A Jefferies TMT associate died after unconfirmed allegations of overwork

Carter McIntosh, a 28-year-old associate in Jefferies' telecoms media and technology (TMT) investment banking team, has passed away.

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Bloomberg reported today that McIntosh died at the weekend of unknown causes and cited a memo sent by Jefferies' chief executive Richard Handler and President Brian Friedman stating: “It is with tremendous sadness that we report we learned yesterday that Carter McIntosh, one of our talented associates in Dallas, has passed away." Handler and Friedman said: “We are in touch with Carter’s family, who know we stand ready to support them in any way we can.”

Jefferies didn't respond to our request to comment. McIntosh worked in the bank's Dallas office. 

Authorities are reportedly investigating the cause of McIntosh's death. Unconfirmed initial reports on Instagram account Wall Street Gossip claimed that he'd been "pulling crazy hours."

Last year, Leo Lukenas, an associate in Bank of America's financial institutions group, died of an acute coronary artery thrombus after allegedly working 120-hour weeks. Bank of America denied the allegations when its own data tracking Lukenas' working hours didn't reflect this. However, it subsequently became apparent that Lukenas had sought to change jobs because of long hours and that Bank of America juniors were evading the bank's clocking in system - often because senior staff asked them to. 

TMT groups can be particularly hard places to work. Goldman TMT juniors famously complained of excessive hours in 2021. 

Jefferies has been on an MD hiring spree in recent years. Last year, one vice president at a European investment bank (not Jefferies) said she was being made to work long hours because the bank she worked for had also added MDs and they were all trying to prove themselves. 

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