Banker's deaths

[Magda Hassan]

MAybe nothing maybe some thing.

Two top American bankers commit suicide in London as one jumps 500ft to his death from JP Morgan skyscraper and another hangs himself in luxury home

• Gabriel Magee, a 39-year-old JP Morgan bank executive, died this morning after he threw himself off the top of the bank's European headquarters
  
• On Sunday, former Deutsche Bank senior manager, William 'Bill' Broeksmit, 58, was found hanging in his home in South Kensington
  
• Both deaths have been ruled non-suspicious by the Metropolitan Police
  
• Magee had lived in London for seven years after transferring from the Unites States with JP Morgan
  
• Broeksmit had been in London many years but still owned an apartment in an exclusive Central Park building in New York
  
• Both were thought highly of by their bosses and colleagues, sources said
  

By Martin Robinson and Mark Duell and Kieran Corcoran
PUBLISHED: 21:46 GMT, 28 January 2014 | UPDATED: 23:07 GMT, 28 January 2014



Two top ranking American bankers working in senior positions in London have committed suicide in the space of two days.
Gabriel Magee, a 39-year-old JP Morgan bank executive, died early this morning after he jumped 500ft from the top of the bank's European headquarters. His body was discovered on the ninth floor roof, which surrounds the 33-story Canary Wharf skyscraper.
Just two days earlier, on Sunday, fellow American banker, William 'Bill' Broeksmit, 58, was found hanging in his South Kensington home.
Broeksmit - who retired last February - was a former senior manager at Deutsche Bank and had lived in London many years. He started working for the bank in 1996 but left for a period of 7 years before returning in 2008.

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Tragedy: IT executive Gabriel Magee has been found dead today after jumping from the top of JP Morgan's headquarters in Canary Wharf, London, and landing on a surrounding roof

Magee was a vice president in the corporate and investment bank technology department having joined JP Morgan in 2004 and moved with the bank from the U.S. to Britain in 2007.
Magee was named in an email sent to all JP Morgan staff Tuesday afternoon.
A company spokesman said: 'We are deeply saddened to have lost a member of the J.P. Morgan family at 25 Bank Street today. Our thoughts and sympathy are with his family and his friends'.

A source close to Magee said he was in 'good standing with his bosses and colleagues. He was well liked.'

Scotland Yard said they were called to 25 Bank Street at 8.02 a.m. and detectives are not treating the death as suspicious.

'No arrests have been made and the incident is being treated as non-suspicious at this early stage', a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said.
Canary Wharf workers were in shock today, with one trader telling MailOnline that his body lay on the flat roof until around midday.
'My colleague yelled that he could see that someone had jumped from the top of the building onto a lower roof. His body lay there uncovered for at least two hours,' he said.

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In shock: A JP Morgan worker looks out of his window as Mr Magee's body was recovered today



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Roof death: Workers at Canary Wharf said hundreds were looking at the man's body from their windows




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Investigation: Police at the scene outside the JP Morgan building this morning, where the man was found dead at around 8am

'Hundreds were looking out of their windows at him.

'It was bonus week at JP Morgan last week so I hope it wasn't to do with that'.
Another Canary Wharf worker who could see where the man fell told the Evening Standard: 'It's upsetting what's happened but the thought of somebody lying up there for four hours is awful.

'I got into the office at about 8.10 and the body was on the floor and there were police up there, and they put a white cover on him.

'I think he was in a suit. As far as I could see the was dressed appropriately, but there was quite a lot of blood, so me and my colleagues were a bit upset.'

Others tweeted that what they saw this morning.

Amie Hughes-Gage said: 'Just watched the police finally remove that poor bankers body 4 and half hours later with only a white sheet over him.'
Hetal Patel tweeted: 'The 9th floor roof of JP Morgan is visible from my office window. For a long time the body was left cordoned & unattended'.

Another wrote online: 'It's not a nice view from my building. The body is on the rooftop of level 9. So sad'.
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An air ambulance was sent to the scene but the man could not be saved.
'We were called to Bank Street to reports of a person fallen form a height', London Ambulance Service spokesman said:
'We sent one ambulance crew, a duty officer, our hazardous area response team and London Air Ambulance to the scene.

'Sadly a man in his 30s was pronounced dead at the scene.'
JP Morgan's building has been the headquarters of the bank's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) operation since July 2012.
It used to be owned by Lehman Brothers until its collapse in 2008, and the area houses the headquarters of other banking giants including HSBC and Barclays.
The horrific tragedy came hot on the heels of the shock death of of Broeksmit Sunday, who apparently had close ties to co-chief executive Anshu Jain.
Jain and fellow co-chief executive Juergen Fitschen said in an internal memo: 'He was considered by many of his peers to be among the finest minds in the fields of risk and capital management.
'We are deeply saddened by Bill's death. He was a dear friend and colleague to many of us who benefitted from his intellect and wisdom.

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Location: The body of William 'Bill' Broeksmit, 58, was found at his home in South Kensington, central London

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Discovery: Police had been called to reports of a man found hanging at a house on this road, Evelyn Gardens

'Our thoughts and condolences are with his wife and family at this time. We will remember him for his contributions to Deutsche Bank, thoughtful advice and personal friendship.'
Broeksmit worked in investment banking - specifically risk and securities - and lived on exclusive Evelyn Gardens in South Kensington, which has an average property value of £1.9million.
He is also registered to a high-value property a stone's throw from New York's Central Park.
Broeksmit's name appears on U.S. government records for the Broeksmit Family Foundation, which is based in the palatial 1185 Park Avenue building.
The three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment to which he is linked was worth $4,500,000 when it was last sold in June 2000.

He worked at Deutsche Bank from 1996 to 2001, then from 2008 until he retired. Broeksmit was also employed by Merrill Lynch for a period.
Broeksmit was one of around 100 bankers who left Merrill Lynch for Deutsche when its investment banking arm was founded in the 1990s.
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Links: Mr Broeksmit is linked by U.S. documents to an apartment in this building, yards from Central Park







Offices: He worked at Deutsche Bank from 1996 to 2001, then from 2008 until he retired (file picture)

He was involved in the process of rescuing the bank in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, when many investment banks found their debts were 'toxic', and unlikely ever to be repaid.
Broeksmit, a renowned risk expert, assisted the bank's efforts to shift the worst of the debt, and reduce its total amount of lending.
Chiefs at Deutsche Bank had planned to promote Broeksmit to its management board in 2012, but stopped when the German financial regulator expressed doubts about his experience as a leader.

Scotland Yard confirmed only that a 58-year-old man was found hanged.

A spokesman said: 'Police were called at 12.35 p.m. on Sunday to a man found hanging at Evelyn Gardens, SW7.
'Kensington and Chelsea police, ambulance and air ambulance all attended. A 58-year-old man was declared dead at the scene. The death is being treated as non-suspicious.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2547684/TWO-senior-American-bankers-working-London-commit-suicide-just-two-days-one-jumped-500ft-death-JP-Morgan-skyscraper.html

[Peter Lemkin]

HOW could either one [let alone two so close together] not be considered suspicious?! What a joke the British Police are.

[David Guyatt]

Aye. Maybe it's a curse of the job. If you're a banker and die in circumstances that might be suspicious, it is automatically considered to be suicide. It seems to me to save all sorts of speculation about what exactly they were involved with.

Think of Amschel Rothschild who, in 1996. used his bathrobe belt to hang himself from a towel rack in Bristol hotel, Paris, some years ago. Then there was the well known money launderer, Edmund Safra, who was killed in his luxurious penthouse in Monte Carlo back in 1999. His male "nurse" was arrested and convicted of murder. No hint whatsoever from the authorities of the involvement of the Russian Mafiya in his death.

[Magda Hassan]

Might be a stretch to claim Tata Motor death as a banker though.

Financial world shaken by 4 bankers' apparent suicides in a week

Published time: February 03, 2014 12:16 Get short URL

Mike Dueker (Still from YouTube video/Russell Investments)



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The apparent suicide death of the chief economist of a US investment house brings the number of financial workers who have died allegedly by their own hand to four in the last week.
50-year-old Mike Dueker, who had worked for Russell Investment for five years, was found dead close to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State, says AP.
Local police say he could have jumped over a fence and fallen 15 meters to his death, and are treating the case as a suicide.
Dueker was reported missing by friends on January 29, and police had been searching for him.
A Sheriff's spokesman said investigators learned that he was having problems at work but did not elaborate.
Jennifer Tice, a company spokeswoman declined to comment, however said, that Dueker was in good standing at Russell.
"We were deeply saddened to learn today of the death," Tice said in an e-mail on Friday. "He made a valuable contributions that helped our clients and many of his fellow associates."
Dueker joined Russell Investment in 2008. He wrote for Market Outlook financial services publications, forecasting the business cycle and the target federal funds rate. He is the creator and developer of a business cycle index that forecast economic performance published monthly on the Russell website.
He was previously an assistant vice president and research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and is ranked in the top 5 percent of published economists.
Over the past two decades he wrote tens of research papers mostly on monetary policy, according to the bank's website.
His most-cited paper was "Strengthening the case for the yield curve as a predictor of U.S. recessions," published in 1997 while he was a researcher at the Federal Reserve.
"He was a valued colleague of mine during my entire tenure at the St. Louis Fed," said William Poole, the bank's ex-president. "Everyone respected his professional skills and good sense."
Dueker held an undergraduate degree in math from the University of Oregon, a master's degree in economics from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington.

Streak of bankers' deaths

Dueker's apparent suicide was the fourth among financial experts in a week.
A 58-year-old former senior executive at Deutsche Bank AG, William Broeksmit, was found dead on January 26 in his home after an apparent suicide in South Kensington in central London.
The next day, January 27, Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym, 51, was found dead on the fourth floor of the Shangri-La hotel in Bangkok. Police said he could have committed suicide. Mr. Slym was staying on a 22th floor with his wife, and was attending a board meeting in the Thai capital.
Another tragic incident occurred on January 28, when a 39-year-old Gabriel Magee, a JP Morgan employee, died after falling from the roof of its European headquarters in London.

The offices of JP Morgan in the Canary Wharf district of London (Reuters/Simon Newman)

While creating fortunes, City and Wall Street jobs are notorious for extra-long working weeks and huge amounts of stress. In a move to ease the tension some of the world's biggest lenders like Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Credit Suisse have been telling junior staff to take more time off.
Some European countries like Belgium and the Netherlands have reduced the working week from 40 to 30 hours without damaging their economies, while in Germany an average worker puts in 35 hours a week and is the world's fourth largest economy.

http://rt.com/business/russell-investmen...-dead-564/

[David Guyatt]

It's starting to sound awfully like a cull - similar to all those Iranian nuke scientists who kept turning up dead - doesn't it.

[Peter Lemkin]

It's starting to sound awfully like a cull - similar to all those Iranian nuke scientists who kept turning up dead - doesn't it.

There was also a German banker who 'committed suicide' in the past week or two - is he taken into account. If they are being bumped off that's sinister, or if they are actually bumping themselves off - then one has to ask what they know that we don't know......either way, it does look like there is economic/bankster information out there that is going to soon cause great harm and either someone[s] don't want it public, or it was too much for these bankers to face..... Time to start wearing protective gear as it seems the sky is about to fall!.....:htf::

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They're dropping like flies: 3 bankers dead by apparent suicide in 6 days

By Scott Baker 2/3/2014 at 04:55:37
3 apparently unrelated banker suicides among the world's banking elites have occurred in just 6 days.
The latest was Mike Dueker, the chief economist atRussell Investments.
Bloomberg reports:

Dueker worked at Seattle-based Russell for five years, anddeveloped a business-cycle index that forecast economicperformance. He was previously an assistant vice president andresearch economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
He published dozens of research papers over the past twodecades, many on monetary policy, according to the St. LouisFed's website, which ranks him among the top 5 percent ofeconomists by number of works published.

Before that, William Broeksmit, a formersenior manager at Deutsche Bank, was found hanging in his home, apparently another suicide.

On January 28, "A vice president in technologyoperations, Gabriel Magee, died after falling from JPMorganChase & Co. (JPM)'s London headquarters, the bank said today," reports Bloomberg Technology.

...........

In any case, it's an inauspicious start to the new year and a trend worth watching. Will this open a new futures market in banker longevity? Don't put it past Wall Street, which will bet on anything these days, to start a Dead Pool.

[David Guyatt]

From The Slog:

WIPING OUT THE WHISTLEBLOWERS: FOUR JUMPERS & A MISSING PERSON SPELL PANIC IN THE ESTABLISHMENT

BY JOHN WARD FEBRUARY 5, 2014 DANISH DEBT TARGETED DANISH OIL ENVIED DAVID BIRD OIL MARKETS REPORTER DEUTSCHE BANK GREEK DEBT GEOPOLITICSJP MORGAN KARL SLYM RUSSELL INVESTMENTS

Oilman, Banker, Soldier, Spy: everything is connected

The interconnected worlds of hedge funds, energy, banking, defence, globalism and geopolitics have the ability at times to make the characters from a John Le Carre novel seem one-dimensional and honourable by comparison. The Slog delves further into the the double-dealing world of the élite, and concludes that perhaps at last its members fear they might have a fight on their hands.
Four funerals and an abduction
Like me and millions of others, you've probably been following the growing death-toll among financial persons of late. Following the demise of one Morgan pirate last Sunday week, A Deutsche Bank executive followed last weekend.
Next came (or rather, went) Russell Investments' Chief Economist and former Fed economist Mike Dueker, this week found devoid of life by a Washington State roadside. Of this last, police said it looked like suicide, which is all well and good, except he seems to have chosen the most athletic way of leaving this world in history: the 50 year old jumped over a 4-foot (1.2-meter) fence before plummeting down a 40- to 50-foot embankment, Pierce County Detective Ed Troyer said yesterday.
The link, however, doesn't seem to be merely banking and suicide: still unexplained is the disappearance of David Bird, the oil markets reporter who had worked at the Wall Street Journal for 20 years, who vanished on January 11 2014.
And another death hitherto largely ignored may provide a link as to WTF is going on here: last Monday week, Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym was found dead after falling from a high floor at the Shangri-La hotel in Bangkok. Tata Motors is the automotive arm of the Tata Sons Ltd. group, a business empire headed by Cyrus P. Mistry that includes companies engaged in oil, power generation…and solar.
The immediate commonalities here are jumping, energy, market rigging and whistle-blowing.
All of these men had expressed, at some point or another, a willingness or intention to talk to the authorities about fixes in various financial and commodity markets….oil being an especially prominent one. All fell off things (although we don't know what happened to Bird yet) none of them were felt to be even remotely depressed, and all were either partnering with, reporting on or working far large global concerns facing very serious regulatory and criminal investigations.
The most definitive way to silence somebody is murder, but even with something as final as death, no motive is ever quite as it seems high up in in the Gods.
Greece, I have always maintained, is most definitely not about a relatively piddling debt that was (it now seems almost certain) exaggerated in the first place: much larger considerations are the country's importance as a Mideast military base, the alliances of Turkey's Recep Erdogan, and the vast amounts of new century industrials, gas and oil to be found beneath its territorial waters. Geopolitics and energy are always in the mix somewhere: and you should never assume that energy, Wall Street, the Pentagon and the White House are separate players.
If you can't get the ship of State to heave to, torpedo it
The same Hedge Fund fate that doomed Greece may yet befall Denmark. Owl Creek Asset Management, a leading high-performance hedge-fund firm, has begun betting against Denmark's sovereign bonds "in anticipation of a debt crisis". In turn, Owl Creek has taken up a massive posiiton in credit default swaps on Danske Bank, Denmark's biggest lender. Nice little pincer movement there, guys.
While the Danes' debt to disposable ratio is World No 1 at 320%, methinks there is another factor underlying this sudden interest in a relatively obscure Scandinavian country. You see, it just so happens that the Arctic is believed to contain 22% of the technically recoverable oil and gas resources still left in the world. Also, guess what? Denmark has the most solid claim to the largest part of it…and leads the technology race to get it out at a commercial price. But as Offshore technology Magazine reported two years ago,
…there are disputes between Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the US regarding rights to use resources and security of transportation through Arctic shipping routes.'
Most market-rigging is not done for profit first.
If you look at gold, QE, Zirp, Libor, derivatives and now oil, more often than not the primary motive lies with the Sovereigns and central banks around the developed world. When I first began writing about gold fundamentals in 2006, I was showered with news to the effect that I was bonkers. Now it is an accepted fact, but it is being done for survival, not profit. The price of the Euro is another example: traders can profit from it, but it has been manipulated by the ECB nonstop since 2009 for entirely political reasons. Oftentimes, the price of oil makes little sense, and the excuses given for ups and downs simply don't check out…until you think about who wants low prices at the pumps, and who has done what deal with which Mideast maniac.
Are the MoUs finally on the run?
Twenty years ago, I used to dismiss oil conspiracy theory as bunk. Now you'd be blind to do so. To cloak the interference in Iraq, Iran, Libya and now Syria as genuine concern about human rights means merely that you suffered concussion when toppling off the Christmas tree.
However, one senses that it is increasingly important for those Uptop that no further evidence emerges of malign sovereign/central banker motives…especially in the light of Wikileaks and Philip Snowden. Be under no illusion at all: if such were to emerge and show clear evidence of persistent fraud on a global scale, the balance of belief could so easily tip in favour of the cynics. Five deaths to plug holes in the wall of silence are as nothing in that context.
Everything is connected.
Since the start of 2014, we have seen crude and brazen depression of bond yields in Italy and Spain, almost certainly linked to Japan: there are personal Draghi reasons for this, but also EU/Abe geopolitical ones. However and this is significant I think…..no bond help in the way of rigging was offered to Greece. For it is important in the Global Energy Game that Greece remains a prisoner, made at all times to fell weak and outnumbered: it was promised Christmas debt relief, it didn't get it. Now Bloomberg reports today the new bailout deal from the EU is set to include extending the maturity on rescue loans to 50 years. The plan will be considered by policy makers during March and April…a good idea this one, as Athens will default on its loans bigtime without help in May. And the Sprouts don't want that: they just want the cowering mouse shivering in fear forever….for in the hole, Greece has riches beyond even Venizelos's wildest dreams. And the Cat must have his cream.
And the same is true of Denmark. Within ten years, if one believes even 10% of peak oil theory, Denmark could have the highest per capita wealth on the planet, and be the world's biggest oil exporter. There is no way the Big Boys Club can live with that one. So Denmark too must be torpedoed.
As I suggested at the outset, if this piece reads like vintage John le Carré, then (a) I'm flattered and (b) I make no apology. Sometimes, things really are just Snafu. And at other times, four badly-disguised murders in 18 days by enforced jumping all involving whistleblowers merely shows the lack of imagination of the average security services field operative.
This is, without any doubt, a story to which you really should stay tuned.

[Dawn Meredith]

HOW could either one [let alone two so close together] not be considered suspicious?! What a joke the British Police are.

People do take their own lives. So one would not be that suspicious to me, but two in two days does call for further investigation.
Most unusual.

[Dawn Meredith]

HOW could either one [let alone two so close together] not be considered suspicious?! What a joke the British Police are.

People do take their own lives. So one would not be that suspicious to me, but two in two days does call for further investigation.
Most unusual.

Now it's four and this, below, I am very suspicious.

"All of these men had expressed, at some point or another, a willingness or intention to talk to the authorities about fixes in various financial and commodity markets….oil being an especially prominent one. All fell off things (although we don't know what happened to Bird yet) none of them were felt to be even remotely depressed, and all were either partnering with, reporting on or working far large global concerns facing very serious regulatory and criminal investigations."

Dawn

[R.K. Locke]

This may or may not be connected, but the timing is interesting if nothing else:



9 die in fire destroying Argentine bank archives

By Associated Press, Published: February 5


BUENOS AIRES, Argentina Nine first-responders were killed and seven others injured as they battled a fire of unknown origin that destroyed an archive of corporate and banking industry documents in Argentina's capital on Wednesday.

The fire at the Iron Mountain warehouse took hours to control and at least half of the sprawling building was ruined despite the efforts of at least 10 squads of firefighters.

The nine firefighters and civil defense workers were crushed when a brick wall collapsed on top of a large group of first-responders on the sidewalk and street outside. Tearful rescuers removed rubble by hand to reach their comrades.

"It took them completely by surprise," said Argentina's Security Secretary Sergio Berni said. "Some of the injured are fighting for their lives."

Berni said Iron Mountain also had employees inside the building when the fire started early Wednesday, but all the employees and firefighters were accounted for by early afternoon.

The destroyed archives included documents stored for Argentine corporations and banks, said Buenos Aires security minister Guillermo Montenegro.

The cause wasn't immediately clear. Berni said the company's on-site firefighters shared some details with authorities, and Iron Mountain said it too will investigate.

"All of this will end up in court," Berni said, declining to make any details public.

If the cause is found to be arson, it wouldn't be the first time for Boston-based Iron Mountain Inc., which manages, stores and protects information for more than 156,000 companies and organizations in 36 countries. Fire investigators blamed arson for blazes that destroyed its warehouses in New Jersey in 1997 and London in 2006, prompting rounds of legal claims over lost records.

Iron Mountain issued a statement saying "we are deeply saddened by the deaths of the brave first responders who rushed to save our facility. Our thoughts are also with those who have been hospitalized, and we wish them a quick and complete recovery."

"We will investigate the cause of the fire and work closely with local investigators, police and fire authorities to understand what happened. The building was equipped with both fire-detection as well as a sprinkler system," the company said, adding that it is contacting its customers whose documents were lost.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.