After almost 15 years at investment firm Tocqueville Asset Management, 53-year-old Jean-Francois Coste was suspended from his duties. The company announced its decision Sunday (Dec. 18) after the white banker physically assaulted a Black female MTA worker in a Brooklyn subway station.

“Mr. Coste has been suspended from the firm effective immediately,” a release from the banker’s employer stated. It continued, “Tocqueville Asset Management is completely intolerant of violent behavior and, pending further investigation, will take whatever action is necessary.” According to the New York Post, during the early morning hours of Friday (Dec. 16), a drunken Coste entered a Coney Island subway station where he came into contact with Tanya McCray, an MTA employee who was just beginning her shift. Local police noted that McCray preventing the inebriated banker from using a restricted area prompted the unwarranted attack.

As McCray informed Coste he could not enter an employees-only section of the subway, he struck her in the face. During the turmoil, the MTA worker used her lunch box to shield herself from his blows. A thermos inside of the container left Coste with a black eye and scratches. A rep for the Local 100 of the Transit Worker’s Union shared that where the banker was attempting to access is “not a public area.” The spokesperson added, “He was apparently drunk. She pushed the door so it clicks and locks, and he punched her in the face at least twice.”

Coste was charged with assault, harassment and menacing, but released without bail. His court date is set for March 1 in Brooklyn. Since the assault on the MTA employee, the banker has changed all of his social media profiles to private and retained a lawyer. NYC Transit Chief Operating Officer Craig Cipriano said, “We have zero tolerance for attacks on transit workers, and two senseless assaults days apart on employees just trying to do their jobs for the public is outrageous.” He continued, “We are grateful that the NYPD made immediate arrests in both cases, at Coney Island and Times Square, and hope the injured workers have a speedy recovery.”