Former Moelis & Co. senior banker Jonathan Kaye was arrested on assault charges after a video showed him punching a woman in Brooklyn last month.
Kaye, 52, was charged with second and third degree assault on Monday, a spokesperson for the New York Police Department said by email. He’s expected to be arraigned later Monday, according to a spokesperson for the Brooklyn district attorney.
Formerly a managing director who ran Moelis’s global business-services franchise, Kaye resigned from the investment bank last week after he went on leave and the firm investigated the incident, which took place on the evening of Brooklyn Pride on June 8.
In the viral video posted on X, Kaye was seen striking the woman, 38, who fell to the ground. She filed a police report four days later, saying she received a broken nose, black eye and lacerations.
Danya Perry, Kaye’s lawyer, said in a statement that the banker had been “terrorized,” and his team has shared a separate video and further evidence with the district attorney, which shows that “these agitators formed a ring at him, doused him with two unknown liquids, shoved him to the ground, and hurled antisemitic slurs at him.”
Kaye acted in self-defense to escape the situation and return to his family, according to the statement. “We will aggressively fight injustice, and we look forward to a full vindication for our client,” Perry said in the statement.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.