Millionaire investment banker Jonathan Kaye was threatened, called anti-Semitic slurs, and doused in a mystery liquid, moments before he was filmed punching a woman at a Brooklyn Pride parade, a source with knowledge of the incident told DailyMail.com.
Insiders close to the 52-year-old banker claim the viral clip did not capture the full clash on Saturday, which began when a group of four female ‘Queers for Palestine’ supporters started allegedly taunting Kaye – who is Jewish – as he returned from dinner.
Kaye is said to have told the group that they were ‘on the wrong side’, prompting the women to gang up on him, the source said.
‘You could say that he initiated it, but he didn’t,’ a source told DailyMail.com.
‘He just said “you are on the wrong side”, and 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.
‘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.’
They also claim that the footage shows Kaye covered in liquid, with a stain on his back, in the now-viral video.
Pictures obtained by DailyMail.com show Kaye’s clothes soaked in a red liquid, which he believes was Gatorade, and blood pooling around his ankle after he was shoved to the floor.
Kaye was recorded throwing a punch at the unnamed woman during a pride parade in Brooklyn on Saturday evening, although there has not been an official probe launched by the NYPD.
Posters with his face, home address and cell phone number have been plastered in the area close to his $4million four-bedroom townhouse in pricey Park Slope, as neighbors erupted and demanded the father-of-three be arrested.
Defending the banker, who works as a Managing Director at Moelis & Company, a leading investment bank with offices in Midtown Manhattan, the source said the whole thing was ‘super anti-Semitic’.
They added: ‘You can clearly see in the video, if you slow it down, that he’s wet because they were throwing liquids at him.
‘That video clip is cut and doesn’t show the entire thing. He’s never had one issue in his entire life never been arrested or anything.
‘It was a super anti Semitic attack of four individuals ganging up against one Jewish man. It’s left him completely traumatized.’
Kaye is currently under investigation by the bank, with a spokesman confirming his identity and adding that they are taking the footage and allegations seriously. An official report has not yet been made to the NYPD though they are aware of the footage.
In the clip, the woman is seen being thrown to the floor by the force of the punch, as one onlooker unsuccessfully rushes to her aid.
Others looking on are heard calling Kaye an ‘a**hole’ and telling him to ‘go f**k himself’ – earning his attention briefly before he abruptly walks away.
Kaye, who lives his wife, owns multiple properties on the street, which he rents out to neighbors.
One said she was ‘shocked’ when she saw the footage this morning, adding that the father-of-three always seemed ‘normal’, although she normally spoke with his wife.
Another neighbor described scenes of chaos on the usually quiet street last night, as the victim’s friends ran up and down screaming that Kaye had assaulted a woman.
Kaye had barricaded himself in his home Monday morning, but an unknown man wearing a hoodie and sunglasses skulked into the property.
He said he did not live there, but did not say what he was doing. Neighbors yelled at Kaye’s children as they entered the front door.
Kaye works as a Managing Director at Moelis & Company, a leading investment bank with offices in Midtown Manhattan. The company has spurred an investigation into the incident, a spokesperson previously confirmed to DailyMail.com.
Earlier on Monday, a May 2023 podcast interview with the Wall Street executive resurfaced in which the the married father-of-three revealed he mentors junior 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 ‘managing your reputation’.
Kaye is a partner managing director and a head of business services at Moelis.
In his current role, he oversees 10 verticals within Moelis’s 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 Moelis’s website.
He also serves on the firm’s Management Committee, demonstrating his status in the financial sector, and does a ‘fair amount of mentorship’ with junior staff, Kaye told the podcast.