Investment Banker Accused of Punching Woman to the Ground in Brooklyn Pride
A video appearing to show the assault went viral over the weekend.
Adam Gray/AFP via Getty
A senior investment banker has been accused of being the man in a viral video appearing to punch a woman in front of shocked onlookers in Brooklyn over the weekend.
The clip on X, viewed more than 10 million times as of Monday morning, shows the woman falling to the ground after being struck in the face. The man, who walks off after the apparent assault, is wearing a jacket that appears to have some kind of wet substance down its back.
Text on the video reads: “This guy punched me in the face today and broke my nose and busted up my friends arm can anyone find him?”
Multiple posts claimed the man in the footage is Jonathan Kaye, a managing director leading the global business services franchise at investment bank Moelis & Company.
“We have become aware that one of our employees was involved in a serious incident in Brooklyn on June 8,” the bank wrote in a public statement. “We take this matter very seriously and are conducting an investigation.”
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The statement did not name the subject of the investigation but it did provide the same text to media outlets seeking comment on the posts identifying Kaye over the weekend. The Daily Beast has contacted Moelis and Kaye for comment.
An anonymous source close to the situation, who spoke to the Daily Mail, the situation kicked off after Kaye told the group they were “on the wrong side.”
The group then doused Kaye with a red liquid before he fell or was “chest bumped” to the ground, according to the source. The source further claimed Kaye’s ankle was bloodied following the fall.
According to the New York Post, the incident took place in Park Slope, where thousands of people gathered for Brooklyn Pride on Saturday night. The footage shared online doesn’t show the events leading up to the punch, but the man identified online as Kaye can be heard replying to outraged bystanders heckling him after the incident: “She fucking threw shit all over me.”
A New York Police Department spokesperson told The Daily Beast that the department is aware of the video but that there “are currently no complaint reports on file.” “We encourage anyone who has been a victim to file a police report,” the spokesperson added.
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