Jes Staley is scheduled to be deposed subsequent week in US litigation that alleges JPMorgan Chase, his former employer, facilitated intercourse trafficking by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
JPMorgan final week sued Staley in an try to make him answerable for any penalties the financial institution might need to pay whether it is discovered liable within the lawsuits, introduced by an alleged Epstein sufferer and the US Virgin Islands. JPMorgan is accused of facilitating Epstein’s sexual abuse by failing to identify and act on purple flags.
The deliberate deposition was disclosed in a court docket listening to in Manhattan on Thursday, the place Staley was represented by Brendan Sullivan, a senior accomplice at Williams & Connolly whose previous purchasers embody Colonel Oliver North, a former Nationwide Safety Council aide charged within the Iran-Contra scandal.
JPMorgan has accused Staley, who labored on the financial institution for greater than 30 years till his departure in 2013, of taking part in a pivotal position in dealing with Epstein’s relationship with the financial institution. Staley has beforehand denied any involvement in Epstein’s alleged crimes.
The choose within the case, Jed Rakoff of the southern district of New York, on Thursday additionally moved the date for trial from September 5 to October 23, partly in an effort to accommodate the elevated involvement by Staley’s authorized workforce. Staley just isn’t a defendant in both case towards JPMorgan.
JPMorgan has stated the circumstances don’t have any benefit and requested the court docket to dismiss them. Rakoff stated he would attempt to rule by the tip of March.
The 2 lawsuits have offered probably the most full image to this point of JPMorgan’s relationship with Epstein, who was a consumer of its personal financial institution for rich prospects from 1998 till 2013.
The court docket paperwork have alleged JPMorgan executives ignored warnings by its threat and compliance groups about Epstein’s hyperlinks to youngster trafficking and molestation of younger women.
They’ve additionally proven messages wherein Staley advocated for JPMorgan to proceed its enterprise relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 whereas awaiting trial on federal costs that he sex-trafficked underage women.
Staley left JPMorgan simply months earlier than Epstein’s relationship with the financial institution led to 2013, becoming a member of hedge fund BlueMountain Capital earlier than later taking on at Barclays in 2015. He stepped down in 2021 after an investigation into his ties to Epstein by UK regulators.