A Wall Avenue banker misplaced out on a job from a prime insurer after he was slapped with legal costs that he raped a 25-year-old lady in New York Metropolis final month, The Submit has realized.
Mark Harris, a 38-year-old infrastructure and vitality finance specialist, was set to begin a brand new job on April 7 with World Atlantic Monetary Group, which is owned by the personal fairness large KKR, based on firm insiders.
Harris signed the deal to affix the agency on March 4, simply two days earlier than his arrest over the accusations — which has he vigorously denied, World Atlantic insiders stated.
However the KKR-owned insurer and personal credit score supplier axed the six-figure contract supply after The Submit broke the information of the costs in Manhattan Prison Courtroom, based on Harris’s lawyer Jason Goldman.
“Mr. Harris has not been indicted on these outlandish and demonstrably false allegations,” Goldman stated, noting that prosecutors haven’t but laid out a case to a grand jury.
“It’s beyond unfortunate that someone of Mr. Harris’ character can even be arrested, subjected to recklessly sanctionable articles, and have his job rescinded based on a fictitious rape claim. We expect this matter to soon be dismissed,” the protection legal professional added.
A spokesperson for World Atlantic declined to remark.
The Submit first reported how prosecutors accused the ex-Investec financier of raping the girl at her Midtown Manhattan condo whereas allegedly calling her a “f–king bitch” and telling her that she “had this coming.”
Harris allegedly pulled the sufferer’s pants down earlier than he held her down towards a mattress and raped her, based on New York prosecutors.
The lady then tried preventing off the alleged sexual predator by repeatedly pleading for him to cease earlier than she was capable of kick him off of her, based on a legal criticism.
Harris, who denies the allegations, paid a $150,000 bail bond when he first appeared in court docket on March 6 on two costs of rape and certainly one of sexual abuse.
He’s due again in court docket on Could 1 the place the case is being introduced by the New York County district legal professional, authorized filings present. The lady’s id has not been revealed.
The banker left Investec in November final yr, and his dealer profile with US regulator FINRA exhibits he’s now not registered with any agency. A spokeswoman for his former employer declined to remark.
Earlier than becoming a member of Investec, Harris spent 11 years at Japanese powerhouse financial institution SMBC the place he served because the director of structured and challenge finance.
He then moved to SMBC Nikko Securities in 2022 the place he grew to become a director of funding banking, based on his LinkedIn profile.
An SMBC spokeswoman didn’t reply to The Submit’s request for remark.
The College of Chicago alum lives in a two-bedroom, two-bath condo within the swanky Brooklyn Level constructing in Downtown Brooklyn, the place a current itemizing for the same unit bought for $2.6 million.
KKR first acquired a majority stake in World Atlantic Monetary Group in 2021, earlier than snapping up the remaining 37% in January 2024. The insurer and personal credit score agency is chaired by Allan Levine, a KKR accomplice.
Henny Kravis and his cousin George Roberts determined to arrange KKR over dinner at a Midtown Italian steakhouse in 1976, sketching out their concepts for what would later turn into the personal fairness business of at the moment on a serviette.
Their try to snap up tobacco agency RJR Nabisco in a 1988 debt-fueled takeover spawned a guide by two Wall Avenue Journal reporters and a HBO film entitled ‘Barbarians at The Gate’.
Immediately, the 2 80-year-old company raiders have a joint estimated web price of $36 billion.
Together with their late fellow founder Jerome Kohlberg Jr, who died in 2015, they might turn into generally known as the godfathers of the leveraged buyout.
