The former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley was named as a trustee of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate until at least May 2015, according to documents that appear to contradict court testimony given by the banker last year.
Staley’s signature appears on a copy of the Jeffrey E Epstein 2014 Trust, dated November 2014, where he is named as one of three trustees. The 23-page agreement, first reported by the Financial Times, details tens of millions of dollars in bequests and loan waivers that would take effect upon Epstein’s death. The trustees were entitled to an annual salary of $250,000 (£183,000), although there is no evidence to show whether any such payment took place.
During cross-examination in March 2025, Staley was asked by a lawyer for the Financial Conduct Authority: “Mr Epstein also wanted to name you as trustee of the Epstein estate, didn’t he? You didn’t flag to Barclays, did you, that Mr Epstein has asked you to be a trustee?” Staley replied: “I believe this happened very early on while I was at Blue Mountain, and again, I declined it and refused to be a trustee.” He also told the court that “the fact that … I’d turned down being a trustee for his estate might be indicative that I was not a close personal friend.”
The trust document, released by the US Department of Justice as part of a vast trove of files relating to Epstein, appears to show Staley did in fact act as a trustee. Epstein signed the document in November 2014, while the signature of “James E Staley” also appears, dated 26 November 2014, alongside the signatures of two other associates. Staley then appears to have signed an amendment to the agreement, dated May 2015, although his signature is dated several months later, on 29 September 2015.
The 2014 trust was later revoked and replaced by a 2019 version, which does not name Staley as a trustee. Staley spent more than three decades with JP Morgan until 2013, before joining the hedge fund Blue Mountain Capital, and his appointment as chief executive of Barclays was announced in October 2015. He stepped down in 2021 after City regulators launched an investigation into his relationship with Epstein.
Last week the Guardian revealed that multiple documents in the Epstein files cited serious allegations of sexual misconduct against Staley, including that he forced a woman to touch his genitals during a massage before raping her, and left “bloody marks” on the arms of a woman he called “Tinkerbell”. There is no evidence that prosecutors decided to pursue the allegations. Staley, who has previously denied any wrongdoing, did not respond to requests for comment.
