Ex-Moelis Banker arrested on assault charges after viral punching video
The ex-banker's lawyer said he acted in self-defense after agitators assaulted him and used antisemitic slurs.
Alex Potemkin/Getty
- Jonathan Kaye was arrested on assault charges after a video of him punching a woman went viral.
- His lawyer said Kaye was defending himself from agitators who assaulted him, used antisemitic slurs.
- Banker Kaye resigned from Moelis last week after it said it was conducting an investigation.
A senior banker who resigned from Moelis last week after a viral video showed him punching a woman was arrested on assault charges Monday morning.
Jonathan Kaye was charged with second- and third-degree assault, according to the New York Police Department.
Kaye turned himself in to the police on Monday morning and will likely be arraigned by the end of the day, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn District Attorney's office told Business Insider. Perry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
In the video posted on X, Kaye was seen punching a woman at a Brooklyn Pride event last month. The woman fell to the ground in the video; Kaye can be seen walking away with a stain on the back of his blazer, saying, "She fucking threw shit all over me."
Kaye's lawyer, Danya Perry, said that he was "terrorized," according to a Bloomberg report. She said his team shared a separate video with the district attorney that shows people forming a ring around him, pouring two unknown liquids on him, shoving him to the ground, and yelling antisemitic slurs at him, the report said.
"We will aggressively fight injustice, and we look forward to a full vindication for our client," Perry said, according to Bloomberg.
A spokesperson for Kaye previously told BI that he had feared for his safety when he was surrounded by "agitators" who physically assaulted and threw liquids on him.
"Given the sharp rise in antisemitic incidents, any Jewish person in this situation would naturally feel threatened and feel the need to defend themselves and return safely to their family," the spokesperson said.
Kaye had worked as a managing director leading Moelis' global business-services franchise prior to resigning after the video went viral. Moelis did not respond to a request for comment.