Morgan Stanley Executive Charged With Hate Crime
-Morgan Stanley (MS) executive William Bryan Jennings, the company’s co-head of North American fixed-income capital markets, has been charged with a hate crime related to an alleged stabbing in December of a New York City taxi driver of Middle Eastern descent.
On Wednesday, Jennings, a banker who has worked at Morgan Stanley since 1993, was arrested and charged with second-degree assault, theft of services and intimidation by bias or bigotry—which in New York is considered a hate crime—related to the Dec. 22 incident, according to Darien, Conn., police Detective Mark Cappelli.
On that night, Jennings and the cab driver allegedly had a dispute over payment of a $204 flat fare for a roughly one-hour trip from New York City to Jennings’s home in Connecticut, Cappelli said. Jennings, who had attended a charitable event, was picked up at 11th Avenue between 48th and 49th streets. Upon arrival at his home, Jennings is accused of refusing to pay the fare and cutting the driver in the hand with a pen knife, the detective said. The wound to the driver’s hand required stitches.
The driver called police following the incident, Cappelli said, and a warrant was later issued for Jennings’s arrest. Jennings didn’t contact Darien police until about two weeks later, according to a police press release.
Jennings was released on $9,500 bond and has a court appearance, scheduled for March 9, in Superior Court in Stamford, Conn.
In an interview, Jennings’s attorney, Eugene Riccio, said the cab driver “attempted to collect an exorbitant sum of money from my client for the cab ride” outside his home. Riccio said the driver sought $300 from Jennings, while he offered to pay $160.
Once Jennings resisted the request, the driver attempted to take him back to the city, which led to a struggle to exit the vehicle, Riccio said.
“My client categorically denies that he stabbed this individual,” Riccio said, adding that Jennings also “denies that he said any racially offensive statements to the cab driver.”