High-flying 'foxy blonde' fixer drags George Clooney's charity into battle over £7billion Barclays deal

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High-flying 'foxy blonde' fixer drags George Clooney's charity into battle over £7billion Barclays deal

• Miss Staveley said then-Barclays executive Roger Jenkins pushed her to donate
  

• The financier has also accused executives at the bank of sexism and misogyny
  

• There is no suggestion that Mr Clooney knew about the discussions going on
  

By HELEN CAHILL FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 01:20, 14 June 2020

High-flying City dealmaker Amanda Staveley claims she was put under pressure by a Barclays boss to donate millions to George Clooney’s Darfur charity out of her earnings from helping rescue the bank in the financial crisis.

Miss Staveley, 47, says in court documents that then-Barclays executive Roger Jenkins, 64, pressed her to use her fees from the £7 billion Barclays deal to make a donation towards a £10,000-a-head charity fundraiser in Mayfair.

The financier, who was labelled a ‘foxy blonde’ and a ‘tart’ by Barclays bosses, has also accused executives at the bank of sexism and misogyny.  [this from the 'news' outlet that happily repeats those slanders in their headline? Hello pot, meet kettle - admin]

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High-flying City dealmaker Amanda Staveley (pictured) claims she was put under pressure by a Barclays boss to donate millions to George Clooney’s Darfur charity out of her earnings from helping rescue the bank in the financial crisis

The star-studded bash was held at Mr Jenkins’ flat to raise money for Hollywood star George Clooney’s humanitarian charity Not On Our Watch and was attended by the likes of actors Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson and model Cindy Crawford.

The party, organised by Mr Jenkins’ socialite wife Diana, is at the centre of a power struggle that played out between Miss Staveley and Mr Jenkins as they fought for months to save the bank while its share price fell through the floor.

Miss Staveley, who once dated Prince Andrew, claims Mr Jenkins used the gala to lure her powerful Middle Eastern contact Sheikh Mansour and cut her out of the Barclays rescue deal.

In the court documents, she says Mr Jenkins initially asked her to make a donation at their first meeting to discuss the Barclays rescue at his Mayfair townhouse on October 23, 2008. She says he then ‘pressed the issue’ on a number of telephone calls.
In her witness statement, Miss Staveleysays: ‘He said something about his forthcoming fundraiser party on December 4 and said words to the effect of: “There is over £100 million in fees coming to you, how about you spare a couple of million for Darfur?”

‘I said to Mr Jenkins at some point that I would make a donation of $1 million (for some reason, it was in US dollars), mainly to get him to stop going on about it but also because I thought it was a good cause and I would have the money to pay a substantial donation in due course.’

There is no suggestion that Mr Clooney knew about the discussions between Miss Staveley and Mr Jenkins.

The allegations are the latest in an explosive case at London’s High Court that has shone a light on the drama of City deal-making at the height of the financial crisis.

Miss Staveley is suing Barclays for £1.6 billion claiming she was denied hundreds of millions in fees that went to other investors.

She made £30 million for securing a £3.5 billion investment from Abu Dhabi royalty, but later discovered Qatari investors pocketed £346 million. Barclays has rejected the claims as ‘misconceived and without merit’.

Miss Staveley claims Mr Jenkins repeatedly tried to secure a direct line to Sheikh Mansour during the deal so he could dispose of her.
The financier says she eventually granted the bank direct access to Sheikh Mansour when she felt her position was secure, but never divulged his telephone number. She says she contacted the Sheikh while he was getting into a helicopter in the desert in Kazakhstan, and arranged for him to speak to Barclays chief executive John Varley for ‘about one minute’ on October 31, 2008.

Barclays also tried to get Miss Staveley to disclose the Sheikh’s mobile number while they were gathering evidence for the case, her witness statement says.

In another twist, Miss Staveley also says she thought Barclays needed her help to survive the financial crisis because it wanted to avoid a taxpayer bailout due to its tax affairs. ‘Barclays’ investment banking arm and some of the tax structuring they did would not be viewed as appropriate or acceptable for a bank in UK taxpayer ownership,’ she claims.

She says she believed Barclays banker Richard Boath referred to Mr Jenkins – a former head of the tax division at Barclays investment bank – as ‘Roger the dodger’ on a telephone call.

‘I had done some research on Mr Jenkins and had heard that he was well-known for tax structures that “pushed the boundaries”,’ she said.

‘He was also said to be one of the highest paid executives at the bank.’

The case continues.