Investment banker Lorna Hajdini says ex-colleague Chirayu Rana’s ‘malicious’ allegations ‘wreaked havoc’

The JPMorgan Chase investment banker accused of sexual assault in an explosive lawsuit that went viral countersued her accuser, saying his malicious lies destroyed her reputation and “wreaked havoc” on her life.

In papers filed on Tuesday night in a New York state court in Manhattan, Lorna Hajdini said her former colleague Chirayu Rana fabricated allegations that she raped and drugged him, in order to attract maximum press coverage, cause her pain and extract millions of dollars from her and JPMorgan.

Officials say sinkhole discovered at about 11am as emergency crews rush to complete repairs

A sinkhole was discovered at New York’s LaGuardia airport on Wednesday, shutting down a runway while emergency crews sought to determine its cause and how to fix it.

In a post on X, LaGuardia, which handles domestic travel, said the sinkhole had been discovered at about 11am “near runway 4/22” while the airport’s operator was conducting its daily morning inspection.

NEW YORK, May 19 — A Jackson Pollock painting sold for a record $181.2 million yesterday at Christie’s in New York, leading a blockbuster day at the auction house.

With its black drips of paint accented by touches of red on a huge canvas spanning over three meters (nine feet), Pollock’s Number 7A, 1948 sold for US$181.2 million, including fees.

According to ARTnews, the sale makes it the fourth most expensive work ever sold at auction.

The previous auction record for the abstract expressionist painter was US$61.2 million, set in 2021. Other works by him have been sold privately for up to US$200 million.

“It is with this work that Pollock finally frees himself from the shackles of conventional easel painting and produces one of the first truly abstract paintings in the history of art,” Christie’s said in a statement.

Danaide,”a bronze head sculpted around 1913 by Romanian-born artist Constantin Brancusi, sold for US$107.6 million, topping its previous record of US$71.2 million set in 2018.

No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe) by American painter Mark Rothko sold for US$98.4 million, while Catalan artist Joan Miro’s Portrait of Madame K. was bought for US$53.5 million.

The sales smashed previous records for Rothko (US$86.9 million) and Miro (US$37 million) set in 2012.

Monday’s eye-watering auction follows a string of records set at Sotheby’s in November last year.

Austrian master Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, which he painted between 1914 and 1916, sold for US$236.4 million, becoming the second most expensive work ever sold at auction.

The Dream (The Bed) (1940), a self-portrait by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, sold for US$54.7 million, setting a record for the price of a painting by a woman.

The most expensive painting ever sold at auction remains the Salvator Mundi, (Savior of the World), a Renaissance work attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which was bought for $450 million in 2017. — AFP