Images received by the former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley from child sexual abuse offender Jeffrey Epstein were of “mature women” and ultimately “innocuous”, his lawyers have argued, as they tried to discredit claims that the ex-banking boss lied about the depth of the two men’s relationship.
The comments were made on the first day of a legal battle in which Staley is trying overturn the decision by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to ban him from senior roles in the UK’s financial sector, after its investigation found he misled the regulator over the nature of his relationship with Epstein.
