The Tullett Prebon bond trader accused of forcefully tangoing with an administrative clerk and then stepping on her breasts has previously been accused of showing up to work drunk and sexually harassing female employees. Victim Jessica Franqui's lawyer, Barry Weiss, told the Staten Island Advance, "There are other allegations out there and we're gonna get to the bottom of it." Franqui has also been unable to return to work since the incident. Weiss said, "My client is completely devastated. She can't get her life together."
Franqui was allegedly closing the trading floor on January 6th when trader Marcus Bolton invited her for drinks with some coworkers. She declined, but Bolton grabbed her and "without warning and began to dance with her," according to court papers. Bolton smelled of alcohol, and "held her close to his face and body against her will." Franqui pushed herself away and fell to the floor, when Bolton stepped on her right breast. Weiss said, "He has a size 14 foot. He steps down on her breast hard, and then he pumped his fists in the air as if to say, 'Look, I'm the man.'" When she told him to get off, he allegedly said her breasts were too big for her to feel anything.
Franqui reported the incident to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Bolton was suspended without pay for three months, but has returned to his job in Manhattan. Weiss said, "[The company] found inappropriate conduct and suspended [Bolton], but they never acknowledged he was drunk in the workplace. He was never sent to sensitivity training. He certainly wasn't fired. Mr. Bolton got a slap on the wrist and it's business as usual on Wall Street." Lawyers also say the whole incident was caught on tape, except that "the critical three to four seconds when she's being stepped on are missing." Perhaps that part of the dance was forbidden.
