Former Goldman Sachs executive acquitted of rape
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. - A former New York City investment banker has been acquitted of charges he raped an Irish tourist at his Long Island rental home after meeting her at a Hamptons nightclub.
Suffolk County Court Judge Barbara Kahn issued the verdict Wednesday following three weeks of testimony in the non-jury trial of Jason Lee.
Lee, a former executive with Goldman Sachs, could have faced up to 25 years in prison.
The key witness in the trial was the now 22-year-old woman, who returned from Europe to testify.
Lee, who is married, did not testify at the trial. His wife, Alicia, was at the couple's Manhattan home the night of the party on eastern Long Island. She has accompanied him to court throughout the trial.
The accuser said the 38-year-old Lee was naked when he forced himself into a bathroom while she was changing clothes and sexually attacked her in August 2013. The woman said that when she went to change out of wet clothes following a moonlight swim in Lee's backyard pool, Lee forced his way in, knocking her to the ground as she fought to keep the door shut. She said he jumped on top of her and sexually assaulted her, at one point putting his hand over her mouth and telling her to be quiet.
She said she eventually was able to force the assault to end: "With every ounce of strength I had in me, I kneed him in the groin."
Lee's attorney, Andrew Lankler, had argued the sex was consensual. During closing arguments Tuesday, Lankler said that following Lee's arrest, authorities found no evidence to substantiate the woman's claims that she fought him off during the struggle.
"There is not a scratch on him," Lankler said of the alleged "violent struggle that lasted a minute and a half." He also cited what he said were inconsistencies with the woman's version of the events and what she was wearing in the bathroom when she testified before a grand jury two years ago and her trial testimony this month.
A spokesman for Goldman Sachs said Lee left the firm sometime last year.