Jefferies banker Carter McIntosh dies at 28 amid Wall Street’s brutal work culture

Carter McIntosh’s sudden passing has intensified discussions about the pressures of Wall Street’s work environment.

Courtesy: AFP, Linkedin / Carter McIntosh

A promising young tech banker working at boutique investment firm Jefferies passed away over the weekend, sources familiar with the situation told The Post.  

Carter McIntosh, 28, became an associate at the bank’s Dallas office in September 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile.  

“It is with tremendous sadness that we report we learned yesterday that Carter McIntosh, one of our talented associates in Dallas, has passed away,” wrote Jefferies chief executive Richard Handler and bank president Brian Friedman in a memo seen by *The Post*.  

“We are in touch with Carter’s family, who know we stand ready to support them in any way we can,” the financial news agency quoted them as saying.  

The cause of his death remains unclear and is still under investigation, a source familiar with the matter told *The Post*, adding that McIntosh was not at the office when he passed away.  

A Jefferies spokesperson declined to comment.  

Before joining Jefferies, McIntosh worked as an analyst at Moelis and Goldman Sachs in New York after earning a finance degree from Seton Hall University.  

On Tuesday, a first-year analyst who claimed to work at Jefferies posted on the popular Wall Street Oasis forum, criticizing the firm's working culture as being increasingly intense.  

“Hopefully someone does something to fix this,” the banker wrote. “The firm’s teams are stretched too thin, timelines are increasingly aggressive, and there’s a very noticeable lack of consideration for junior employees quality of life. My friends at other banks can’t believe when they hear what’s going on at Jefferies.”  

Another employee who previously worked with McIntosh at Moelis described him as “a friend” with “a really great sense of humor.”  

Concerns over Wall Street’s demanding work environment have resurfaced following the death of Bank of America investment banker Leo Lukenas, 35, last year, amid reports that he was working 100-hour weeks.  

In response to mounting concerns, Bank of America later established a crisis committee to address the issue after *The Wall Street Journal* published an exposé on the company’s working conditions.  

A Jefferies insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that Lukenas' death led management to encourage junior bankers to voice concerns if they felt overworked.  

“The bank wanted to be number one in a safe way,” the source told The Post.

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