A senior Goldman Sachs investment banker has been accused of raping a young Irish woman in his summer rental home, after stripping naked and following her into the bathroom.
On Friday Jason Lee, 37, was arraigned on a three-count indictment, including first-degree rape, in Suffolk County Criminal Court in New York.
After Lee posted $100,000 bail, his defense attorney Edward Burke Jr told reporters that the married man did have consensual sex with the 20-year-old, East Hampton Patch reports.
"We have what is an apparent rush to arrest my client, a rush to the grand jury and a rush to indict my client," Burke said.
The 20-year-old Irish woman told detectives she meet the senior banker at Georgica restaurant where Lee was celebrating his 37th birthday with a friend. He bought her and her friends drinks.
She said he then invited the group to a house in East Hampton that he had rented. The woman’s brother, who spent the summer working in the East Hampton area also accompanied them.
Lee rented the $33,000-a-month summer Clover Leaf Lane house with his wife who was reportedly in Manhattan at the time of the alleged assault. The group had a pool party before Lee and the alleged victim went inside,
According to the DA’s office the woman told police Lee was naked when he attempted to follow her into a bathroom. She claims as she tried to close the door he shoved it open with enough force to cause her to fall onto the floor, where he pinned her down.
The police were originally called to the house to investigate what was later determined to be a false car robbery, District Attorney Thomas Spota said.
When the police arrived, the brother of the alleged victim led a female officer aside and into the house, where the 20-year-old was. She was then taken to hospital for an exam.
A nurse, trained to handle sexual assault cases, found "injuries consistent with the allegations she was making," Spota said.
Lee was found hiding in his car 45 minutes to an hour later.
An Ivy Leaguer, Lee started at Goldman Sachs in 1998.
Since the allegations Lee has been on a leave of absence as a managing director in Goldman Sachs' equity capital markets department.
His attorney, Edward Burke Jr. of Sag Harbor, said: 'There's not a scratch, there's not a mark, there is not a bruise on my client. There is not a blemish on his background, on his record.'
“We look forward to clearing his name in a court of law,” Burke said.
The Irish woman identified in court documents as "DD"has since returned to Ireland but will return for the trial.
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