A JPMorgan Chase executive has been named in a sexual abuse lawsuit that, even by Wall Street’s long history of ugly workplace cases, reads differently. The allegations are specific. The timeline is documented. And the dynamic, a senior female executive accused of abusing a junior Asian male subordinate, almost never appears in corporate litigation.
Key Points:
- Lorna Hajdini is an Executive Director in JPMorgan’s Leveraged Finance division, 37 years old, based in New York.
- The plaintiff, identified as John Doe, is an Asian man who joined the bank in March 2024 and filed the lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court.
- Allegations include sexual coercion, drugging with Rohypnol, racial slurs, unauthorized access to his personal bank account, and retaliation after he reported internally.
- JPMorgan ran an internal investigation and says it found nothing, while also noting the complainant refused to cooperate.
- Doe has been diagnosed with PTSD, and his attorney says the bank’s negative references have since blocked him from finding work elsewhere in finance.
Who is Lorna Hajdini?
Lorna Hajdini joined JPMorgan in 2011. Made vice president in 2018. Executive director in 2021. Fifteen years inside the same institution, steadily moving up through a division, Leveraged Finance, that functions as one of the more demanding corners of investment banking, handling high-risk loans to corporations with complicated financial structures.
Before April 30, 2026, Lorna Hajdini was not publicly known outside that world.
What is the Lawsuit About?
The complaint was filed in New York County Supreme Court. The plaintiff, an Asian man proceeding as John Doe, says the abuse started within weeks of joining the firm in March 2024 and continued for months.
The core of what he alleges: Lorna Hajdini used her position to coerce him into non-consensual sexual acts by tying compliance directly to his career.
According to the lawsuit, she told him that a promotion to executive director would require him to start “pleasing” her. The complaint includes specific quoted language, including remarks that combined sexual demands with racial slurs in the same sentence.
Doe says he kept refusing. He says the refusals did not stop her.
Allegations Overview
| Allegation | What the Complaint Says |
| Sexual coercion | Promotion and career advancement tied to compliance with sexual demands |
| Drugging | Rohypnol allegedly used without consent, on multiple occasions |
| Racial abuse | Slurs targeting his ethnicity, combined with career threats |
| Account surveillance | Hajdini allegedly accessed his personal bank account to monitor his movements |
| Retaliation | Within days of his internal complaint, involuntary leave and system lockout |
The Drugging Claims
Rohypnol is a powerful sedative, the drug most commonly associated with drug-facilitated assault. Doe alleges Hajdini used it on him more than once to facilitate contact he had already refused. The lawsuit does not describe these as isolated incidents.
The Racial Dimension
The complaint describes explicit language, slurs targeting his background, derogatory terms used during interactions that were already non-consensual. One quoted line referenced him as her “little Arab boy toy.” Another included a direct threat: “I’m going to ruin you, never forget, I f**king own you.”
These were not offhand remarks. The complaint frames them as deliberate, recurring, and tied to the same power dynamic driving the coercion.
The Bank Account Access
The least-discussed allegation is also among the most legally interesting. Doe claims Hajdini used her executive access to monitor his personal bank account, tracking where he was going, who he was spending money with. If that holds up, it moves the case beyond workplace harassment into surveillance and financial privacy violations.
What Happened After He Reported it
Doe filed an internal complaint in May 2025. Within days, according to the lawsuit, JPMorgan placed him on involuntary leave and locked him out of company systems. He also says he received anonymous calls with threats referencing U.S. immigration authorities.
His attorney Daniel J. Kaiser has described the consequences plainly: PTSD diagnosis, no income, blocked from re-entering finance because of the bank’s negative references. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages alongside internal reforms to the bank’s reporting process.
Whether the timeline of that retaliation, complaint filed, leave issued within days, is coincidental is something a court will now have to assess.
JPMorgan’s Response
JPMorgan Chase denied Doe’s allegations. A company spokesperson said, “Following an investigation, we don’t believe there’s any merit to these claims.” The spokesperson added that several employees cooperated, while the complainant allegedly refused to participate and declined to provide central facts.
Lorna Hajdini has not yet issued an official response to the specific allegations contained in the complaint.
Legal analysts have noted that internal investigations conducted by the institution being accused carry limited credibility, and that independent review is often warranted in cases of this seriousness.
Why this Case Reads Differently
Female-on-male sexual coercion cases reach litigation at a fraction of the rate of the reverse. That alone makes the JPMorgan Lorna Hajdini lawsuit unusual. Add to that: a racial dimension targeting a minority employee, drugging allegations, and a documented retaliation timeline, and this becomes a case that touches several areas where Wall Street accountability has been challenged before without much resolution.
The internal complaint process at JPMorgan, at least as described in this lawsuit, did not function as protection. It functioned as a trigger. That specific failure, if it stands up, matters more broadly than the individuals involved.
Timeline
| Date | What Happened |
| March 2024 | Doe joins JPMorgan Chase |
| March–late 2024 | Alleged abuse begins, escalates over months |
| May 2025 | Doe files internal complaint |
| Days after complaint | Involuntary leave, systems locked, anonymous threats |
| 2025–2026 | PTSD diagnosis; blocked from finance employment |
| April 2026 | Lawsuit filed in New York County Supreme Court |
| April 30, 2026 | Case becomes public |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Lorna Hajdini? An Executive Director at JPMorgan Chase in the Leveraged Finance division. She joined in 2011, reached vice president in 2018, and executive director in 2021. She is 37 and based in New York. No public statement from her as of April 30, 2026.
Who is John Doe in the JPMorgan lawsuit? An Asian male employee who joined JPMorgan in March 2024. He is proceeding anonymously. His attorney is Daniel J. Kaiser.
What are the specific allegations against Lorna Hajdini? Sexual coercion using career threats, drugging with Rohypnol, racial slurs, unauthorized access to his personal bank account, and retaliation by the institution after he reported the abuse.
Has Lorna Hajdini been fired? No public confirmation of any employment action as of the time of writing.
What is JPMorgan’s official response? The bank says an internal investigation found no merit to the claims. It also notes the complainant did not cooperate with or provide facts to the review.
Where was the lawsuit filed? New York County Supreme Court.
Has Lorna Hajdini responded to the allegations? No public statement has been issued.
What Happens Next
Early stages. A court process for a case with this many distinct allegations, and a defendant institution as large as JPMorgan, typically runs long. The key question is whether a judge orders independent investigation, or whether the bank’s internal findings get any weight in proceedings.
The Lorna Hajdini JPMorgan case is being watched closely. More may surface.
