New York bank lawyer, Hedge-fund entrepreneur found dead

The rash of suicides earlier this year sent a shudder through Wall Street, and now, after a calm summer, two prominent bankers have taken their lives.

The rash of suicides earlier this year sent a shudder through Wall Street, and now, after a calm summer, two prominent bankers have taken their lives.

Calogero Gambino, a senior Deutsche Bank regulatory lawyer, was found dead at his New York City home after committing suicide, and Thierry Leyne, the French-Israeli entrepreneur who started an investment firm with former IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, jumped off the 23rd floor of a building in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The two deaths come more than seven months after about a dozen bankers committed suicide between January and March. In January, William Broeksmit, former senior executive at Deutsche Bank, was found dead after hanging himself at his London home, which set off a series of banker suicides, including former Fed officials and numerous JPMorgan traders.

Gambino was an associate general counsel and a managing director who worked for the German bank for 11 years, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported his death. He was closely involved in negotiating legal issues for the bank, including a probe by regulators over allegations they manipulated the Libor benchmark interest rate as well as currency markets.

Leyne joined Strauss-Kahn in establishing the Paris-traded firm Leyne, Strauss-Kahn & Partners in 2013. The partnership was formed after the former IMF head bought a 20% stake to help develop the investment-banking franchise of Leyne’s company, Anatevka SA.

In late February, Forbes asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to pull the latest suicide statistics from its National Occupational Mortality Surveillance database. During 1999, 2003, 2004, and 2007—the most recent data available—329 suicides were reported among financial specialists, more than in any other occupation tracked by the CDC except for the broad grouping of “engineers and scientists,” a cohort that lost 502 to suicide.