Christine O’Reilly, a broker at the interdealer brokerage TP ICAP, has claimed for years that she was the victim of sexual harassment by Benjamin Waters, a trader at Citigroup and a client, who texted her at night, spread rumors that they were sleeping together and tried to get her ever follow her to her hotel room, O’Reilly claims. The unwanted advances got so bad that she eventually blocked him on the messaging platform WhatsApp in 2023.
But when O’Reilly’s supervisor found out, the 31-year-old broker claims she was forced to unblock the trader, “tying her job to the need to tolerate sexual harassment,” according to a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Mahattan has been submitted. .
The incident is just one of many outlined in the lawsuit – filed by O’Reilly against TP ICAP, Citigroup and her supervisor, Janie McCathie – which reveals “how unethical traders at powerful financial institutions exploit control of lucrative order flows to conduct improper extract personal data. favors from brokers,” the complaint states. Waters is not listed as a defendant, but the lawsuit alleges there was a second Citi employee who allegedly knew about the pattern of harassment and did nothing.
“No professional should have to choose between being harassed or suffering harassment and losing a career,” said Seth Redniss, the attorney representing O’Reilly. Fortune. “That’s not a choice, that’s coercion.”
Citi told Fortune that “the two individuals directly associated with Citi and named in the lawsuit are no longer with the bank,” but declined to comment further. ICAP did respond to repeated requests for comment.
According to the lawsuit, O’Reilly was promoted to broker at ICAP’s Delta One MSCI Desk in New York in June 2017, where she began reporting to McCathie, who was based in London. It was through McCathie that she first met Waters, who is described in the complaint as a high-value trader who could send billions of dollars in cash flow to the brokerage.
The lawsuit alleges that Waters, based in London, made persistent and unwanted advances toward O’Reilly between 2020 and 2023, with McCathie’s knowledge. Screenshots in the lawsuit show Waters repeatedly making video calls and sending text messages to O’Reilly on WhatsApp, despite receiving no response.
The lawsuit also alleges that Waters sent sexually explicit messages to O’Reilly, asking her to send photos of herself and twice shared nearly nude photos of a woman he said he was dating. Waters also messaged O’Reilly on Instagram to ask what she was wearing, according to a screenshot inside the suit.
On July 26, 2023, screenshots show O’Reilly blocking Waters on WhatsApp. But McCathie ordered O’Reilly to unblock him, the complaint alleges, and screenshots show O’Reilly unblocking Waters on Tuesday, August 8. That Saturday, Waters sent O’Reilly a photo of himself getting drinks with McCathie, “reminding Ms. O’Reilly of his perceived untouchable status,” the complaint alleges.
“This was me telling you…you didn’t read between the lines,” he wrote on August 25, after O’Reilly did not respond to the earlier message.
He then called O’Reilly, who did not respond, and a day later he texted her: “Are you still alive?”
In September 2023, Waters left a comment on one of O’Reilly’s Instagram posts, saying, “nice feet,” screenshots show. O’Reilly sent him an angry response saying he was bombarding her with messages unrelated to their professional relationship and asking him what he wanted.
But when O’Reilly shared the conversation in her work WhatsApp group, her bosses scolded her for upsetting a client, and they had an extended back-and-forth about the best way to repair the relationship , including drafting an apology for O’Reilly to send to Waters, according to the complaint.
“[Christine] this is not cool,” McCathie texted, according to screenshots. “He is our customer and important to us.”
Later she asked, “After that message, will I ever see another order from him?”
“There is the idea that as a woman you know what you are getting into. You’re expected to play the game,” O’Reilly shared Bloomberg. “It’s slimy and disgusting.”
For Citigroup, the case is the second lawsuit in the past year alleging sexual harassment within its equities trading division. In November, an executive claimed he was a top equity banker in Citi’s North American markets division threatened her and her children if she continued to refuse his advances, and her lawsuit accuses the bank of allowing a “notoriously hostile” culture toward women to develop in its equities division. Citi wants the charges dismissed.
O’Reilly is still employed by ICAP and has been on leave since earlier this year when she filed a formal complaint with the brokerage.
“I know this will be the nail in the coffin for my real estate career,” she said Bloomberg. “I just hope that when people read these things, they realize it’s wrong, it’s so wrong.”
