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Lorna Hajdini row: NYT bestseller shows concern for JP Morgan executive as damning claims about alleged victim surface
JPMorgan executive Lorna Hajdini faced a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment, which has been retracted for corrections, drawing a reaction from a NYT bestseller.
Lorna Hajdini, Executive Director for Leveraged Finance at JPMorgan, faced a bombshell lawsuit alleging sexual harassment. The matter was first reported on by the Daily Mail, and New York Post then reported that the case had been retracted for corrections. The publication also publicly revealed the identity of the alleged victim, but we have chosen not to name the individual.
The claims of sexual abuse directed towards a junior employee drew reactions from many, including John LeFevre, the investment banker and New York Times bestseller. LeFevre actually changed his opinion over a series of posts, which had begun with criticizing JPMorgan before switching to backing Lorna in the entire matter.
Notably, LeFevre would be well positioned to share his insights about what goes on in such offices since he has worked with Salomon Brothers and Citigroup, and is known for creating the Goldman Sachs Elevator handle on X (formerly Twitter), which sought to satirize banking culture.
What did John LeFevre say about the Lorna Hajdini case
LeFevre initially began with criticizing JPMorgan and pointing towards the work culture in the banking sector.
“This story is getting a ton of traction, probably because the accused is a female banker. This stuff doesn't surprise me at all. After all, JP Morgan banked Epstein for years after his first incarceration,” he wrote. LeFevre then added his own experiences, saying “But I experienced countless examples of deviance at all ranges of the spectrum.”
He shared some details "The hedge fund sales desk only hired attractive female analysts. They referred to them as "tethered goats" and would bring them to all their client drinks." LeFevre added "My first boss, a Managing Director, never bothered to interview prospective analysts. Waste of his time. One day, he overheard us talking about interviews and that one female Ivy League applicant listed "Glamour Magazine Woman Of The Year" on her résumé. He insisted on the doing the interview (~45 minutes). He came back 10 minutes later and said, "I guess looks were not among Glamour's criteria" and threw the résumé in the trash. He's still a senior MD in London."
He shared many other such examples in the lengthy post. However, since then, a lot of claims have emerged about the alleged victim. Apart from being publicly identified, it has emerged that he asked a legal chatbot for advice, writing ‘I was raped’. This was years before he filed the complaint against Hajdini.
With this new information emerging, many have sided squarely with the JPMorgan executive, and there have been calls for CEO Jamie Dimon to take action against the accuser as well. The individual is no longer with the company, as per reports.
While LeFevre did not bay for blood outright, he backed Hajdini fully and expressed concern about how the entire situation might impact her. “I would wager any amount of money that this JP Morgan woman is 1000% innocent and now she's having her life ruined by some failed banker turned scammer,” he wrote.
The former investment banker added “Now she's been meme'd into oblivion by the Daily Mail and the social media masses. How can she get another job? How can she get a promotion? How can she find a life partner? The memes are funny, but they are destroying this poor woman's life. So try to keep that in mind and have some grace.”
Notably, John Doe had implicated JPMorgan also in the matter, but a company spokesperson clarified that an internal investigation had found no merit in the claims. They further added that while Hajdini had cooperated with the probe, the alleged victim had not. “JPM conducted a full internal investigation. That means they would have forensically analyzed all devices - business and personal - for direct evidence and indirect behavioral patterns. She cooperated. He didn't,” LeFevre wrote, referring to the statement.
Hajdini has also denied any wrongdoing amid the claims made against her in the now-retracted suit. “Her reputation is rock solid. JPM LevFin employees are calling her kind and professional, and even prudish (i.e. the opposite of deviant). Conversely, they are calling this John Doe coward a creep and a loser,” LeFevre further noted. It has also been reported that the alleged victim did not work under Hajdini, so claims about her using her position to leverage sexual favors in lieu of professional growth appear to be false.
