(Alliance News) - Barclays PLC on Thursday said that Jes Staley, the bank's disgraced ex-boss, will no longer be able to claim historic bonuses after "recklessly" misleading regulators about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

According to Barclays, the total value of lapsed long-term incentive plan awards, as well as forfeited deferred compensation awards, was GBP17.8 million.

The awards were nullified following the outcome of an investigation by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, which asked whether former Chief Executive Officer James Staley had been honest with regulators about the nature of his relationship with Epstein.

Jeffrey Epstein was a convicted sex offender, who killed himself in 2019 while waiting to stand trial on sex-trafficking charges. As a financier, he made contacts in elite social circles, including industry titans like Rupert Murdoch, Michael Bloomberg, and Richard Branson.

In August 2019, the FCA asked Barclays to explain what it had done to satisfy itself that there was no impropriety in the relationship between Staley and Epstein. Barclays relied on information supplied by Staley, and submitted a letter which claimed that the pair did not have a close relationship.

The FCA found otherwise in its investigation.

Between July 2008 and December 2012, Epstein and Staley exchanged more than 1,100 emails, several of which detailed the strength of their friendship. Staley even described Epstein as one of his "deepest" and "most cherished" friends.

The FCA also noted that Staley had visited a number of Epstein's properties, including his property in the US Virgin Islands, named in legal proceedings as one of the financier's alleged sex trafficking locations.

According to the FCA, Staley continued to communicate with Epstein between January 2013 and October 2015, right up until the former's appointment as Barclays CEO was announced on October 28.

Regulators said that the matters discussed between Staley and Epstein up to and including October 25, relating to both Staley's potential appointment as CEO and press enquiries in connection with his likely appointment regarding his relationship with Epstein, were "significant and of importance to Staley".

Based on this evidence, the Financial Conduct Authority concluded that Staley had "recklessly" approved the letter sent by Barclays, which contained misleading statements about the nature of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and the point of their last contact.

On the basis of this decision, the FCA has fined Staley GBP1.8 million. He is also now banned from holding any senior management or "significant influence" positions in the financial services industry.

Responding to the judgement on Thursday, Barclays said that its Remuneration Committee has decided Staley should be ineligible for or forfeit a number of awards.

These include: his bonus award for financial 2021; his unvested LTIP awards, still subject to performance conditions, with a face value of GBP14.3 million; other unvested LTIP awards, for which the performance conditions had already been assessed, with a face value of GBP1.4 million; and his other unvested deferred bonus awards from earlier years, which had a face value of GBP2.1 million.

The London-based bank also clarified that it was not the subject of the FCA's investigation, and there are no findings made against it or any of its directors or employees in the decision notice. Barclays cooperated fully with the regulatory investigation, it said.

Barclays shares were trading 2.7% lower at 153.02 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

By Holly Beveridge, Alliance News reporter

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