JPMorgan banker jumps to his death in HK
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, February 19, 2014
A 33-year-old banker jumped to his death from the skyscraper roof of U.S. investment bank JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s headquarters in Hong Kong on Tuesday. This is the third JPMorgan suicide to occur in one month, local media reported.
The man made his way up to the roof around 2 p.m. while there were in fact several other people on the roof of 30-story Chater House on Connaught Road Central. Despite someone calling the police, he jumped off the building, witnesses said.
A police spokeswoman said the man was taken to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai and was pronounced dead at 2.31 p.m.
Sources told China Business News that the man was surnamed Li and was a former forex trader with JPMorgan. After he got laid off by the company, he worried about his various loans and debts and opted for suicide, other sources said. No suicide note has been found thus far, the police said.
The police had to seal off part of Connaught Road Central for some two hours, while the city's financial community quickly shared the tragedy via social media.
A spokesman for JPMorgan said, "A sad and tragic incident occurred at Chater House, Hong Kong today, which is currently being investigated by the police. Out of respect for those involved, we cannot yet comment further. Our thoughts and sympathy are with the family at this difficult time."
This is the latest of three JPMorgan-related deaths to occur in just one month. On Jan. 27, 2014, 39-year-old executive Gabriel Magee plunged himself from the rooftop of the investment bank's European headquarters in London. On Feb. 3, Ryan Henry Crane, 37, a JPM executive director who worked in New York, was found dead inside his Stamford home.
Three other notable bankers outside of JPMorgan have also committed suicide over the past month.
In late January, Mike Dueker, chief economist at Russell Investments, was found dead close to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State. Local police say he committed suicide by jumping a fence and subsequently falling down 15 meters to his death.
On Jan. 26, William Broeksmit, 58, a former senior risk manager with Deutsche Bank, hanged himself in his house in South Kensington, according to London police.
Richard Talley, 57, founder of American Title Services in Centennial, Colorado, shot himself and was found dead in his home on Feb. 4.
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