Ex-banker’s lawyers want out of controversial sexual harassment suit

Chirayu Rana's attorneys said the feeling is mutual: The former JPMorgan Chase banker doesn't oppose their motion to withdraw from his sexual harassment and discrimination case.MANHATTAN (CN) — Attorneys for the plaintiff in a shocking sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit asked to withdraw from the case on Wednesday, citing irreconcilable differences that make it “unreasonably difficult” for them to stay on board.The plaintiff, Chirayu Rana, claims that during his time as an investment banker at JPMorgan Chase, 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.”His attorneys, of the firm Joseph & Norinsberg LLC, did not elaborate on what’s causing the rift between the firm and its client, citing attorney-client privilege, and declined to comment for this story. But apparently the feelings are mutual: Rana doesn’t oppose their motion to withdraw, the team says in Wednesday’s filing.“Over the past few weeks, the attorney-client relationship has deteriorated to the point that it cannot be repaired,” the attorneys write.JPMorgan filed a response Wednesday indicating it opposes Rana’s attorneys’ withdrawal from the case. The withdrawal and requested 60-day adjournment of filing deadlines so Rana has time to retain new attorneys “would be highly prejudicialto JPMorgan’s defense of this action and would unduly delay the progress of the case,” writes JPMorgan attorney Cardelle Spangler of Winston Taylor LLP.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. 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 a federal lawsuit that expands on his accusations of racial discrimination but omits many of the lurid details about Hajdini, an executive director at JPMorgan.On Tuesday evening, Rana filed an amended complaint in federal court, which includes many of the same claims with some minor, yet noteworthy, changes.For example, while his original complaint says he left JPMorgan on family medical leave to care for his “seriously ill mother,” the new version says he was caring for his “seriously injured mother.”During a discovery hearing last week, Spangler said getting access to Rana’s prior employment records is key because “Mr. Rana has been untruthful with JPMorgan in a number of ways,” including claiming that his father died and taking bereavement leave, when his father was in fact still alive.In his updated complaint, Rana appears to remove a reference to JPMorgan’s reaction to the supposed bereavement leave, deleting an accusation that the bank of falsely portrayed the absence as “fraudulent bereavement leave” in order to “discredit him, tarnish his reputation and undermine his credibility in the eyes of the public.”Rana also took out a paragraph that said, “At all relevant times, Mr. Rana was in a committed, monogamous, live-in relationship with his girlfriend, with whom he was contemplating marriage. He had no romantic or sexual interest whatsoever in Hajdini.” Instead, the portion now says simply, “Mr. Rana had no romantic or sexual interest whatsoever in Hajdini.”Finally, the amended complaint omits Rana’s claims that he previously made “well over” $2 million before his career was destroyed by JPMorgan and its employees, and calls himself “one of the private credit industry’s leading deal originators.” Those claims, too, are ones that JPMorgan indicated it intends to debunk during discovery.An attorney for JPMorgan did not immediately return a request for comment on the amended complaint.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