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Morgan Stanley Exec Who Bit Off A Colleague's Ear "Mike Tyson-Style": Current Vice Chairman Of Deutsche Bank Securities

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Earlier this morning we briefly mentioned an anecdote from a new book by Nina Godiwalla called "Suits: A Woman On Wall Street," about a Morgan Stanley official who, during an argument at a team dinner, leaned over "as if to whisper something in his junior colleague's ear and then took a bite out of it, Mike Tyson style." Some doubted the truth to the story but luckily, a few readers who were there at the time assured us that in fact true. Also, apparently some of you may know this guy, as the ear biting incident didn't hurt his career, which, following MS, included being the CEO of Thomas Weisel and Vice Chairman of Deutsche Bank Securities, a position he currently holds.

On Sept. 7, Elena Drill, a former Russian model and Morgan Stanley administrative assistant, was found dead with a boyfriend in her Manhattan apartment, in a bizarre murder-suicide. A week later, The Wall Street Journal reported that Drill had had an affair with Robert Kitts, [not the guy who killed her] a $7 million-a-year Morgan Stanley managing director who during a dinner last winter bit the ear of an analyst during a fight. The Journal said that upon learning in July that he had not ended his affair with Drill, the firm forced him to resign. (Word out of Morgan Stanley was that senior bankers were appalled not by any of the story's sordid details, but by the fact that this guy Mr. Kitts was making $7 million.)

Let this be a lesson to you all: biting off someone's ear, not necessarily an impediment to success!

Morgan Stanley's Season In Hell [NYO]
Robert Kitts [LinkedIn]

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