Former Barclays boss Jes Staley exchanged 1,200 emails with billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a four-year period, The Daily Mail reports citing UK regulators who examined the correspondence between the pair.
This comes following Staley, 64, stepping down as Barclays CEO last week after the bank had been shown the results of an official City investigation before it was published.
According to The Daily Mail, Staley earlier told Barclays that he was Epstein's private banker at JP Morgan and their relationship was purely professional. However, the investigation suspects Staley of playing down his role in Epstein's wrongdoings, the paper added.
The Financial Times said that no conclusions have yet been made by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority concerning Staley's correspondence with Epstein that lasted from 2008 to 2012 and reportedly included unexplained references to "snow white."
"We wish to make it expressly clear that our client had no involvement in any of the alleged crimes committed by Epstein, and codewords were never used by Mr Staley in any communications with Epstein, ever," Kathleen Harris, a lawyer for Staley, said, as quoted by The Daily Mail.
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 for the suspected sex trafficking of dozens of minors in New York and Florida. By that time, he was already a convicted paedophile after serving a 13-month prison sentence 11 years before. He was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York awaiting trial when on 10 August 2019 he was found unresponsive in his cell. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.