Investment banker suspended from job after alleged drunken attack on MTA worker
The alleged drunken banker charged with slugging an MTA worker at a Brooklyn subway station has been suspended by his Manhattan financial investment company, the enterprise explained Sunday.
Jean-Francois Coste, 53, was benched by Tocqueville Asset Administration, the Midtown expenditure agency in which he has worked for almost 15 yrs, after Friday’s early-morning assault on MTA employee Tanya McCray at a Coney Island subway station, the business said.
“Mr. Coste has been suspended from the business helpful right away,” the business said in a statement. “Tocqueville Asset Administration is absolutely intolerant of violent habits and, pending even more investigation, will just take regardless of what motion is vital.”
A spokesman for Tocqueville would not say if Coste was suspended with or devoid of shell out.
A reportedly inebriated Coste was at the Stillwell Avenue station all over 12:15 a.m. when he allegedly punched McCray as she arrived on the job, in accordance to police.
Cops explained McCray had confronted Coste when the suspected drunken banker tried out to get into an workforce-only place at the station, with the finance employee slugging her two times in the encounter when she refused to let him in.
A spokesman for Local 100 of the Transit Worker’s Union reported McCray experienced just left the “crew room” at the station when she spotted Coste striving to get into a limited region.
“It’s not a community region,” the rep claimed. “He was apparently drunk. She pushed the door so it clicks and locks, and he punched her in the facial area at minimum two times.”
The MTA veteran fought back towards her attacker with her lunch bag, which experienced a thermos inside of, leaving Coste with scratches and a black eye, law enforcement claimed.
Coste took off soon after the assault but was cornered by transit employees and busted by police, authorities mentioned.
He was charged with assault, harassment and menacing and produced with no bail.
The Legal Aid Society, which represented Coste at his arraignment Friday, claimed he has due to the fact retained a personal attorney.
Coste could not be attained for comment. The non-public phone variety listed to him was disconnected, and no one particular answered the doorway Sunday at his brownstone in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. He also did not react to a message from The Write-up remaining on his do the job cellular phone.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Coste has been with Tocqueville considering that February 2008, and was at this time working at the business as a senior equity analyst.
He graduated from Northeastern University in Boston in 1993 and previously acquired an MBA in finance at the NEOMA Business School in France.
Coste’s profile has been purged from the Tocqueville company web page considering that the assault, and he has designed his Instagram and Fb accounts personal.
He is because of again in Brooklyn court docket March 1.
Friday’s attack occurred two times ahead of a female MTA worker was randomly socked in the confront by a nut in a Times Sq. subway station and her male colleague was viciously kicked in the leg as he took the man down, cops mentioned.
“We have zero tolerance for attacks on transit personnel, and two senseless assaults days apart on personnel just seeking to do their employment for the public is outrageous,” reported NYC Transit Main Functioning Officer Craig Cipriano in a statement.
“We are grateful that the NYPD produced immediate arrests in both of those instances, at Coney Island and Times Square, and hope the injured employees have a speedy restoration.”
Added reporting by Kyle Schnitzer
