The millionaire investment banker who was filmed punching a woman in the face, causing her to fall to the ground, on the streets of New York preached the importance of “empathy” and “understanding” in an interview last year.
Jonathan Kaye, 52, was recorded throwing a violent direct punch at the unnamed woman in Brooklyn on Saturday night. The woman is seen falling to the ground from the force of the punch. It is unclear what sparked the confrontation.
Kaye works as a Managing Director at Moelis & Company, a leading investment bank with offices in Midtown Manhattan. The company has launched an investigation into the incident, a spokesperson previously confirmed to DailyMail.com.
The Wall Street executive, married and father of three, revealed during a podcast interview in May 2023 that he often mentors young bankers and identified the skills he believes are critical to having a successful career.
Kaye told the LSE Focal Point Podcast that a successful person demonstrates “empathy,” is “understanding” of others, and exercises good decision-making skills, including “reputation management.”
Jonathan Kaye, 52, was filmed on Saturday delivering a brutal direct punch to an unidentified woman in Brooklyn, where he also lives in a four-bedroom townhouse in expensive Park Slope, valued at just over $4 million.
Kaye (pictured) revealed during a podcast interview in May 2023 that he often mentors young bankers and identified skills he believes are critical to having a successful career, which included “empathy,” “understanding” of others and exercise good decision making. skills and ‘manage your reputation’
Kaye is Managing Partner and Head of Business Services at Moelis.
In his current role, he oversees 10 verticals within Moelis’ Business Services faction, managing “a dedicated team of bankers and… an extensive network of relationships with both strategic companies and private equity investors,” according to his profile on the Moelis website.
He also sits on the company’s Management Committee, demonstrating his status in the financial sector, and does a “fair amount of mentoring” with junior staff, Kaye said on the podcast.
He shared that he advises his trainees and aspiring bankers that they won’t have the “freedom” to work in whatever roles they want until they “achieve something precious: judgment.”
“Any job you want to eventually have in finance, whether it’s advising companies, managing money, deploying capital or leading a company operationally, you’ll have that position because of the judgment,” Kaye said.
He argued that while entry-level positions in finance and investment banking “really speed up your judgment in a remarkable way,” the most successful people in the industry “really invest in your expertise” in the company as a whole.
“That means not only working hard, but focusing on placing yourself in companies, in positions and with people who can give you the most experience possible,” he advised.
‘Pay attention and focus on the people you admire because they are probably successful for some reason.
“So yes, you have to learn the hard skills as quickly as you can, but in the end what really matters are the skills of determination and resilience, learning to listen, understanding what motivates other people and empathy – those are the skills essential than separating yourself from a calculator.’
The banker, seen here turning triumphantly after the attack, works as a managing director at Moelis & Company, a leading investment bank with offices in Midtown Manhattan.
Kaye told the LSE Podcast last year: ‘I learned some of the basics that probably seem obvious, but when you’re 20 you have to learn them all from scratch. Those are things like doing what you say you’re going to do, being consistent, carefully managing your reputation, carefully handling difficult people, and staying away from toxic people.
Kaye holds a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University, where she studied history and organic chemistry, and graduated cum laude from Duke University School of Law.
During his ten years at Moelis, Kaye helped the firm “become a market leader with more than 125 executed transactions representing more than $100 billion in collective enterprise value,” according to The Jewish Grad Organization.
But before working at Moelis, Kaye held positions at JPMorgan and Jefferies.
He told the podcast that as someone who entered the banking sector with no finance experience, he had a “rough” start to his financial career.
“They were difficult years, but I learned a lot,” he said of his transition to banking. ‘I learned that I was not as special as my mother told me.
“I learned that Wall Street can be a ruthless place and that and the rewards – and I don’t mean compensation, but opportunities, mentoring attention, the opportunity to work in the best situations, those things – followed those who did it. Good job and I did it well, consistently.’
He said that in addition to having to familiarize himself with the basic financial concepts that his peers had learned during their university studies, he also had to learn how to navigate the industry as a whole.
Kaye added: “I learned some of the basics that probably seem obvious, but when you’re 20 you have to learn them all from scratch.”
‘Those are things like doing what you say you’re going to do, being consistent, managing your reputation carefully, managing difficult people carefully, and staying away from toxic people.
“This was also a time in finance where there were fewer rules and people were a little tougher than I think the environment is today.”
Moelis & Company, a leading investment bank with offices in Midtown Manhattan, has launched an investigation into the incident, a spokesperson previously confirmed to DailyMail.com. Kaye is pictured during Saturday night’s confrontation.
Kaye was filmed punching a woman in the face on Saturday, causing her to fall to the ground.
The video shows him launching a violent direct punch at the unnamed woman in Brooklyn, where she lives in a $4 million, four-bedroom townhouse in expensive Park Slope.
The woman is then thrown to the ground by the force of the punch, while a bystander runs unsuccessfully to her aid.
Others watching are heard calling Kaye an “asshole” and telling him to “fuck off,” briefly gaining his attention before he abruptly walks away.
Kaye (pictured) has a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University, where she studied history and organic chemistry, and graduated cum laude from Duke University School of Law. He is also married and the father of three children.
Meanwhile, the footage is brief and shaky, but includes a moment where Kaye turns to the camera after knocking the woman to the ground.
Kaye walks away, holding a bag in one hand, a wet spot on the back of her jacket.
In a clip containing a caption superimposed on the footage, one user wrote: “This guy punched me in the face today and broke my nose.” (He also) broke my friend’s arm (sic)… Can anyone find him?’
A spokesperson for his employer confirmed to DailyMail.com that Kaye is the man seen in the viral video and said it has already launched an investigation.
“We have become aware that one of our employees was involved in a serious incident in Brooklyn on June 8,” a representative for Moelis said, as the 12-second clip continues to gain traction online.
“We take this matter very seriously and are conducting an investigation,” he added.
The context of the fight is still unclear.
Although Moelis is investigating the incident, as of this writing, it is unknown if it was reported to the NYPD. DailyMail.com has contacted police for comment.