sex trafficking of Epstein.

JP Morgan is seeking to recover more than $80 million in damages from Mr. on Staley to force him to pay for any costs the bank incurs because of his relationship with Epstein.

Mr. Staley wanted the return case to be separated. from two lawsuits against JP Morgan filed by a victim of Mr. Epstein and the US Virgin Islands.

The former bank executive also asked for the date of the trial to be delayed until March 2024, arguing he needs more time to prepare his defense .

However, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff dismissed the offer, writing, «None of Staley's whining even remotely guarantees severance pay or a change in the date of the joint trial.»

The judge has set a court date of October 23 for «closely related» claims not to be moved. However, he gave Mr. Staley another seven weeks to investigate, including testimony from witnesses.

Mr. Rakoff said that was more than enough time for Mr. Staley's lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, and his «law firm with 400 lawyers». to prepare for the trial.

JP Morgan sued Mr. Staley, the former head of the Wall Street giant's private bank, in March, seeking to hold him personally liable for any fines he might face, amid allegations the bank facilitated Epstein's crimes.

The bank is facing a class action lawsuit filed by Epstein's victim and a lawsuit filed by the US Virgin Islands.

The latest lawsuit alleged that Epstein's behavior was so widely known at JP Morgan that high-ranking bankers joked about his interest. young girls.

Jeffrey Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Mr. Staley had a personal relationship with Epstein when he was a bank customer visiting a deceased pedophile on his Caribbean island.

Unsealed emails allege that Mr. Staley drank white wine in a jacuzzi at Private Caribbean Epstein Island while a pedophile financier was under house arrest for child sex crimes.

Although both lawsuits cite Mr. Staley's relationship with the disgraced financier to claim that JP Morgan knew about of human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, none of them mention Mr. Staley as a defendant.

In his first court documents last week, Mr. Staley called the allegations against him «defamatory and baseless» .

Separately, JP Morgan also requested that Mr. Staley return more than $80 million in compensation he received from the bank between 2006 and 2013.