Moelis banker recorded in punching incident charged with assault

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A former senior investment banker at Moelis who was filmed punching someone at a New York City Pride event last month has been arrested on assault charges. 

Jonathan Kaye, who resigned from Moelis a week ago following the incident, was arrested and charged on Monday morning on second- and third-degree assault charges, a spokesperson for the New York City Police Department said. Kaye, 52, turned himself in to authorities.

The arrest is the latest turn for Kaye, who just weeks ago was one of the most senior bankers at Moelis running the boutique advisory firm’s global business services franchise.

After the video clip began circulating online, Kaye was initially placed on leave by Moelis before he resigned last week. 

In the video, which is only 10 seconds long, Kaye can be seen hitting a person in the face at a street corner and then walking away during a Brooklyn event celebrating the start of LGBT+ Pride month. 

The Financial Times previously reported that Kaye, who is Jewish, had initially told four individuals with a Palestinian flag that they were “on the wrong side” and then a scuffle ensued.

A lawyer for Kaye, 52, said on Monday that they had provided the New York district attorney with another video in an effort to corroborate earlier statements that Kaye had acted “in self-defence”. 

“What the previously released video clip does not show is what another video and other evidence we have shared with the district attorney does show: 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’s lawyer, Danya Perry, said in a statement. 

“We are hopeful that the district attorney will fully and fairly consider these facts, along with the surge of antisemitic acts, protests, and attacks that are ravaging our city. We will aggressively fight injustice, and we look forward to a full vindication for our client.”