Ardith Lindsey’s lawsuit accusing Citigroup Inc. of tolerating years of sexual harassment and assault against her struck a chord across Wall Street for many reasons, not least of which was her title: managing director.

It’s typically the most senior rank in finance apart from those in executive management positions, one that comes with enhanced compensation and, presumably, power. Women at that level are often touted by banks as examples of how gender is no bar to advancement. But Lindsey, 40, says seniority didn’t protect her, nor did the elevation of another woman, Jane Fraser, to be Citigroup’s chief executive officer.

Lindsey joined Citigroup in October 2007 after graduating from the University of Virginia. According to her suit, she spent her entire career in the bank’s equities division, starting as the most junior member on the electronic sales trading desk. She became head of that desk in 2021, when she was promoted to managing director.

“I was definitely someone that very much had a spotlight on me as being someone who was going to continue to grow and take on more responsibility within the firm,” she said in a recent interview. That’s changed since she’s come forward, Lindsey said.

“Numerous senior people in the industry have told me my career in finance is finished,” she said. Lindsey said she’s currently on leave from bank.

When asked for comment, Citigroup referred to an earlier statement on the matter in which it said, “Our values and expectations are clear — no one should ever be discriminated against or harassed in the workplace.” The bank said at the time Lindsey’s suit was filed that it would defend itself against her claims.

Lindsey joins other senior Wall Street women who’ve said they experienced workplace mistreatment despite their rank. Last year, Bloomberg reported that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. had paid out well over $12 million to a female partner, a position above managing director at that bank, who’d complained internally that women made less than men and were subject to vulgar and dismissive comments by senior executives. Jamie Fiore Higgins, a former Goldman managing director, made similar accusations in a 2022 book, Bully Market.

‘It Gets Worse’

The allegations challenge the banks’ efforts to present a picture of greater gender equality, often by pointing to rising numbers of female managing directors. Earlier this month, Citigroup announced it had promoted 304 people to that position, 30% of whom were women. Last month, Goldman said women accounted for 31% of its latest managing director class.

“You’re at the top of the food chain, and you’re still being objectified by people who are on the trading floor,” said Marjorie Mesidor, a partner at law firm Wigdor LLP who specializes in sexual harassment suits but is not involved in Lindsey’s case.

Higgins, the former Goldman managing director, said that, in her experience, banks actually expect higher-ranked women to put up with even more bad behavior by their male colleagues.

“It gets worse as you get more senior,” she said, noting that the larger compensation packages for managing directors give the banks more leverage. They can effectively ask, “Where are you going to go that’s going to pay you this much?”

Goldman said last year that it strongly disagreed with Higgins’ characterization of its culture but declined to respond to her specific allegations, which included changed names, composites, compressed timelines and recreated dialogue. Regarding its settlement with the partner, Goldman last year said it disputed Bloomberg’s story but declined to provide specifics. A judge who reviewed the partner’s complaint in a separate case said it described “repugnant ‘bros’ club’ behavior and Goldman’s tolerance of it.”

Most senior Wall Street women aren’t quite at the top of the food chain. With the exception of Fraser, the CEOs of the biggest US banks are all men, and female managing directors still often report to even more senior male executives.

Fraser has hailed Citigroup’s success in meeting targets for diversifying its executive ranks. Last year, she announced that the bank was aiming to have women account for 43.5% of people in positions ranging from assistant vice president to managing director by 2025, up from 40.6% in 2021.

‘Boys’ Club Lives On’

At the heart of Lindsey’s Nov. 20 lawsuit are allegations that Mani Singh, another Citigroup managing director who was always more senior than her, coerced her into an abusive relationship and threatened her and her family with violence after she ended it in October 2022. Over the years, she alleges, he often belittled her accomplishments and suggested he had the power to block women’s advancement. According to the suit, when Lindsey was not promoted to managing director the first time she was considered, Singh hinted that he was responsible.

Singh, who wasn’t named as a defendant in Lindsey’s suit, couldn’t be reached for comment. He didn’t respond to earlier emails and phone calls seeking comment as well as a request passed through a lawyer representing him in an unrelated matter.

Citigroup has said Singh was put on leave and then resigned after Lindsey complained to human resources about hundreds of text messages he sent her in October 2022. In her suit, she noted that the bank allowed Singh to leave with dignity, casting his departure as completely his own decision and saying it would be “sorry to see him go.”

Lindsey said she found that farewell email, sent by an executive she considered a mentor, demoralizing.

“It’s just this horrible feeling of ‘the boys’ club lives on,'” she said, adding, “It makes me question, ‘were people aware of it the whole time?'”

In a statement shortly after Lindsey’s suit was filed, Citigroup called Singh’s alleged conduct “deplorable” but said she had described him as “only a friend” when previously asked about their relationship. The bank said Singh resigned before an internal investigation into his conduct could be completed.

After Lindsey’s suit was filed though, the bank took the unusual step of communicating to all traders that they should act “decisively” if they see inappropriate behavior. “Part of everyone’s role in creating a culture of the highest standards involves stepping in at the moment we see something wrong,” Andy Morton, Citigroup’s global head of markets, said in a memo to staff seen by Bloomberg.

Wall Street ‘White Noise’

Lindsey’s lawsuit also describes a sexual assault by a superior when she first started at the bank and details numerous examples of a “boy’s club” culture at Citigroup’s equities group, including suggestive comments, traders mocking the firm’s sexual harassment policies and frequent outings to strip clubs. Higgins calls that sort of thing the “white noise of Wall Street.”

For Lindsey, there was the added pressure of being held up as an example to other women even as she was putting up with the harassment and mistreatment she alleges in her lawsuit. She said she was the longest-serving of three leaders of Citigroup’s internal networking group for women: Recruit, Inspire, Support and Engage, or RISE.

She says women were expected to participate in groups like RISE in addition to their jobs. It was “one of the most rewarding experiences because it enabled me to work very closely with a lot of talented and powerful females,” Lindsey said. At the same time, however, she felt like “it was a lot of lip service that people cared about” helping women, but “there wasn’t a lot of support beyond that.”

Lindsey’s suit comes nearly three decades after Wall Street was first shaken by lawsuits alleging widespread sexual harassment and discrimination, including the infamous 1990s “boom-boom room” case Smith Barney Inc. settled for $150 million and, a few years later, a bias suit against Morgan Stanley led by bond saleswoman Allison Schieffelin. The $54 million settlement in that case was described by one judge as a “watershed in safeguarding and promoting the rights of women on Wall Street” in 2004.

But Lindsey says it’s clear things haven’t changed enough. Since filing her suit, she said she’s received dozens of messages from both men and women within the firm, many lending support while others thanked her for voicing claims they haven’t felt able to come forward with themselves.

“My case can be an example to firms across Wall Street that, if you do not change how the culture is, people now have the ability to come forward and talk about it,” Lindsey said. “They can’t be silenced.”

Photo: Photo credit: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg