Hedge Fund Investor Relations Girl Loses Suit Against Boss For Dumb Blonde Jokes, Lap Dances, Alleged Murder Attempts

Author:
Updated:
Original:

Remember Jordan Wimmer and her boss Mark Lowe, manager of UK-based Nomos Capital? For those of you who (shamefully) need a recap, last fall Wimmer, a former investor relations girl who made £577,000 a year, sued Lowe for £4million, making a host of claims that included Lowe:

* Making jokes about the intelligence of blondes:

She said that Mr Lowe made derogatory ‘dumb blonde’ comments and would email ‘a series of offensive jokes’ to the whole team at Nomos. ‘They portrayed women, particularly blonde women, as objects and having no intelligence.’

* Employing unorthodox pick-up lines:

She claimed Mr Lowe…told her he did not find her attractive. However, she said he would still ‘invade her space’ and tried to kiss her at a hotel in Milan.

* Hiring prostitutes:

Miss Wimmer said her boss used the services of ‘high class prostitutes’ who he brought to business meetings. Describing one meeting in Hong Kong, she said: ‘Ling wore hot-pants that barely covered her buttocks, stilettos and no stockings.’

* And implying that the job of hooker and IR gal are basically interchangeable:

Miss Wimmer said she felt demeaned by Mr Lowe creating the impression that Ling ‘was part of the Nomos outfit’ and did the same job as her.

* The matter of having to be present while Lowe (the specimenat left) got a lap dance:

Miss Wimmer claimed that in 2005 she was made to watch Mr Lowe have a lap dance in a Paris burlesque club with ‘Charity Wanju’, an Oriental prostitute. They went to the Crazy Horse Cabaret which was ‘full of suited men’ and ‘women in nothing but G-strings’, Miss Wimmer said. She added: ‘To say that [colleague] Carol Teng and I looked out of place would be an understatement. ‘Ms Wanju engaged Mark in a private lap dance. This involved straddling Mark facing towards me and Carol. She began thrusting her hips in a fast motion.’ Mr Lowe then went on to have another lap dance with a waitress who rubbed her breasts in his face it was claimed. ‘It was wrong on so many levels that I cannot even begin to articulate it. Mark knew Carol and I would hate it and that we were not in a position to say anything for fear of losing our jobs,’ Miss Wimmer said. ‘We felt completely soiled.’

Trying to have her killed:

Wimmer said she believed her boss Mark Lowe 59, the firm’s founder, had hired a Russian hit man or enlisted a family member to attempt to murder her. Miss Wimmer told how she was left fearing for her life after an incident in which a car tried to run her over six times near the King’s Road in Chelsea.

Central London Employment Tribunal heard how Miss Wimmer, who is claiming sexual discrimination and constructive dismissal, told a psychiatrist “they” were trying to “hurt her” after she quit her job. The medical notes read at the tribunal told how Miss Wimmer ran into a restaurant and asked them to call 999 because a man who looked like her boss was trying to run her over after she left a gym in Chelsea in May this year.

* Making jokes about putting your lady-friend in trunk of a car:

A selection of the emails Mr Lowe sent to Miss Wimmer and other women staff were read to Central London Employment Tribunal. One email from May 7, 2008, titled ‘Who is your real friend?’ read: ‘Put your dog and your girlfriend in the boot of your car for an hour and then see who is happy to see you.’ When asked by Alisdair Simpson, for Miss Wimmer, if he thought the joke was demeaning to women, Mr Lowe disagreed and said he thought it was ‘funny, but not especially’. Mr Simpson replied: ‘You don’t think putting your girlfriend in the boot of your car is demeaning?’ Mr Lowe said he had never put a girlfriend in the boot of a car, adding the joke was ‘not especially demeaning’. Lowe [also] said: ‘I thought they were funny. They weren’t brilliantly funny, but they amused me.’

* Offering career advice that involve "face-fucking" people:

Lowe admitted that the phrase was “not very polite” but denied that it was “highly inappropriate” and “sexually explicit material”. He used the words in response to an email from Ariane Gordji, who was doing work experience at his firm Nomos Capital, in which she included a Latin passage from St Paul which talks about “love your enemies”.

Mr Lowe, 59, who lives in Switzerland and has a reported wealth of 100million pounds, replied with the phrase “irrumabo vos et pedicabo vos” from the poet Catullus. He disputes the translation offered to the tribunal sourced from Wikipedia of “I will face-f*** you and b***** you”.

He claims instead that it meant that he would “screw and b*****” those who criticised him. He said: “It is burlesque, it was always light-hearted in the first century and it still is now. It’s a more robust and more pagan response to love your enemies which is what St Paul says but I say screw and b***** you.”

Anyway! A court has ruled against JDubs, with employment judge Sara Woffenden saying: "We did not find the claimant a persuasive witness." While the panel "admitted the jokes were in poor taste...with some being sexually explicit, sexist or offensive about Muslims, the Welsh and transsexuals," Wimmer apparently should've complained if she really didn't like them. The judge also added that Wimmer never said anything about not wanting to go to the strip club in Paris and that she could have left.

Related

News

Hotel Off The Hook For Hedge Fund Investor Relations Girl's Dance Of Near Death

Remember Christine Mancision? To recap, she's the hedge fund investor relations lady who, back in October 2009, sued both the Hyatt Morristown and James Graeber, for an incident that took place on the evening of November 22, 2008, that incident being Graeber approaching her on the dance floor of his sister's wedding, grabbing her arm, taking her for a spin, and then "flinging" her off to the side, causing Mancision to make a hard crash landing on her wrist, which was "bent the complete opposite way" when she stood up. Her injuries were so extensive that they required surgery, a metal plate and three screws (as well as "eight months of grueling rehabilitation") and while she blames Graeber first and foremost, she also believes the Hyatt played a part in overserving the guy when he was, she says, "visibly intoxicated," and therefore added "fuel to the fire" in Graeber's dancing feet. Unfortunately for Mancision, Judge Robert Sweet has ruled that while she can go after Graeber for what happened that night, she cannot collect damages from the hotel, because there is not enough evidence to prove that the Hyatt served her dancing partner alcohol "when he was in a visibly intoxicated state" or that he was drunk at all at any point during the ceremony or reception, a conclusion he came to in part based on: The fact that only one person claims Graeber missed walking his mom down the aisle because he was out getting bombed and lost track of time. At her deposition, Mancision described how Henige told her that he had heard from Beley that Graeber was late to the wedding ceremony because he had been drinking and missed being able to walk his mother down the aisle. Graeber disputes any allegation that he was late or that one of his duties at the wedding was to walk his mother down the aisle...Mary Beley née Graeber, the bride, and Beley, the groom, have stated that Graeber was not late to the wedding. The fact that Graeber was not overheard asking Mancision, "May I dave this hance?" nor was he seen knocking over three bridesmaids in an attempt to catch the bouquet or shouting "NEXT!" 10 seconds into each speech. Mary Beley née Graeber, the bride, and Beley, the groom, have stated that...at not time during the proceedings was his speech slurred or was the smell of alcohol detected on his breath and he was neither rowdy nor noisy nor were his eyes red. The fact that Graeber was not sent to bed early by the hotel staff, unlike some people. Emir Kobak, the Director of Banquets at the Hyatt, testified that Hyatt bartenders are trained to alert the Banquet Captain if a guest is having too many drinks, and that all bartenders attend alcohol awareness training every six months. Banquet Captain's Report reflects that Hyatt's policy as to excessive drinking was enforced at the wedding reception, that a female guest was cut off from the bar (and given water and coffee and was escorted to her room) and that the servers were directed not to serve shots notwithstanding some guests were requesting them. Some other details from that fateful night the judge threw in for our benefit: The suggestion there may have been some foot fetishists among the guests. Following dinner, Mancision and Henige, along with a few of his co-workers, proceeded to the dance floor where they danced in a group for about 15-20 minutes. Mancision was wearing shoes which had a 3-3.25 inch heel, although at least one witness descried the shoes as tall 4.5 inch stiletto shoes which were so "stunning" that they were a topic of conversation among guests. This: Graeber testified that, after he had been on the dance floor for about two songs, he and Holn were approached by a group of five to six women, including Mancision, who indicated by gestures and non-verbal conduct that they wanted to dance with Graeber and Holn. Mancision v. Hyatt Hotel Corporation et al - Document 57 [Justia] Earlier: Hedge Fund Investor Relations Girl’s Dance Of Near Death Cautionary Tale For Us All