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- Jonathan Kaye was arrested on assault charges after a video of him punching a woman went viral.
- His lawyer said Kaye was defending himself from people who attacked him and used antisemitic slurs.
- Kaye resigned as a banker from Moelis last week after it said it was conducting an investigation.
A senior banker who resigned from Moelis was arrested on assault charges Monday morning after a video of him punching a woman went viral last week.
Jonathan Kaye was charged with second- and third-degree assault, according to the New York City Police Department.
Kaye turned himself in to the police on Monday morning and will likely be arraigned by the end of the day, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn district attorney's office told Business Insider.
In the video, posted on X, Kaye is seen punching a woman. The woman falls to the ground in the video; Kaye can be seen walking away with a stain on the back of his blazer, saying, "She fucking threw shit all over me."
Kaye's lawyer, Danya Perry, said in a statement that he was "terrorized, assaulted, and surrounded by a group of unruly antisemitic protesters."
Perry said his team shared a separate video with the district attorney that shows people forming a ring around him, pouring two unknown liquids on him, shoving him to the ground, and yelling antisemitic slurs at him. BI reviewed photos from the incident showing Kaye encircled by a group.
"We will aggressively fight injustice, and we look forward to a full vindication for our client," Perry said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Kaye previously told BI that given the sharp rise in antisemitic incidents, any Jewish person in this situation would have felt threatened and the need to defend themselves.
Kaye worked as a managing director leading Moelis' global business-services franchise before resigning. Moelis did not respond to a request for comment.