UT (Tax & Chancery) UT-2023-000064 - [2024] UKUT 00394 (TCC)

On 10 and 11 June 2023, Mr Staley was deposed in the US Proceedings. The Authority did not become aware of the evidence the Applicant gave in that deposition (the “Deposition”) until September 2023, i.e. after filing of its Statement of Case and its Primary Disclosure List on 25 July 2023. Mr Staley filed his Reply in these proceedings on 21 August 2023.

Also in September 2023, the Authority became aware that on 8 September 2023 in the context of the US Proceedings, JPM had filed (i) the Statement of Undisputed Material Facts and Counterstatement of Additional Material Facts (the “Statement of Undisputed Material Facts”) and (ii) a Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Summary Judgment (the “Memorandum of Law”) (which had a number of exhibits attached to it).

The Authority wrote to Mr Staley’s lawyers on 14 September 2023 noting that, in the Memorandum of Law, JPM alleged that Mr Staley had asserted to Barclays that he had had no contact whatsoever with Mr Epstein at any time since taking up his role as Barclays Group CEO in December 2015, and referred to emails which JPM said disclosed that a person had acted as an intermediary for messages between Mr Staley and Mr Epstein thereafter. At [4.13] of his Reply in these proceedings Mr Staley states that he “ceased all communications with Mr Epstein on or about 25 October 2015”.

On 5 October 2023, the Authority wrote to Mr Staley noting that it had now received the transcript of his Deposition. It identified three parts of the Deposition in which Mr Staley was shown emails indicating that he had been in contact with Mr Epstein through an intermediary after he joined Barclays, and sought disclosure of those emails and any others that he had which undermined the case set out in his Reply. Mr Staley refused that request.

In November 2023, the Authority made a request to the SEC to obtain copies of a limited selection of documents from the US Proceedings, of which the Authority had become aware solely due to the Deposition and other documents that had at that time recently been filed in the US Proceedings.

As a result of this request, the Authority received from the SEC a large number of emails from the Epstein Estate, which were disclosed to Mr Staley.

Given the contents of these documents, and of Mr Staley’s Deposition and the US Proceedings documents, the Authority indicated that it intended to amend its Statement of Case. The Authority subsequently provided the Applicant with a list setting out those documents which it intended to add to its Primary Disclosure List (the “Epstein Estate Emails”). The Authority subsequently provided a number of further documents that had come into its possession other than via the US Proceedings, and accordingly provided a consolidated list of the proposed amendments to its Primary Disclosure List and its Secondary Disclosure List on 9 July 2024.