Banker In Perella Weinberg Insider Trading Probe Commits Suicide

Over the past decade, we extensively covered a bizarre surge in banker suicides, pointing out the various conspiracy theories linking various high-level bank executives and inside scandals at the very highest levels across financial institutions, and no bank had more high profile suicides than Deutsche Bank.

Then, shortly after the mid-2010s, news of bankers taking their lives gradually faded away, perhaps in no small part because much of nascent fraud moved from Wall Street and to various startups/silicone valley/crypto.

That benign trend, however, may be bout to reverse again: according to Bloomberg, an unnamed banker (we expect his name to emerge within a few hours) working at London’s office of Perella Weinberg Partners died by suicide in the days after the firm’s UK headquarters were searched as part of a German investigation into insider trading. Citing sources, Bloomberg notes that the deceased banker was one of the suspects in the probe.

“We are incredibly saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague and extend our heartfelt condolences to the family, loved ones and friends,” a spokesperson for Perella Weinberg said in an emailed statement. “We are focused on supporting our colleagues at this very difficult time.”

On Jan 25, the Perella Weinberg UK office was searched by officials as part of an investigation by Frankfurt prosecutors. They were looking into allegations that a London-based employee at Perella Weinberg disclosed information on planned takeovers that other suspects then traded on, Bloomberg reported previously.

Raids were also conducted in Frankfurt, Munich and the wider area of the Bavarian capital, as well as in Austria. Prosecutors said last week that they’d made an arrest as part of an investigation into five German suspects since November 2021 over allegations they used insider information about takeovers that took place between 2017 and 2021.

The suspects were able to earn a “two digit million” euro amount by trading on the information, according to a joint statement from the investigators and Germany’s financial regulator Bafin.

“As we confirmed last week, we are assisting with an investigation by German law enforcement authorities and the firm is not the subject of any investigation,” a Perella Weinberg spokesperson told Bloomberg.