Top Banker Fired After Acting ‘Inappropriately’ at 4th of July Party

A Chicago-based Lazard investment firm has fired one of its top bankers after he allegedly acted inappropriately toward employees at a party he hosted over the weekend.

Reid Snellenbarger, 48, was a co-head of Lazard’s North America restructuring practice, and had only been there a few months when he got the boot. 

Lazard employees were informed on Sunday that a managing director had been terminated, but the memo seen by The Wall Street Journal did not name who ‘behaved in a manner both inappropriate and incompatible with our values.’

Further details of the alleged inappropriate behavior have not been shared at his time. 

Over the Fourth of July weekend, Snellenbarger invited a group of Lazard financial-advisory employees to a gathering that wasn’t sponsored by the firm, sources familiar with the matter told the WSJ. 

The same sources confirmed that it was Snellenbarger who was fired. 

Snellenbarger and his wife Rebecca had purchased a $7 million house on the shores of Lake Geneva last July. 

The memo of managing director’s termination was sent to employees by Peter Orszag, who leads the firm’s financial-advisory unit and is set to take over as its CEO.

‘As we have said repeatedly, our goal is to be both commercial and collegial—and as part of that, respecting our colleagues is non-negotiable. We will not tolerate inappropriate behavior,’ the memo reads.

The swift action from Lazard comes at a time that Wall Street has been trying to restructure a culture that has been blamed for inappropriate workplace behaviors.

Snellenbarger joined the firm in April after leaving rival Houlihan Lokey. 

His notable clients include Gawker Media, which filed for bankruptcy in 2016 after a legal battle with the former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. 

Original Article