Jes Staley And The Transcripts From His Epstein Related Trip To Congress (Part 10) (9/4/26)

0:00What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. In this episode we're getting right back to the Jess Staley transcript from his trip to Congress. Miss Brynjak, we have some pressing follow-ups, we'll go off the record and we'll come back on later to assos follow-ups. So now they're back on. Question by Redacted Question Mr. Staley, I'd like to ask you a few qualifying questions based on what you said during the minorities first round. You refer to Mr. Epstein's assistance as mature and also as in the late 20s or early 30s. We have a different understanding of his assistance but given the distinction that you're drawing, I would like to repeat some of the questions I asked you but in the context of his assistance. When you visited Mr. Epstein's New York home, were there ever assistance in the room when you met Mr. Epstein? Answer Only that they would occasionally come in and offer coffee or something like that, they weren't sitting in the room during the meetings, no. Question

1:03Were there ever assistance sitting on Mr. Epstein's lap when you talked to him? Answer no. Question, we previously talked about your interaction sexual or otherwise with women connected to Mr. Epstein. To be clear, when I say women connected to Mr. Epstein, I'm including his assistance. Did you ever introduce any women connected to Mr. Epstein to anyone in your family? Answer no. Question, so you never introduced any of the women connected to Epstein to your daughters? Answer no. Question, have you ever had a conversation with Leon Black about your relationship with Mr. Epstein? Answer, I think we both knew that we knew Epstein. I don't know if I had a specific conversation with him. Question, did you have a conversation with Mr. Black about Mr. Epstein's crimes? Answer, I think we were both aware of Mr. Epstein's crimes. Question, sure. And did you talk to him about it? Answer, we may have, but I don't recall a specific conversation. Question, when would that have been? Answer, I don't know. Question,

2:05do you have any sense for whether that would have been post-a-rest, post-incarceration or later? Answer, I think it would have been post-enditement and probably post-a-rest. Question, and do you have any memory of specifically what you would have talked about? Answer no. Question, did you have any conversation with Mr. Black about women connected to Mr. Epstein? Answer no. Question, did you ever meet with Mr. Black in Central Park to discuss any of these issues? Your relationship with Mr. Epstein, Mr. Epstein's crimes, or any woman connected to Mr. Epstein? Answer, not that I remember. No. Question, thank you. Now we have another person, jumps in, doing the questioning, redacted. Mr. Staley, you've previously made contradictory statements about your friendship with Mr. Epstein. For example, you have said, quote, your relationship with Mr. Epstein was never a personal one, nor one that could be described as close. But you have also said you and Mr. Epstein had a quote, fairly close relationship. At one point you said Mr. Epstein was

3:09quote, a friend. I would like to clear up some of the confusion and get a better sense of your friendship with Mr. Epstein. I'll begin by introducing what will be marked as minority exhibit K. Question, this is six separate email exchanges between you and Mr. Epstein from the first few weeks of his sentence at the Palm Beach Saccade. It's from July 10th, 2008, until September 11th, 2008. The first email which begins on the bottom of the page and goes into the top of the second page is from you to Mr. Epstein dated July 10th, 2008, which is just 10 days into a sentence. In the email you write, quote, I miss you. The world is in a tough place, hang in there. It appears that this point Mr. Epstein was a friend. Is that correct? Answer again, my relationship with Epstein was based on a close professional relationship anchored in business. But I would use language like friend and close friend. Question, so you were friends. Answer, I would use language that way, yes. But it was grounded in

4:12the business relationship that we had. Question, could you elaborate on what you mean by you would use language that way? Answer, I often talk to people that I work with and call them friends and close friends. Question, so the business, the relationship was grounded in business, but you transitioned into being friends as well. Answer, I used the word friend to describe the relationship, but for instance, you know, he never came to my house. He never came to social occasions with my family. I would call that a personal friend. Inaudible, we were tied to business. Question, so a business friend. Answer, yes. Question, understood. And this is one of the first emails we have between you and Mr. Epstein. Your message suggests that you were in contact often if you missed him after just 10 days of him being in the Palm Beach Sakeid. How frequently were you in touch with Mr. Epstein before he was incarcerated? Answer again, I think we will talk, you know, once, twice a week, I'd visit him, you know, once every other week, that sort of frequency. Question, okay, I'd like to move on to the fourth page of this exhibit.

5:17This is an email from you to Mr. Epstein dated July 16th, 2008, just one week later. In the email, you say quote, Mr. Sullivan jumps in, just give us one minute to locate it. Okay, got it. Question, you say quote, I'm hoping you're managing, I miss our calls, it's boring without you around. I will now move on to the fifth page. In this email from you to Mr. Epstein dated July 31st, 2008, this is the third email that you sent to Mr. Epstein in just three weeks. In this email, you say quote, I hope you're hanging in there, I just think of the island and my boat anchored in front, I do. On page six, this is another email from you to Mr. Epstein on August 3rd, 2008. You say quote, just thinking about you. On the next page, page seven, you email Mr. Epstein on August 4th, 2008 and say quote, hang in there. Keep thinking of the island. Finally, on page eight, you write to Mr. Epstein on September 11th, 2008 saying quote, very tough day today, thinking of you there,

6:19with what I see it's so unfair. Hang in there, please. Based on these emails, I think it's fair to say that you Mr. Epstein were very close. Would you agree? Answer, I would repeat what I said before. I think we had a close professional relationship. I used language like this. Like many people you deal with in business at this point, I was building a boat. He encouraged me to build a boat. But that's what a lot of this refers to. Question was a comment for you to email other business friends saying things like I miss you. And just thinking about the island and my boat anchored in front. Answer, well, there was not many friends that had islands that I anchored my boat in front of. Question, so the first part of my question, was it common for you to email other business friends saying I miss you? Answer, I think it would be common that I would mention to people that I work with that, you know, that I miss them. Question, so the people that you work with at JP Morgan, not clients of the bank. Answer, I'm sure there were some clients that I did this as well, but I don't know. I couldn't name them for you. Question, okay, I'll now introduce what's been

7:22marked as minority exhibit L. Question, this is an email from you to Mr. Epstein on December 30, 2010, Bates number EFTA 02533765. In this email you write quote, Happy New Year. It's nice to have you free, much to come. Please know that I'm your friend forever. You are very special. To which Mr. Epstein replied quote, did oh, what did you mean by much to come? Answer, I don't recall. Question, you don't recall what you meant. Answer, no. Question, why did you tell Mr. Epstein that you were a friend forever? Answer, I think I was showing sympathy to him. Question, sympathy for what? Answer, I believe this is when he was getting out of prison. Question, so you felt sympathy for him at the time, even with the charges that he was serving time for. Answer, yeah, I thought he served his time. He had, he had, he had, he had paid his price. I never imagined that he would continue to act criminally. Answer, what made Mr. Epstein quote very special to you? Answer,

8:23again, he had given me very valuable business advice. He was instrumental in one of my biggest transactions in my career, the acquisition of high bridge capital. He gave me counsel in my discussion with the bank about my career. He gave me counsel, so those are the things. Question, so he was just very special because of what he provided for you in your career. Answer, oh, I think that's what drove it. I mean, again, he was instrumental in the most important transaction of my career up to that point. He gave me a lot of business. He connected me with, you read the list, an incredible group of people that helped my career. So yeah, he was very helpful to me. Question, but this was six years after the high bridge capital deal. So there was nothing else that happened in between that time that made you felt that he was very special to you. Answer, no, he introduced me to the names that we've talked about. He introduced me to, he would facilitate when I traveled overseas to meet with business and country leaders. He did a lot of things like that. Question, okay. Now we have another redacted person asking the questions.

9:26Question, one quick follow up for you, Mr. Staley. When you said that these things to Mr. Epstein about how you missed them and how you were thinking about them and how you were special to you, that you were a friend forever, were those disingenuous? Because it seems like what you're saying now is that you didn't mean them. And if that's the case, answer. I mean, you know, you know, a point of fact is when I became CEO of Barclays, I completely cut off all relationship with them and stopped being his friend. Question, so he was a friend before you became CEO of Barclays. Answer, well, again, I was responding to the question, was I being disingenuous? And I was responding to the disingenuous part by saying no, actually, I caught him off as a friend. Question, but that doesn't answer my question. When you said these things to him, did you mean them at the time? Answer again, I used a few of language. The relationship was based on business as EZMLs attest to, but I use the word friendship with a lot of people. Question, Mr. Staley. In a question my colleague asked you,

10:28what did you mean by quote, much to come? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you testified that you were expressing sympathy. Is that right? Answer, I don't know what I was referring to when I said much to come. That could have been much to come in my career, much to come in our discussion about business and the world. I don't know. Question, but you told us that this was around the time that Mr. Epstein was being released from jail. Is that right? Answer, can you remind, can you show me? Question, sure. This was exhibit L, baits number 3765, bottom right. Answer, and ask your question again, sir. Question, what you testified to earlier was around December 30, 2010, when you wrote to Mr. Epstein, much to come. You told us that you were expressing sympathy for him because he was being released from incarceration. Is that right? Answer, my belief is he was released from incarceration more than a year before the email. Question great. So that would have been the prior exhibit. Why were you expressing sympathy to Mr. Epstein when he was being released from jail?

11:29Answer, where's the sympathy? Question, sir. I'm just repeating the words that you told us. Answer, okay, yeah, you know, this is a year after incarceration. I'm just saying that, you know, we maintained a relationship. And I'm just saying that the relationship will continue. Although a few years later, I terminated the relationship. Question, you've testified to that multiple times. I think what we're asking about, Staley cuts them off. You ask the same question multiple times, so I'm just giving you the same answer. Question understood. And I think we have been very clear that we're asking about your mindset at the time that you wrote this. And you keep jumping to you've cut off a relationship in the future. What we're asking about is your mindset at this time. So sir, again, you told us that you were expressing sympathy to Mr. Epstein because he had just been released from incarceration. Why were you sympathetic to Mr. Epstein and that he was incarcerated? Answer, I think, you know, he obviously pled guilty. He deserved his incarceration. But that

12:31doesn't mean I can't show sympathy for for what he went through. Question, what did he go through? Answer, but he deserved it. He went to jail. Question to be clear, your testimony is that you felt sympathy that he went to jail. Answer, no, I just felt that. No, I mean he rightfully went to jail. And you know, I'm just expressing sympathy for someone who went through that. Even though he deserved it. Question, thank you. All right, folks, we're going to wrap up right here. And in the next episode, we're going to pick up with a follow up question. All the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.