The lawyer representing a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. vice president in a graphic sexual harassment suit that’s gone viral on social media is trying to withdraw from the case.
Daniel Kaiser, who filed the April 27 complaint against JPMorgan and Lorna Hajdini, said Tuesday in a notice to the court that he agreed to be discharged from the case. Kaiser said that his client, Chirayu Rana, would represent himself until he secured new lawyers.
But New York state Justice Dakota Ramseur rejected Kaiser’s bid, which came hours before a hearing in the case, as improper. The judge said Kaiser needed to file a formal withdrawal motion.
The lawyer’s attempt to exit the case is the latest twist in a suit that’s captivated Wall Street with its lurid allegations. Rana claims Hajdini, an executive director and former colleague in JPMorgan’s leveraged finance group, sexually harassed and assaulted him. He also claims she and others at the bank subjected him to racial discrimination.
Kaiser didn’t respond to a voicemail and an email seeking comment. A spokesperson for Rana didn’t have an immediate comment.
Hajdini last week countersued Rana for defamation, calling his claims “entirely false” and “malicious.” She said his suit has “ruined her reputation and destroyed her life” by making her the “focal point of countless jokes, memes, and AI-generated images and videos of a persistently vile, degrading, and sexual nature.”
JPMorgan has denied Rana’s claims in public statements and in its formal response to his suit last week, saying the allegations were the subject of an internal investigation that found they had no merit. Bloomberg News has previously reported that the bank offered Rana a $1 million settlement, which he rejected.
The suit was originally filed on behalf of a John Doe plaintiff, but the judge on Tuesday denied Rana’s request to proceed anonymously. Ramseur said Rana’s identity was already well-known at this point.
A number of commentators, including podcast host Joe Rogan, have expressed skepticism about Rana’s claims. Kaiser has previously said his client will corroborate his claims and that any doubts were due to gender bias.
“He is male, and she is female,” Kaiser said in an interview with Bloomberg News earlier this month, “and that engenders a disbelief in what he’s saying. It makes people immediately suspicious that this could happen, that this would happen.”
The case is Doe v. JPMorgan Chase, 155620/2026, New York State Supreme Court, New York Co. (Manhattan).
Photo: Attorney Daniel Kaiser, representing Chirayu Rana, leaves the courtroom at New York State Supreme Court in New York, US, on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. JPMorgan Chase & Co. filed its court response to former vice president Chirayu Rana’s graphic sexual harassment suit against the bank and executive director Lorna Hajdini, calling his claims “false” and “malicious.”
Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
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