Kenneth Bellando is the latest victim of a string of apparent suicides by financiers
By Tamara El
Another banker has been found dead in a apparent suicide in Manhattan New York on the Upper East side. Kenneth Bellando, 28, is the latest in a string of suicide deaths by finance professionals, both in New York and around the globe.
The Levy Capital Partners employee was found dead in a near by backyard after jumping off of his six story building at around 10 pm on March 12. News investigators told other news sources and media outlets that the case is still technically under investigation, but there was no immediate suspicion of foul play and that he was found dead at the scene.
Bellando was a employee at Levy Capitol Partners and was previously employed as an investment bank analyst at JP Morgan and Paragon Capitol partners. He was raised in Long Island, attending and graduating from Georgetown University in D.C.
After graduation, he then returned to New York and launched his career in finance. Kenneth was the only person out of his family to work in the business world. His father John Bellando is chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Conde Nast and is listed just below famed editor Anna Wintour on the magazine company’s executive team bio page. The New York Post reports that Kenneth’s brother John worked at JP Morgan as the bank’s chief information officer.
Because of Kenneth’s role and involvement in risk exposure valuations, some of John Bellando’s emails were used as evidence in the Senate Finance Committee’s hearings about the 2012 ‘London Whale’ trading scandal. Kenneth’s friends have begun posting photos and condolences on his Facebook page since his March 12 death; including a picture of Kenneth, posing with his two sisters.
His death came the day after another banker killed himself by jumping in front of a commuter train in Long Island.
So far this year, there have been ten other apparent suicides by people who work in various financial roles around the globe, making Bellando’s death the 12th in two and a half months. Bellando is the youngest of the deaths, having only graduated from college in 2007.
There have been consecutive suicides among financial services employees since the beginning of 2014. They’ve occurred in London, the U.S., Singapore and Hong Kong. Here is a list of the confirmed suicide deaths:
1. William Broeksmit, a 58-year-old former senior executive for Deutsche Bank AG, was found dead in at home after apparently taking his own life in South Kensington in central London, on January 26
2. Karl Slym, the 51 year old Tata Motors managing director was discovered dead on the fourth floor of the Shangri-La hotel in Bangkok on January 27
3. Gabriel Magee, the 39-year-old JP Morgan employee, whodied after plummeting from the roof of the JP Morgan European headquarters in London’s Canary Wharf on January 27
4. Mike Dueker, the 50-year-old chief economist of US bank Russell Investments was discovered dead near to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State on January 31
5. Richard Talley, the 57 year old founder of American Title Services in Centennial, Colorado, was found dead on February 4 after apparently shooting himself with a nail gun.
6. Tim Dickenson, who was a U.K.-based communications director at Swiss Re AG, died in late January, in as yet unexplained circumstances
7. Ryan Henry Crane, the 37 year old executive at JP Morgan died in an alleged suicide just a few weeks ago on February 3 at his home in Connecticut
8. Li Junjie, 33-year-old banker in Hong Kong jumped from the JP Morgan HQ in Hong Kong on February 19
9. James Stuart, the former National Bank of Commerce CEO was found dead in Scottsdale, Arizona on the morning of February 19. The cause of death has yet to be announced
10. Autumn Radtke, the CEO of First Meta, a digital currency exchange firm who was found dead on February 28 outside her Singapore apartment.
11. Ed Reilly, 47, a divorced father-of-three who worked as a trader at Vertical Group in Manhattan. He jumped in front of a Long Island Rail Road train on March 11
12. Kenneth Bellando, 28, an investment banker at Levy Capital Partners jumped off his building in Manhattan’s Upper East Side on March 12, 2014
-Tamara El(@MwiliHakalu)