Jes Staley told the House Oversight Committee he fed Jeffrey Epstein JPMorgan's confidential information through the autumn of 2008 — the bank's communications with the Federal Reserve on stabilizing the financial system, the $44 billion that landed in his private bank in a fortnight, his own salary, the deals he was running. Asked whether he had ever shared confidential information about JPMorgan with Epstein, Staley answered: "Yes." He sat for the closed-door interview on July 24. Lawmakers released all 201 pages on Wednesday.
Staley did not hedge. Asked whether a client's standing at the bank counted as confidential, he told the committee: "Yeah, confidential. But I believe, as a senior officer of the bank, I've got the right to use confidential information where I think it's appropriate." JPMorgan declined to comment. Staley's lawyers said nothing.
The $44 billion is not a new number. Staley wrote it to Epstein on September 26 and 27, 2008, and JPMorgan produced the email in federal court before Congress asked him about it.
Lawyers for the U.S. Virgin Islands filed it in their case against JPMorgan in the Southern District of New York, 1:22-cv-10904, as Exhibit 175 — JPMorgan's own internal summary of the Staley–Epstein traffic, sealed in July 2023 and back on the docket last October. Narativ read it this morning. Eleven pages, every email numbered.
Row nine is where the autumn of 2008 begins.
September 26, 2008. Regulators had seized Washington Mutual the night before, the largest bank failure in American history, and JPMorgan had bought it. Staley wrote to Epstein: "Wamu is an unbelievable deal. But thus is still going out of control. I need a break."
Epstein wrote back the next day. "Enjoy this, its a once in a lifetime opportunity, make friends. Keep your eyes open for opportunity."
Staley replied later on September 27. "I miss you. What a deal Jamie did. I'm spending a lot of time with Treasury. The Private Bank has brought in $44 billion dollars in the last two weeks. Unreal. Also, do u know Sheldon Adelson. I am throughing him out of the bank on Monday. Thanks for the note."
Treasury and the casino billionaire, in the same breath. Staley was not leaking. He was talking shop. Adelson is the client Congress asked about in July. He said he had the right.
Two days later he wrote again. "I hope you keep the island. We all may need to live there."
The Federal Reserve came three weeks after Treasury. The wire copy on Wednesday night folded the two into one sentence; the transcript keeps them apart.
