The JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker named in a graphic sexual harassment suit that went viral last month hit back at her accuser with a defamation counterclaim, calling his allegations “entirely false” and “malicious.”
Lorna Hajdini last Tuesday night countersued a former colleague on the bank’s leveraged finance team who claimed that she forced him to be her “sex slave” and used racist language to demean him. She “categorically and unequivocally” denied his “disgusting” claims, saying they have “ruined her reputation and destroyed her life.”
The April 27 suit against JPMorgan and Hajdini was filed by a John Doe plaintiff, but people familiar with the matter have said he was Chirayu Rana, a former vice president at the bank. Hajdini was an executive director, but she denies being Rana’s supervisor, as he alleged.
“Ms. Hajdini and members of her family have been mocked, ridiculed, and harassed around the clock,” lawyers for the banker said, “with Ms. Hajdini serving as the ongoing focal point of countless jokes, memes, and AI-generated images and videos of a persistently vile, degrading, and sexual nature — all a direct consequence of Plaintiff’s lies.”
In her filing, Hajdini said Rana first made his allegations in an internal complaint at JPMorgan that he filed months before his lawsuit. He sought to use his claims as “leverage to extract millions of dollars from the Company with no regard whatsoever for the impact such lies would have on Ms. Hajdini,” according to the countersuit.
People familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified speaking about private discussions, said JPMorgan previously offered a $1 million settlement to Rana, which he declined. A request for comment to Rana’s attorney, Daniel J. Kaiser, was referred to Sitrick & Co., a Los Angeles crisis management and public relations firm whose clients have included Oaktree Capital, Johnny Depp and Harvey Weinstein.
“Defamation requires the statement or statements must be false. Truth is an absolute defense. Mr. Rana’s statements are true. This will be proven in a court of law,” the Sitrick firm said in a statement.
Many on social media, including podcast host Joe Rogan, have expressed skepticism about Rana’s claim. In an earlier interview, Kaiser 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, “and that engenders a disbelief in what he’s saying. It makes people immediately suspicious that this could happen, that this would happen.”
Hajdini said the bank’s internal investigation went on for months, requiring her to sit for lengthy interviews and provide evidence that none of his allegations were true. During that time, she said her work with an education-focused organization came to an “involuntary end” and she was forced to seek mental-health treatment.
“Plaintiff’s reprehensible and unforgivable lies about Ms. Hajdini set forth in the internal complaint have made her life a daily, living nightmare from which she has been unable to escape for the last year,” she said.
“We fully support Lorna and her right to defend herself and protect her reputation. As we’ve said from the outset, we don’t believe the allegations against her or the firm have merit,” a JPMorgan spokesperson said in a statement.
Hajdini alleged that Rana “advanced” similar allegations against a former supervisor at a different bank, consulting a website for advice on the matter. She also alleged that he falsely claimed his father had died, to obtain paid bereavement leave, though his father is alive.
The case is Doe v. JPMorgan Chase, 155620/2026, New York State Supreme Court, New York Co. (Manhattan).
Top Photo: The JPMorgan Chase & Co. global headquarters building in New York.
Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
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