May 6 (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase tried to reach a settlement with a former investment banker before he filed a lawsuit recently making sexual assault and harassment claims, a bank spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The largest U.S. bank offered $1 million to settle the allegations, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter, adding the former banker rejected it and asked for more money.
The plaintiff, who in the lawsuit has the placeholder name John Doe, last week sued JPMorgan and leveraged finance executive Lorna Hajdini, alleging that he was subjected to sexual assault and racial harassment at the bank.
The lawsuit was refiled on Monday in New York state court after being taken down previously.
“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,” a spokesperson for JPMorgan said.
“We continue to believe these allegations have no merit and new information raised as a result of the public filing only reinforces that conclusion.”
Doe’s lawyer Daniel Kaiser told Reuters in an email that he was not involved in the settlememt discussions, which he said happened before he began representing the plaintiff.
“However, I will note that in my 30-plus year career as an employment litigator I have never had an employer defendant make such a substantial offer if they truly believed the allegations to be a ‘complete fabrication.'”
In his lawsuit, Doe claimed Hajdini allegedly used her seniority to coerce him into non-consensual sex acts. He also alleged the leveraged finance team directed racial slurs at him.
The complainant, a man of Asian descent residing in New York, joined JPMorgan’s leveraged finance group in March 2024 as a senior vice president, according to the suit.
In May 2025, the plaintiff filed an internal complaint at JPMorgan, alleging he had been subjected to race- and gender-based discrimination and sexual abuse. John Doe was placed on administrative leave after the complaint was lodged, according to the suit.
JPMorgan has said it did not find any merit to the claims after an internal investigation including numerous employees. The complainant refused to participate in the investigation, according to the bank.
Lawyers for Hajdini have denied the allegations and said the two never had any sexual or romantic relations.
“She maintains that his false claims are entirely fabricated and tarnishing her reputation,” Hajdini’s lawyers said.
(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru and Saeed Azhar in New York; Editing by Megan Davies and Daniel Wallis)
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