Written by Milana Vin
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A 35-year-old Bank of America investment banker who died from a blood clot earlier this month said he wanted to leave the U.S. bank because he was working more than 100 hours a week, an executive recruiter said. About finding a new job with him.
New York’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner announced last week that young banker Leo Lukenas III died of an acute coronary thrombosis, a type of blood clot.
Douglas Walters, a managing partner at Grayfox Recruitment, told Reuters in an interview that Lukenas said in mid-March that he wanted to leave Bank of America because of the demanding work hours. Ta. GrayFox specializes in recruitment to the financial industry, including investment banking and private equity.
In response to questions from Reuters, Walters said Lukenas, a U.S. Army veteran who is survived by his wife and two children, did not raise health issues in discussions about career options.
Reuters said there is no evidence that long working hours contributed to Lukenas’ death.
Lukenas’ wife and brother did not respond to calls, texts and emails seeking comment. 51 Vets, a nonprofit group for veterans that is helping organize donations for Lukenas’ family, declined to comment.
A Bank of America spokeswoman declined to comment on the conversation between Mr. Walters and Mr. Lukenas about long work hours and job searches.
A spokesperson pointed to a previous statement in which the company said, “We are devastated by the death of our teammate. We offer our support to his family and team, especially those who worked closely with him. We remain focused on doing whatever we can to do so.”
Lukenas started as an intern in March 2023, and four months later became an associate in Bank of America’s financial institutions group in New York, where he worked on mergers and acquisitions, according to his LinkedIn profile. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is part of a team at Bank of America that announced on April 29th that it was in charge of regional lender UMB Financial in a $2 billion deal with smaller rival Heartland Financial. provided advice.
There is no suggestion that UMB knew how long Lukenas had been working at Bank of America. A UMB spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about Lukenas’ hours.
Mr. Walters said he worked with Mr. Lukenas to prepare an application for an associate position at a “boutique” investment bank in New York, but Mr. Walters declined to give his name.
Walters said Lukenas considered the role because he was looking for a better work-life balance, although compensation was low at his employer.
“He made comments like, ‘Hey, I’ll take a 10 percent (salary) cut in exchange for sleep time,'” Walters said. Lukenas said he spends too little time with his family, Walters added.
death of london intern
Wall Street has long grappled with overworking its junior employees. Some companies have taken measures such as increasing salaries, holding training sessions and banning workers from working on Saturdays and regular weekends.
Bank of America is among the banks that don’t allow junior bankers to work Saturdays unless an exception is requested, according to current and former employees.
The bank overhauled its work culture in 2013 after an intern in London died from epilepsy after working through the night. The coroner, an independent judicial officer, found that intern Moritz Erhardt died of natural causes.
“Fatigue may have caused his fatal attack. It’s also possible that it happened by chance,” said Coroner Mary Hassell in reviewing her autopsy on Erhardt’s death. This was stated at a London court hearing held in November 2013.
Lukenas, a former U.S. Army Green Beret, grew up in a competitive culture and told Walters that he “never said no” to a mission, Walters recalled. But Mr. Lukenas also asked Mr. Walters whether it was normal for him to work 110 hours a week. Mr. Walters told Mr. Lukenas that spending such long hours consistently was unusual even by Wall Street standards, he said.
“I know that (the boutique investment bank) would have called to transfer him, but he and I were going back and forth about it,” Walters said.
(Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York; Additional reporting by Lananh Nguyen and Nupur Anand in New York; Editing by Greg Roumeliotis)
