Former JP Morgan banker allegedly pushed to keep Epstein as client - UPI.com

Former CEO of Barklay's Jes Staley testified Thursday for the House Oversight Committee about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. File Photo by Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

July 23 (UPI) -- Former JP Morgan Chase investment banking boss Jes Staley pushed the bank to keep Jeffrey Epstein as a client despite red flags surrounding the late sex offender, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said Thursday.

"It appears that within JPMorgan there were flags -- red flags -- about Epstein, but Mr. Staley is on record defending Epstein and encouraging JPMorgan to keep him as a client," Comer told CNBC outside Staley's closed-door testimony before the committee. "So we have a lot of questions about that."

Staley was Epstein's private banker at JP Morgan and stayed friends with him for years.

"If it weren't for banks and bankers like Jes Staley, then Jeffrey Epstein would not have been able to continue to commit these crimes against women," Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., said in a press conference Thursday.