A wealthy investment banker seen on video slugging a woman in the face at a Brooklyn Pride event after an alleged dispute with LGBTQ anti-Israel demonstrators turned himself in to authorities Monday, law enforcement sources said.
Jonathan Kaye surrendered to authorities after video of the encounter sparked outrage online and leaflets with his photo were plastered on utility poles throughout his ritzy Park Slope neighborhood, where he lives with his family in a $4 million, four-bedroom townhouse, sources told The Post.
A source close to Kaye with knowledge of the situation told The Post that the millionaire had clashed with members of an anti-Israel LGBTQ group at the June 8 event, and the haymaker he threw in the video was in self defense.
“They were marching, they had a flag, and Jonathan simply said something along the lines of, ‘you guys are on the wrong side,’” the source told The Post.
“From there about four people from the group came up to him, they circled him and threw red liquid on him,” the source claimed. “He tried to back away, but he was either chest-bumped or fell to the ground, smashing his knee and slicing his leg.”
After that, the source said, Kaye got up and used only the amount of force that was necessary “to get out of there,” noting that he has no history of violence and no criminal record.
Neighbors painted a different picture of Kaye, describing both him and his wife as unfriendly and anti-social.
“I don’t want this guy across the street from me and my neighbors don’t want this guy across the street from them either,” Christina Doyle, 58, who lives across the street from Kaye, told The Post.
“He doesn’t talk to his neighbors, never has. He doesn’t say hello, goodbye – neither does his wife. I walk up behind her and say hello and she won’t even turn around, that’s how isolated they are,” she said.
“He’s such a schmuck,” she added.
Another neighbor, who asked not to be identified, recalled an incident from around 10 years ago where Kaye allegedly flew off the handle and hurled a pumpkin at a young boy who had kicked it off his front stoop.
“Jonathan saw it, picked it up, ran after the kid and violently threw the pumpkin at this kid. This was 10 years ago, but I still have a strong memory of it. Like, what?”
Moelis & Co., a New York-based investment bank where Kaye is a managing director, said last month that one of its employees has been placed on leave after being involved in a “serious incident” in Brooklyn.