A well-dressed man was caught on camera punching a woman in the face in New York, causing her to fall to the ground on Saturday evening.
In the video, the man, identified as 52-year-old millionaire investment banker Jonathan Kaye, punches the unnamed woman in front of a crowd of partygoers in Brooklyn. A source close to Kaye later told the Daily Mail that the viral clip is missing crucial context, and actually began with an “anti-Semitic attack.”
In the clip, the woman is thrown to the floor by the force of the punch, as one onlooker rushes to her aid.
Other people standing nearby can also be heard calling Kaye an “a**hole” and telling him to “go f*** himself” before he walks away wearing a jacket streaked with liquid down the back.
“This guy punched me in the face today and broke my nose. [He also] busted up my friends[sic] arm... can anyone find him?” a caption overlaying the video read.
Sources close to Kaye told the Daily Mail that a group of women with “Queers for Palestine” had “taunted” Kaye, who is Jewish, at which point he accused them of being on the “wrong side.”
“Then the four of them came at him - they threw liquids at him. He didn’t know what the liquid was. They were shouting slurs at him,” the source said. “He fell or he was chest bumped, and can’t remember that bit. But he ended up on the pavement with them four over him. He got up and swung at one as he was trying to escape, and then he ran.”
Kaye is heard in the video saying: “She f**king threw s**t all over me.” Photos in the Mail allegedly show Kaye’s bloodied ankle after his fall.
The incident has not been reported to the NYPD. However, a police spokesperson told The Independent that the NYPD is aware of the video.
“We encourage anyone who has been a victim to file a police report,” the spokesperson added.
Kaye works as a managing director at Moelis & Company, a leading investment bank with offices in Midtown Manhattan, according to the company’s website.
“We have become aware that one of our employees was involved in a serious incident in Brooklyn on June 8. We take this matter very seriously and are conducting an investigation,” a spokesperson for the New York-based investment bank said in a statement posted to X.
Kaye has overseen the Global Business Services franchise at Moelis & Co. since 2013, according to the company. He previously worked at Citi Bank as the managing director of its Global Mergers & Acquisitions Group. He holds a B.A. from Tufts University, and graduated cum laude from the Duke University School of Law.
The married father-of-three reportedly lives in a $4 million four-bedroom townhouse in Park Slope. Some neighbors told the New York Post Kaye isn’t the friendlist, with one recalling a time he became enraged by a kid kicking a pumpkin on Halloween.
“It was Halloween and there were some pumpkins on the stoop. Some kid, a late-elementary school or middle-school kid, kicked a pumpkin,” the neighbor told the New York Post. “Jonathan saw it, picked it up, ran after the kid and violently threw the pumpkin at this kid. This was 10 years ago, but I still have a strong memory of it. Like, what?”
In a podcast interview in May 2023, Kaye preached the importance of “empathy” and “understanding,” the Daily Mail reported.
He made the remarks as he told the LSE Focal Point Podcast that he often mentors junior bankers and identified the skills he believes are critical to having a successful career, explaining that a successful person demonstrates “empathy,” is “understanding” of others, and exercises good decision making skills, including “managing your reputation.”
The punch occurred as thousands flooded to Park Slope Saturday in celebration of the 28th annual Brooklyn Pride Multicultural Festival, a day-long event that started with a 5K marathon and ended with a parade along Fifth Avenue.
The Independent has contacted Kaye for comment.
