A coroner recently ruled that the death of a JPMorgan Chase & Co vice president in January was did not exhibit signs of any foul play. 39 year-old Gabriel Magee, who had fallen to his death from the 33-story London headquarters of the bank appeared to have committed suicide.
Coroner Mary Hassell handed out her verdict today after hearing evidence at an inquest in east London, Bloomberg reported. With Magee's father and sister in the hearing, Magee's girlfriend, a work colleague, his therapist, a police officer and employees of the New York-based bank all gave their testimonies regarding the circumstances of the late bank vice president's death.
Bloomberg noted that Magee's inquest is the third proceeding into a bank worker's death in London in the last six months. Hassell reportedly presided over one of the inquest, this time regarding the death of 21-year-old Bank of America Corp intern Moritz Erhardt in November. Erhardt was found dead from an epilectic seizure. In March, a court heard about the death of retired Deutsche Bank AG risk executive William Broeksmit, who had hanged himself in his London home.
The underlying similarities of all of their deaths appeared to be coming from work. Andrew Harding, Magee's manager had said that the vice president was having difficulties with work in the year before he jumped to his death. 21 year-old Erhardt, who was an intern at BofA, reportedly worked through the night eight times in two weeks in order to impress his bosses. Broeksmit supposedly was worried over the probes being done on his employer.
In an emailed statement about Magee's death, JPMorgan said, "Our heartfelt condolences go out to Gabriel's family and friends. We are focused on supporting our colleagues and those close to him on this very difficult day."
Magee's father, William, apparently was not impressed with the support provided by his son's employer. Citing the lack of security in the roof access area where Magee reportedly jumped to his death, he said in a statement after the coroner's ruling, "This negligence on the part of JPMorgan cost my son his life."
