A new report suggests that JPMorgan offered $1 million to Chirayu Rana after he accused female executive Lorna Hajdini of sexual harassment and racial abuse.
Last week, the Daily Mail broke a story about a lawsuit with allegations of sexual harassment against Lorna Hajdini, a high-ranking executive with JPMorgan, from one of her male subordinates after he joined the leveraged finance team in the spring of 2024. Identified in the suit only as “John Doe,” he claimed, among other things, that Hajdini turned him into her “sex slave,” would frequently threaten his career advancement if he rejected her sexual overtures, and would regularly subject him to racial abuse.
The New York Post later identified the male staffer as Chirayu Rana, a former principal at investment firm Bregal Sagemount, adding that a previous internal investigation by JPMorgan found no evidence of wrongdoing by Hajdini prior to the lawsuit being filed.
On Wednesday, nearly one week later, the Wall Street Journal reported that JPMorgan had offered Rana a settlement of $1 million in March, just one month before he filed his suit in April. According to sources familiar with the situation, the settlement equaled roughly two years of Rana’s compensation to avoid a lawsuit. He allegedly refused the offer and later had his attorneys make a counterproposal of $11.75 million in April.
A JPMorgan spokesperson later told PEOPLE that negotiations had taken place.
“While we cannot comment on confidential discussions, we did try to reach an agreement to avoid the time and expense of litigation and to support an employee who was being threatened with the very reputational harm now unfolding,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“We continue to believe these allegations have no merit and new information raised as a result of the public filing only reinforces that conclusion,” the spokesperson said.
Attorneys for Hajdini also said that she “categorically denies the allegations.”
“She never engaged in any inappropriate conduct with this individual of any kind and has never even been to the location where the alleged sexual assault supposedly took place,” her lawyers said.
“Lorna continues to categorically deny the allegations,” they later added. “She never dated this individual, never had a sexual or romantic encounter with him of any kind and never gave him any drugs. She maintains that his false claims are entirely fabricated and tarnishing her reputation.”
Rana also reportedly “did not report to Hajdini,” according to the NY Post, adding that “the two were simply colleagues on the leveraged finance team, which works on large corporate acquisitions, mergers, and buyouts.”:
People familiar with the matter said Hajdini reported to managing director Brandon Graffeo, while Rana was supervised by another managing director, Jon Wolter. It means she would have no sway over the size of his annual bonus.
One colleague described Rana, a former basketball player and Rutgers graduate, as “socially awkward” but someone who “met the requirements” to remain at the bank.
No trial date has been set. The lawsuit remains reportable because court filings in the United States enjoy absolute privilege against defamation claims, shielding media outlets from liability as long as they fairly and accurately describe the allegations.
At least one close friend of Hajdini told the Post that the accusations have “tarnished” the executive.
Read the full article here