US lawmakers have introduced a new bill designed to hold Wall Street executives connected to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein accountable for allegedly helping finance his crimes. The move comes as top Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren condemned Barclays for what she described as “dodging responsibility” over its failure to vet its former boss Jes Staley and his ties to Epstein.
Epstein Wall Street Records Act Unveiled
A bipartisan group of politicians, led by Warren and House Representative Robert Garcia, introduced the bill on Thursday. Named the Epstein Wall Street Records Act, it follows a months-long investigation into Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex-trafficking charges.
If passed, the bill would compel regulators, including the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission, to investigate “Epstein connected” financial firms and executives for potential breaches of banking, investment, or illicit funding laws. It would also allow regulators to fine or ban wrongdoers from the US financial sector.
Disclosure and Criminal Referrals
The bill, also backed by House Republican Thomas Massie, would force regulators to publicly disclose any records relating to Epstein and his associates. It would also require them to refer any potential criminal violations to the US justice department.
Warren stated: “Since the big banks won’t hold themselves accountable – and the Trump administration won’t either – Congress must act to force real transparency and accountability for them and their executives who enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.”
Barclays and Jes Staley Under Scrutiny
News of the bill came as Warren condemned the bosses at Barclays, one of the UK’s biggest banks, over their failure to adequately answer questions about its former chief executive Jes Staley and his links to Epstein.
Staley resigned from Barclays in November 2021 after UK regulators began investigating the nature of his relationship with Epstein, whom he met in 2000 during his three-decade stint at JP Morgan. The Financial Conduct Authority’s original investigation, triggered by a cache of more than 1,200 emails between Staley and Epstein, concluded that the pair were “indeed close” and had a relationship that “went beyond one that was professional in nature”.
Staley was banned from the UK’s financial sector in 2023 for playing down those ties. He failed to overturn that decision in a court battle that revealed intimate details of the pair’s friendship, including Staley admitting to having sex with a member of Epstein’s staff in New York, an encounter he said was “consensual”. The case also revived a 2010 exchange referring to Disney princesses, in which Staley said: “That was fun. Say hi to Snow White.” Staley denied knowledge of the exchange during a UK court hearing. After the loss of his legal challenge against the FCA, Staley said he was disappointed by the outcome but was “never dishonest”.
Warren Criticises Barclays Response
In July, Warren and a team of House Democrats wrote to the Barclays chair, Nigel Higgins, asking how it had vetted its former chief executive and whether the bank had investigated potential “deficiencies” in its executive hiring process, given it had “allowed the board to hire a CEO who held extensive professional and personal ties to a convicted sex offender”.
Barclays responded with a letter from its head of US government relations, Lance Williams, which Warren said was not sufficient. The letter focused on the findings of the UK regulators’ investigation. Williams stressed that Staley had “concealed information about his actions and the nature of his relationship with Mr Epstein” and only after Staley’s resignation had “previously unknown information come to light through various public disclosures”.
“This information paints a fundamentally different picture of Mr Staley than what he presented to Barclays,” Williams said, noting that Barclays had relied on external executive search firms to recruit Staley in 2015, when he was “known for his accomplishments in the banking industry”.
Warren said Barclays’ lacklustre response illustrated why it was time for regulators to launch formal investigations into Wall Street’s ties to Epstein: “Barclays continues to dodge responsibility over its apparent failure to vet its former CEO Jes Staley’s close professional and personal ties to Epstein.”
Barclays declined to comment. Staley’s legal representatives were contacted for comment.
