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Elizabeth Warren presses Barclays over Jes Staley Epstein investigation gap
Warren and other lawmakers gave Barclays two weeks to respond to questions about board due diligence and potential hiring process deficiencies tied to Staley’s links to Jeffrey Epstein.
US senator Elizabeth Warren has demanded answers from Barclays, alleging the bank failed to meaningfully investigate former CEO Jes Staley’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
According to the Guardian, Warren, the top Democrat on the US Senate Banking Committee, sent a private letter to Barclays chair Nigel Higgins, arguing it was “deeply unclear” how Barclays, while purportedly investigating Staley’s connection to Epstein, did not uncover a relationship the senator described as spanning decades.
The letter, also sent on behalf of Reps Ro Khanna and Raja Krishnamoorthi, gave Barclays two weeks to answer questions about how it handled information related to Staley and Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges.
The lawmakers also raised concerns about due diligence around Staley’s hiring and board oversight, including whether Barclays conducted any reviews into deficiencies in its executive hiring process that they say could have enabled the board to hire a CEO with extensive professional and personal ties to Epstein. The Guardian notes the concerns were linked to a prior UK court hearing in which Staley unsuccessfully tried to overturn a regulator’s decision to bar him from the British banking industry, four years after he stepped down as Barclays boss.