The suspected cause of death for a Jefferies banker found dead in his apartment has been revealed as it’s claimed he was working 100 hours a week.
Carter McIntosh, 28, was discovered dead on his couch in his Dallas apartment on January 27, with police finding a ‘white powdery substance’ and a rolled-up $100 bill nearby.
The circumstances surrounding his death last month were mysterious, prompting local police to launch an investigation.
A police report has cited a ‘possible overdose,’ but the medical examiner’s office has not yet completed the autopsy report as toxicology test results are pending.
Now, sources told the New York Post that the young Wall Street banker was pushing 100-hour weeks before his tragic death – with insiders revealing he was ‘worked like a dog’ with ‘unsustainable hours’ while juggling high-stakes multi-million dollar deals.
The shocking discovery has put a spotlight on Wall Street’s ruthless work culture.
McIntosh, who joined prestigious investment bank Jefferies after stints at Goldman Sachs and Moelis, was ‘a grinder,’ a source told The Post.
‘He was a really hard worker and he was on a very difficult team in Dallas. They gave him a lot of sh**.’
The California native had been prescribed medication for attention deficit disorder (ADD), according to the police report.
That put into question whether he may have overdosed on Adderall – a stimulant notoriously used by bankers to cope with brutal schedules.
‘Tons of people at the bank take it,’ a Jefferies insider told The Post.
Multiple sources at Jefferies exposed a disturbing look into the life inside the Dallas office, where young bankers like McIntosh faced relentless pressure under managing directors Lawrence Chu and Nicholas Brown.
‘The guys are kind of ruthless on that team,’ one source revealed, calling the hours ‘unsustainable.’
‘You are working with increasingly difficult people who are going to give you sh** no matter what you send them,’ one source said.
‘These kids are geared towards blaming themselves rather than blaming the system. So they just work harder and sleep less, eat less, and work out less.’
Following the news of his death, a first-year analyst also took to the Wall Street Oasis forum to argue that the working culture at Jefferies ‘has gotten out of hand,’ claiming that the bank is ‘horrible right now,’ the New York Post reports.
‘Hopefully someone does something to fix this,’ the anonymous poster wrote.
‘The firm’s teams are stretched too thin, timelines are increasingly aggressive, and there’s a very notable lack of consideration for junior employees’ quality of life.
‘My friends at other banks can’t believe when they hear what’s going on at Jefferies,’ he claimed.
A Jefferies spokesperson responded to The Post: ‘This wild speculation needs to end. These statements are simply false. We believe that people are using this tragic incident and twisting it for their own purposes.’
The tragedy comes just months after the death of Bank of America banker Leo Lukenas, 35, a former Green Beret who died from a heart blood clot after allegedly working similar 100-hour weeks.
Lukenas died of ‘acute coronary artery thrombus’ – a disease that causes the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart.
The father-of-two and former member of the Army’s Special Forces joined the banking industry the summer before in an attempt to ‘pursue new opportunities for his family,’ according to his loved ones.
Lukenas’ death prompted Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase to crack down on the number of hours junior bankers worked.
Bank of America said at the time it would introduce a timekeeping tool that requires employees to specify how their time is spent, and JPMorgan Chase said it would cap junior bankers’ work hours at 80 per week – but with certain exceptions such as when there is a live deal.