By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, Sept 29 (Reuters) – The JPMorgan Chase investment banker accused of sexual harassment in a lawsuit that went viral renewed her countersuit against her accuser, saying he defamed her, ruined her reputation and destroyed her life to extract millions of dollars from her and the bank.
In a Monday night filing in Manhattan federal court, JPMorgan Executive Director Lorna Hajdini said Chirayu Rana’s “deliberate and sustained scheme” to cast her as a racist sexual predator and criminal also caused her to suffer severe anxiety, panic and fear, and to withdraw from personal relationships.
“Plaintiff’s accusations are false,” Hajdini said, using bold italics for emphasis. She seeks unspecified damages for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and other civil wrongs.
Jon Norinsberg, a lawyer for Rana, in an email on Tuesday said, “We categorically reject Ms. Hajdini’s allegations and intend to vigorously defend against her counterclaims. We remain confident in the strength of Mr. Rana’s claims and look forward to proving them in court.”
Rana filed the latest version of his lawsuit in July, accusing Hajdini of coercing him into sex and demanding his submissiveness in order to advance his career.
He also refashioned his case by expanding his claims against JPMorgan Chase, saying the largest US bank irreparably destroyed his career through its acceptance of racism, including on his otherwise all-white leveraged finance team, and sexual coercion.
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According to the complaint, colleagues referred to Rana, who is of Nepalese descent, as “brown boy” and proclaimed they favored people who “look like Jamie Dimon,” the bank’s chief executive.
Rana also said he received a text message urging him to “run before we call ICEE (sic) on your family,” referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In a separate filing on Monday night, JPMorgan denied Rana’s most explosive claims, including that it “reduced him to a racial caricature” while Hajdini blackmailed him into repeated sexual assaults. Rana resigned in October 2025 after 1-1/2 years at the bank.
Hajdini countersued Rana after he filed his original lawsuit in a New York state court.
Multiple matters involving JPMorgan employees permeated social media this year.
In June, a former employee was caught on video dumping and then walking away with a commemorative trash can during a parade for the NBA champion New York Knicks.
Last week, a federal judge rejected JPMorgan’s bid to throw out a $4.25 million arbitration award to former wealth manager Brent Bodner, who was fired after expensing $642.50 from a delicatessen for a Super Bowl party. Bodner called the event an approved “business hospitality” get-together with a client.
US District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld said that while JPMorgan raised “serious challenges” to the award, he could not conclude that the arbitration panel deliberately disregarded the law.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
