JPMorgan seeks bank, phone records in lurid sexual harassment suit

Chirayu Rana’s original lawsuit made a splash online thanks in large part to what he claims are excerpts of his supervisor's harassment, racial slurs, inappropriate nicknames and threats.MANHATTAN (CN) — The plaintiff in a stunning sexual harassment lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase asked a federal judge Tuesday to limit the bank’s access to his former employment and cellphone records in its bid to argue the ex-employee has a history of lodging fabricated complaints in hopes of a payout.Chirayu Rana claims that during his time as an investment banker at JPMorgan, his supervisor Lorna Hajdini sexually assaulted and harassed him, including drugging him, and made a series of sexually and racially charged remarks while threatening to sabotage a promotion if he didn’t meet her sexual demands. He also says racism was “part of the team’s everyday culture” and that his South Asian heritage was reduced to an ethnic stereotype as JPMorgan sought to keep the firm “white and Christian.”Hajdini and the bank have countersued, claiming the two never had sexual contact and that Hajdini was never Rana’s supervisor. They want to subpoena Rana’s previous employment records to confirm their suspicion that he lied about his employment history, including claiming to have made a $2 million per year salary before joining JPMorgan. The bank also wants to see the terms of his previous separation from Morgan Stanley, where he’d lodged a similar complaint against a male superior.As Rana’s attorneys argued against the subpoenas on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan appeared skeptical at the idea that subpoenaing former employers would harm Rana’s chances of returning to work for those businesses in the future.“If I were a cynic, I might say the purpose of this complaint was to embarrass JPMorgan and get whatever publicity you can,” the Bill Clinton-appointed judge said.The 82-page federal complaint, which goes into “unnecessary” detail, was among the longest employment complaints Kaplan says he’s seen.“Your client’s name is now all over the industry because you put it there,” the judge told Monica Hincken of Joseph & Norinsberg LLC, who argued on Rana’s behalf. “If there’s harm to his reputation by being involved in this kind of complaint, he’s brought it upon himself.”Representing JPMorgan, Cardelle Spangler of Winston Taylor LLP said the prior employment records are key because “Mr. Rana has been untruthful with JPMorgan in a number of ways.” Included among them, she said, were that he’d claimed his father died and took bereavement leave, when his father was in fact still alive.While Kaplan appeared unmoved by the argument that former employment records have no bearing on the discrimination case at hand, he signaled he may limit JPMorgan’s request for nearly two years of cellphone records.“It strikes me on the face of it as colossally overbroad," he said.Hajdini’s attorney, Melissa Rodriguez of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, said the cell records are important because they’ll prove Hadjini and Rana were not together during the times he says she assaulted him.Rana’s original lawsuit, filed in April, made a splash online thanks in large part to what Rana claims are excerpts from Hajdini’s harassment, including racial slurs, inappropriate nicknames and threats like “If you don’t f*** my brains out tonight, I’m going to sabotage your ED promotion.” In one widely shared exchange, Rana writes, “Ms. Hajdini removed her shirt, fondled her breasts, insulted plaintiff’s wife (“I bet your little Asian, fish head, wife doesn’t have these cannons”), and then forcibly removed plaintiff’s pants and performed oral sex on him.”After his initial attorney left the case, Rana abandoned his state claims, instead bringing the federal lawsuit that expands on his allegations of racial discrimination but omits many of the lurid details about Hajdini.But the state case, where Hajdini’s counterclaims are still alive, is still part of the public record. “Ms. Hajdini has been accused of being a sexual predator, a rapist, a criminal.”Calling Rana’s story as “fantastical as it is unbelievable,” Rodriguez echoed the incredulity expressed by many online spectators in reference to the “cannons” remark, calling it “a phrase that no woman I’ve ever met has ever used.”On a darker note, the attorney said her client has received a slew of threats and sexual messages in the suit’s aftermath, and has been subjected to “worldwide scrutiny and ridicule.”“These false allegations have had a life-altering impact,” Rodriguez said.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads