(Bloomberg) -- Ex-Barclays Plc banker Stephen Jones was nicknamed Roger Jenkins’ “little dog” as the bank desperately tried to avoid state bailout during the 2008 financial crash.
In an October 2008 phone call with co-workers, revealed as part of a 1.6 billion-pound ($2 billion) lawsuit against the bank, Jones complained that he had become Jenkins’ “flunkey.” Fergus McDonald, a colleague, told him about the new nickname, to which Jones joked that “Roger is big dog and I am pooper scooper.”
“Maybe I am his little dog; maybe I’m the Chihuahua that goes around under his arm,” Jones, who worked at the investment banking division, said on the call.
Jones is testifying as part of a lawsuit brought by financier Amanda Staveley. She alleges that the bank cheated her out of profits she earned by bringing investors into deals that helped save the lender from a takeover by the U.K. government at the height of the financial crisis.
The rescue of Barclays by Middle Eastern investors has hung over Jenkins, once one of London’s top bankers, for a decade. Earlier this year, he was unanimously acquitted of criminal charges related to the same allegations in Staveley’s civil suit.
In emails revealed during the criminal trial, the bank’s then Chief Executive Officer John Varley often praised Jenkins for the “extraordinary skill and tenacity” he showed, and told him he was a “magician,” an “anchorman” and an “ace.”
Jones, however, wasn’t as full of compliments during his cross-examination this week. At first, he avoided saying anything negative about his former colleague, but changed tact Thursday when Staveley’s lawyer, Joe Smouha, reminded him to be honest.
After that, he didn’t hold back.
“You didn’t enjoy working for Roger Jenkins, did you?” Smouha asked. “And you did not like him personally, did you?”
“I respected him,” Jones replied. “But if you’re asking me personally was Roger a friend of mine, no, he wasn’t.”
“Roger was powerful, he was successful, he was demanding and, you know, there were aspects in terms of how he went about achieving that which weren’t always the easiest or the most pleasant to work with,” Jones said.
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