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Published 11:11 05 May 2026 GMT
The ex-JPMorgan Chase banker who accused a colleague of forcing him into becoming her "sex slave" is now facing scrutiny after allegedly lying about his father’s death to take extended paid leave before filing his lawsuit.
Chirayu Rana, 35, reportedly told supervisors in mid-December 2024 that his father had died, allowing him to take time off using bereavement leave along with other paid absences.
However, his father, Chaitanya Rana, is alive and living at the family’s $1.75 million home in Vienna, Virginia.
When contacted, Chaitanya appeared unaware of both the lawsuit and the claims surrounding his supposed death.
"I don’t know anything about it. He didn’t talk with us or anything," he told The New York Post. "He’s my son. He’s a good guy," he added.
Sources say Rana had initially been allowed to work remotely in the fall of 2024 after telling the bank his father was seriously ill.
He later took an extended leave between early March and the end of May, during which an early version of his complaint was submitted to the bank’s legal team.
One source familiar with the document said it included the line: "In or around November 2024, the plaintiff’s father passed away, and he went to his parents’ home in Virginia."
"The company thought he was working through something," said one source. "You can tell that he was trying to play the system."
Rana filed his lawsuit on April 28 under the pseudonym "John Doe," accusing executive director Lorna Hajdini, 37, of drugging him with Rohypnol and Viagra, coercing him into degrading s acts, and threatening his career.
He also alleged months of racial discrimination and inappropriate behavior, including a claim that Hajdini made explicit remarks to him in the office, allegedly saying: "Oh, you did play basketball in college? … I love basketball players… they get me so wet."
However, multiple reports and internal findings have cast doubt on the claims.
JPMorgan stated that an internal investigation reviewing emails, phone records, and witness statements found no evidence to support the allegations, noting that the complainant refused to cooperate.
"Following an investigation, we don’t believe there’s any merit to these claims," a spokesperson said. "While numerous employees cooperated with the investigation, the complainant refused to participate and has declined to provide facts that would be central to support his allegations."
It has also emerged that Rana and Hajdini did not have a direct reporting relationship, with both answering to different managing directors on the leveraged finance team.
One former colleague dismissed the claims outright, saying: "He has tarnished her with a complete fabrication."
The case has taken several turns in recent days. Rana’s lawsuit was briefly removed from the docket before a revised version was refiled following procedural corrections.
At the same time, reports indicate that Rana had been drafting similar allegations as early as July 2024, when he allegedly consulted a legal chatbot and described nearly identical claims, though referencing a different employer and identifying the alleged abuser as male.
In addition to this, Rana left his role at private equity firm Bregal Sagemount on April 2, just weeks before filing the lawsuit.
Hajdini has strongly denied all allegations through her legal team. "Lorna categorically denies the allegations," her lawyers said. "She never engaged in any inappropriate conduct with this individual of any kind and has never even been to the location where the alleged sexual assault supposedly took place."
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