JPMorgan Seeks Records in Harassment Lawsuit

At a hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan signaled skepticism toward JPMorgan’s request for former employment records from previous employers, while calling the bank’s bid for nearly two years of cellphone records “colossally overbroad.” The judge’s reaction suggests the court may narrow discovery, even as it allows JPMorgan to press its argument that the plaintiff, Chirayu Rana, was untruthful about his background.

JPMorgan’s counsel told the court that Rana had misled the bank in several ways, including allegedly inflating his compensation history and saying his father had died when he was in fact alive. The bank also wants records from Morgan Stanley, where Rana previously made a similar complaint against a supervisor. That makes the dispute economically relevant beyond the parties: large banks depend heavily on trust, internal controls and reputational capital, and even a single high-profile employment case can expose them to broader questions about workplace culture and litigation risk.

Rana’s complaint, filed in federal court in April, alleges that supervisor Lorna Hajdini drugged and sexually assaulted him, threatened his promotion and made racist remarks tied to his South Asian heritage. JPMorgan and Hajdini deny the allegations and say the two never had sexual contact. Hajdini’s lawyer argued the phone records would help establish where the two were when Rana says the assaults occurred.

The case has already produced a heavy online backlash and drawn threats and ridicule, according to Hajdini’s side, underscoring how quickly a workplace dispute at a blue-chip bank can become a broader issue of legal exposure and employee safety. For investors, the immediate impact on earnings is likely limited, but reputational cases can still matter for a company like JPMorgan because they can drive legal costs, management distraction and added scrutiny over human-capital practices.

The stock itself has been under pressure recently, with JPMorgan’s shares closing at $329.58 on Oct. 7, below a 50-day moving average of about $349.09 and with an RSI reading of 27.6, a conventional technical indicator that points to oversold conditions. That backdrop suggests the market is already cautious on the name, even before factoring in litigation noise. The longer the case remains in the spotlight, the more it becomes a test of how much reputational risk investors are willing to assign to the franchise.

For now, the key question is not whether the allegations are proven — that will be for the court — but how far JPMorgan can go in attacking the plaintiff’s credibility and how much of his digital and employment history the judge will let it see. The answer will shape both the legal strategy and the public narrative around one of Wall Street’s most closely watched employers.