The billionaire investment banker who allegedly punched a woman in the face during a Pride event in Brooklyn last weekend once bragged about the importance of having “empathy” and “understanding” for others.
Social media users have identified Moelis & Company managing director Jonathan Kaye as the man caught on camera punching a woman to the ground in the street in Park Slope on Saturday night.
After the brutal footage went viral, a podcast interview with the Wall Street executive from last year quickly resurfaced in which he spoke to junior bankers about mentoring and the keys to success.
“Hard skills should be acquired as quickly as possible but at the end of the day it’s skills like grit, perseverance, learning how to listen, understanding other people’s motivations and empathy that really matter. These are the essential skills that separate you from just a calculator,” he told the LSE Focal Points podcast.
In another part of the wide-ranging interview, Kaye spoke about his “tough” start in the industry and “how ruthless Wall Street can be.”
“I learned some basic concepts that are probably obvious, but when you’re in your 20s, you have to learn everything from scratch,” he said.
“That means doing what you say you’re going to do, being consistent, carefully managing your reputation, carefully managing difficult people, staying away from toxic people, etc.
The interview came to light after Kaye’s New York-based investment bank confirmed it was investigating Saturday night’s violence.
“We have been made aware of a serious incident involving one of our employees in Brooklyn on June 8. We are taking this matter very seriously and are investigating,” a Moelis & Co. spokesperson told The Post.
The company would not confirm whether the employee in question was Kaye or whether he had faced disciplinary action.
Kaye, who has run Moelis & Company’s global business services division since 2013, declined to comment when contacted by The Washington Post.
The viral video does not show the moments before he is knocked down, but it does show a distraught Mr Kaye walking away from the woman with his jacket covered in liquid.
“She threw some f**k at me,” a man believed to be Kay can be heard saying, while bystanders shouted that the attacker was an “idiot” and a “horrible person”.
The woman claimed she suffered a broken nose after the attack.
The NYPD said it had no information about the incident. Prior to his current role, Mr. Kaye was managing director of Citibank’s global mergers and acquisitions group.
