Jes Staley Questioned by House Oversight Committee Over JPMorgan's Handling of Jeffrey Epstein Account

Staley Faces Lawmakers Over Epstein Banking Relationship

Jes Staley, the former JPMorgan Chase investment banking chief who later ran Barclays, sat for a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Thursday. Lawmakers pressed him on why JPMorgan kept Jeffrey Epstein as a client for years after internal red flags surfaced.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, told CNBC outside the interview that Staley personally pushed to keep Epstein on as a client despite warning signs inside the bank. "It appears that within JPMorgan there were flags, red flags, about Epstein, but Mr. Staley is on record defending Epstein and encouraging JPMorgan to keep him as a client," Comer said. "So we have a lot of questions about that."

Staley served as Epstein's private banker for more than three decades at JPMorgan and maintained what U.K. regulators later described, based on more than 1,000 emails between the two men, as an unusually close personal bond. In those messages, Staley called their friendship "profound" and referred to Epstein as "family."

Democrats Say the Line Runs Directly to the Victims

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a Virginia Democrat on the committee, told reporters Thursday that banking relationships like Staley's were not incidental to Epstein's crimes. "If it weren't for banks and bankers like Jes Staley, then Jeffrey Epstein would not have been able to continue to commit these crimes against women," Subramanyam said. "He would not have continued to do some of the things that he did. But it was because of these banks, that he was able to do so."

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a New Mexico Democrat, went further, describing specific email evidence from 2010. "We have email documentation that in 2010 he was requesting and interacting with Jeffrey Epstein to procure women that he had sexual encounters with, and when he was asked in [the committee hearing] what happened and to describe those encounters, he could not recall," Stansbury said.

Those are Stansbury's characterizations of the closed-door testimony, not an independent committee transcript released to the public. No criminal charges have been filed against Staley in connection with these emails. An allegation described by a member of Congress after a closed session is not the same as a charged or adjudicated fact.

Staley's Regulatory History Is a Matter of Record

What is documented and settled, separate from Thursday's hearing, is Staley's regulatory fallout in the U.K. He resigned as Barclays CEO in 2021 amid a dispute with British regulators over how he had characterized his relationship with Epstein. He later lost an appeal of a decision by U.K. regulators banning him from the country's financial industry for misleading them about the ties.

JPMorgan itself has already paid out significant sums tied to its Epstein relationship. The bank agreed in 2023 to pay $290 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Epstein's victims, and a separate $75 million to resolve a case brought by the U.S. Virgin Islands, without admitting liability in either settlement. JPMorgan also reached a confidential, separate settlement with Staley himself, the terms of which have not been made public.

What Wasn't Asked

Notably, according to committee Democrats speaking to reporters Thursday, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon's name did not come up during their questioning of Staley. That detail is significant given Dimon has led the bank throughout the period in question and has faced his own scrutiny in prior litigation over what JPMorgan executives knew and when. Whether that reflects a deliberate scope decision by the committee or simply how the questioning unfolded is not clear from what's been reported.

This fits into the broader, bipartisan congressional push this year to force disclosure of who enabled Epstein's abuse for decades, a push that has pulled in figures well beyond Epstein's immediate circle and into the financial institutions that serviced his accounts. Staley is one of the highest-profile banking executives to face lawmakers directly on the matter.

The oversight committee has not said whether it plans to seek testimony from Dimon or other JPMorgan executives who worked alongside Staley during the relevant years. Whether Thursday's interview produces a public transcript, further subpoenas, or additional witnesses remains an open question the committee has not yet answered.