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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has decided to fine former CEO of Barclays, James ("Jes") Staley, £1.8 million ($2.2 million) and ban him from being a senior manager or performing a “significant influence function” in the financial services industry.

The FCA has found that Staley "recklessly" approved a letter sent by Barclays to the FCA, which contained two misleading statements about the nature of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and the point of their last contact."

“A CEO needs to exercise sound judgement and set an example to staff at their firm. Mr Staley failed to do this. We consider that he misled both the FCA and the Barclays Board about the nature of his relationship with Mr Epstein,” Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said.

"Mr Staley is an experienced industry professional and held a prominent position within financial services. It is right to prevent him from holding a senior position in the financial services industry if we cannot rely on him to act with integrity by disclosing uncomfortable truths about his close personal relationship with Mr Epstein.”

In August 2019, the FCA asked Barclays to explain what it had done to satisfy itself that there was no impropriety in the relationship between Staley and Epstein. In its response, Barclays relied on information supplied by Staley, who confirmed that the letter was fair and accurate.

The letter claimed that Staley did not have a close relationship with Epstein. In reality, in emails between the two, Staley described Epstein as one of his “deepest” and “most cherished” friends.

The letter from Barclays to the FCA also claimed that Staley ceased contact with Epstein well before he joined Barclays. However, Staley was in fact in contact with Epstein in the days leading up to his appointment as CEO being announced on 28 October 2015; he joined Barclays in December 2015 and was dismissed in November 2021 – see more here.

While Staley did not draft the letter, there was no excuse for his failure to correct the misleading statements when he was the only person at Barclays who knew the full extent of his personal relationship with Epstein and the specific timings of his contact with him. The FCA has found that Staley was aware of the risk that his association with Epstein posed to his career.

The FCA considers that, in failing to correct the misleading statements in the letter, Staley recklessly misled the FCA and acted with a lack of integrity, it said in a statement.