Former JPMorgan banker Chirayu Rana’s sexual-assault claims against executive Lorna Hajdini, and her countersuit this week, have ignited chatter inside 270 Park Avenue — and provided fodder for tabloid headlines and online memes beyond. To recap: Rana claimed in an April 27 lawsuit that Hajdini pressured him to be her “sex slave,” drugged him, and made racist remarks, demands, and threats, including, “If you don’t fuck my brains out tonight, I’m going to sabotage your promotion.”
JPMorgan, which is also named in the suit, has said that Rana’s claims have “no merit” and Hajdini countersued for defamation earlier this week, asserting that Rana’s allegations are “entirely false, malicious, and fabricated” and “concocted for the improper purpose of personal enrichment at the expense of defendants and others.”
The saga was likely to next unfold on May 26, when a preliminary hearing is scheduled, but the Juggernaut, an outlet that covers the South Asian diaspora, published an extensive profile of Rana on Thursday that includes fresh comments from him on the case. “The biggest thing here is, if you call this fake, it’s just gender inequality. If the roles were reversed, what do you think would happen?” Rana said in an interview with Tulika Bose, which hit upon several matters in the suit and recently in the press.
