The former Barclays boss 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.
This month the Guardian revealed that US prosecutors had reviewed allegations of rape and bodily harm against Staley, who denies any wrongdoing. He has never been charged with a crime related to the allegations.
On Thursday, documents emerged that raised questions over whether Staley gave inaccurate evidence in court last year about the nature of his ties to the late convicted sex offender Epstein.
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 the convicted sex offender’s death.
It also shows that 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.
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.
The appearance of Staley’s signature as a trustee raises questions about the accuracy of evidence he gave in court last year, during a failed attempt to overturn a lifetime ban imposed by the City regulator over his ties to Epstein.
“Mr Epstein also wanted to name you as trustee of the Epstein estate, didn’t he?” Staley was asked under cross-examination by a lawyer for the Financial Conduct Authority in March 2025.
“And I turned it down,” Staley responded.
Leigh-Ann Mulcahy KC, representing the regulator, continued: “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: “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 the deceased sex trafficker 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 of Epstein’s.
Staley then appears to have signed an amendment to the agreement. The document, also signed by Epstein and his associates, is dated May 2015, although Staley’s 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.
The former Barclays boss was also appointed as an executor in versions of Epstein’s will, along with the former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers, although he was not an executor of Epstein’s final will.
Staley has long maintained that he and Epstein had a “close professional relationship” but that they were not friends. He said in 2025 that he had not been aware of Epstein’s “monstrous activities”. Epstein died in a New York jail in 2019.
The Guardian has approached representatives of Staley for comment.
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 made over several months, either directly or via his lawyers.
