Wall Street executive in court on rape charge

The Wall Street executive accused of raping an Irish student at his luxury Hamptons rental home in August appeared briefly in court yesterday in Long Island.

Jason Lee, a 37-year-old Goldman Sachs managing director and resident of Manhattan, pleaded not guilty in September to the charges which are alleged to have occurred in the wealthy beach community of East Hampton on the east end of Long Island.

The high-profile investment banker was charged with first-degree rape in August after police went to the Clover Leaf Lane house he and friends were renting for $33,000 (€23,900) a month.

The alleged victim was with friends when she met Lee and his group at a restaurant as they celebrated his birthday. A party followed at the house with the disputed incident occurring in the small hours of the morning.

Although Lee’s lawyer Edward Burke Jr said last month that the encounter was consensual, the student was taken to a hospital the morning after and was examined by a nurse who determined that her injuries — which included bruises on her body — were consistent with her allegations, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota.

The unnamed woman has since returned to Ireland but should be in court for the trial.

Lee will return on Nov 22 to appear before Suffolk County judge Barbara Kahn in Riverhead, New York.