Emails reveal ex-JPMorgan exec Jes Staley, pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘profound’ friendship: ‘ I miss you’

Jeffrey Epstein had a “profound” friendship with former JPMorgan exec Jes Staley, who said he missed Epstein after he was jailed for procuring underage girls as prostitutes — and even sought his advice on asking for a raise, according to a trove of emails obtained by Bloomberg.

In 2008, less than two weeks after Epstein was sent to prison for the first time, former Barclays CEO Staley wrote: “I miss you. The world is a tough place. Hang in there.”

While Epstein was still serving his 18-month sentence in a Florida jail for two counts of soliciting prostitution — including one for a teenager — Staley wrote his buddy again, this time asking for advice on negotiating a $1 million pay increase.

Epstein replied: “Tell him [JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon] a one million dollar increase to 25 million. DO not give in. I’ll try to call you later,” according to Bloomberg.

Back-and-forth emails continued — including one where Epstein called his friendship with Staley “profound” — the outlet reported, while other JPMorgan executives debated dropping Epstein as a client.

“Catherine [Keating, head of private banking] will go back to JES to tell him we are uncomfortable with Epstein and do not want to go to Cutler [general counsel] for approval,” according to a July 15, 2008, email cited in Dimon’s deposition that was obtained by Bloomberg.

In August, another email read: “I would count Epstein’s assets as a probable outflow for ’08 ($120mm or so?) as I can’t imagine it will stay.”

Epstein, however, did remain a JPMorgan client.

It’s unclear which staffers exchanged these emails, and Dimon maintained his innocence during a two-day deposition, adding that he never conversed with Staley about Epstein, who was a JPMorgan client from 1998 to 2013.

Bloomberg uncovered that JPMorgan’s top in-house lawyer, Stephen Cutler, had warned that Epstein “is not an honorable person in any way. He should not be a client.”

By January 2011, bank executives were gearing up to force Epstein out, the outlet reported, though Staley shot the move down.

Maryanne Ryan — a compliance officer who worked at the bank for nearly a decade — sent an email suggesting other executives meet with Staley to explain that Epstein could have a “potential serous impact” on the bank’s efforts to make sure it wasn’t enabling human trafficking, according to the outlet.

In Jan. 7 message to Keating, the private banking boss, Ryan assured that “no one on today’s call was in favor of having him [Epstein] as a client.”

“Seems it all is due to Jes’s personal relationship,” she added.

Four days later, Staley appeared to have shared his staffers’ concerns with Epstein, who — yet again — dodged getting axed from JPMorgan’s clientele.

A note from Epstein expressed gratitude to Staley.

“Thanks for today, kenstarr, Dershowitz.. leftkowitz at Kirkland. All very familiar with the nonsense, all, whatever, cutler wants or needs,” Epstein wrote, referring to Jay Lefkowitz, Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr — three lawyers who represented Epstein during his plea negotiations with federal prosecutors in Florida.

Around the same time, more messages between Staley and Epstein obtained by Bloomberg showed that Staley mused about retiring on the convicted sex offender’s hideaway in the US Virgin Islands.

“What a paradise,” Staley wrote of Epstein’s Caribbean residence in a Jan. 22, 2011, email — shortly after Epstein was ordered to register as a high-risk sex offender in New York.

“When I retire, I’m going to put a mooring in front of your dock for my boat. Amazing place,” he wrote in an email that was among the documents JPMorgan turned over in connection with a lawsuit brought against the bank by the US Virgin Islands.

Yet another correspondence showed that while kicking back on Epstein’s Caribbean property — which came to be known as the headquarters of his abusive sex ring — Staley was arranging for the duo to meet with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates during an annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“Do you want to join a gates dinner in davos on wed?” Epstein wrote, according to Bloomberg.

While it was unclear whether Gates agreed to the meeting, the outlet reported, the three men were photographed together later that year.

In March 2011, another email from Staley to Epstein said: “Deby and I were talking tonight about what you have meant to me and to Alexa.”

An earlier report by the Wall Street Journal revealed that Alexa, Staley’s eldest daughter, got into a PhD program at Columbia University with Epstein’s help, though he school has denied the claims.

Staley expressed his thanks later in the message, adding: “You have paid a price for what has been accused. But we know what u have done for us. And we count you as one of our deepest friends. And most honest of people.”

Epstein’s one-word response: “family,” according to Bloomberg.

An instant-messaging chat sent by Phillip DeLuca — a former managing director at the bank — in 2013 confirmed that Staley decided to keep Epstein.

“PB [Private bank] did not want to keep him,” DeLuca wrote on June 17, 2013.

“But due to his relationship with the old head of PB (Jes Staley) they were overruled,” he added.

Aside from email exchanges, Staley had plans to visit Epstein-owned properties about 60 times over the course of seven years — from 2009 through 2015, according to Bloomerg.

In 2013, Staley, 66, ended his 30-year tenure at JPMorgan to head up Barclays. He was a founding member of JPMorgan’s equities business. In 1999, he headed up the private banking division.

Also in 2013, JPMorgan cut ties with Epstein for being a “high-risk client” over his federal charges for sex-trafficking minors.

Internal bank documents revealed that Epstein — who died by suicide behind bars in 2019 while awaiting trial — “routinely” made cash withdrawals between $40,000 and $80,000, totaling more than $750,000 per year.

Staley was ousted from his chief executive position at Barlcays in November 2021, when it was revealed that he exchanged around 1,200 emails with Epstein during his time at JPMorgan.

He also visited Epstein in prison following his conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor in Florida in 2008.

In March, JPMorgan sued its former executive for allegedly having “personally observed” Epstein assaulting girls and young women and failing to disclose the information to his bosses, according to court papers.

The bank wants Staley to be held personally liable for any damages that it will have to pay out as part of two other lawsuits against the banking giant — one filed by the US Virgin Islands and the other by one of Epstein’s alleged victims.

The latter was settled last month when JPMorgan agreed to pay $290 million to anonymous victim Jane Doe and other unnamed Epstein accusers over the course of a 15-year period.

JPMorgan also wants Staley to pay back wages that he earned “from at least 2006 through 2013” — the years during which Epstein “sexually abused Jane Doe 1 on a number of occasions in New York, Florida, New Mexico and the United States Virgin Islands,” according to the court filing.