At the first hearing of the high-octane Chirayu Rana case where the Nepali-origin ex-JPMorgan banker alleged sexual harassment by co-worker Lorna Hajdini, Chirayu Rana’s lawyer informed the court that he will be exiting the case. Daniel Kaiser, who previously represented Jeffret Epstein accusers, filed a consent to be discharged as Rana’s attorney just hours before they were due to appear in court. However, Kaiser represented Rana for the May 26 hearing and informed the court that in the future, Rana will represent himself, known as pro se, unti; he finds a new counsel.The case grabbed headlines as Chirayu Rana brought serious allegations against Hajdini that she made him her sex slave — allegations that Hajdini and the company dismissed. Several details of the case emerged revealing that the company was willing to settle the case internally with Chirayu Rana and offered him money but he demanded more money and then finally resorted to a lawsuit against Hajdini.Hajdini also had a change of lawyer and is now being represented by Samuel S Shaulson of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP. Shaulson represented Morgan Stanley in a 2018 case in which a male employee accused both the bank and seven named employees, four of whom were female, of discriminating against him.In that case, Mahmoud Latif, a gay Muslim associate at Morgan Stanley, argued that the bank both discriminated and harassed him because of his sexual orientation, religion and other protected traits. Shortly after he was hired in 2017, Latif argued that a female supervisor at Morgan Stanley sexually assaulted him and subjected him to inappropriate touching and sexual advances. Morgan Stanley settled Latif’s case for an unknown amount in 2021.Since the case was filed, Rana’s attorney Kaiser defended Rana and countered many claims. One such claim was that Chirayu Rana once took bereavement leave from JPMorgan citing his father’s death while his father is still alive. Kaiser defended and said it was for the death of a father-figure.
