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The tragic death of former Green Beret and Bank of America employee Leo Lukenas III has become a flashpoint of anger over allegedly unrealistic work expectations on Wall Street partly because some bankers say Lukenas’ experience is so similar to their own.

While there is no evidence that job-related stress caused the blood clot that killed 35-year-old Lukenas on May 2, a recent Reuters report that he was talking with a recruiter to find a job with better hours has put a glaring spotlight on the 100-hour work weeks he was said to be juggling before his death.

Multiple Wall Street sources told The Post about scary health issues they claim are related to their high-stress occupation.

There have been incidents where analysts pass out in meetings due to lack of sleep/food, and other times where analysts are hospitalized due to panic attacks and nobody steps in to check in on them, a Bank of America employee alleged.

On Thursday, a second Bank of America employee died.

Adnan Deumic, a 25-year-old London-based trader, was playing in a five-a-side charity soccer tournament with other finance employees when he fell suddenly and was administered CPR, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

While the cause of death is unknown, the source told The Post that cardiac arrest is suspected. There is no known connection between Deumic’s work and his death.

While Deumic worked closer to 60 hours a week than 100, those hours were highly stressful. He was involved in trades worth as much as $1 billion some days despite his lack of experience, the person said.

He probably worked 11 to 12 hours a day and those hours were incredibly intense he didnt have time to get coffee, the source said.

This isn’t the first time bankers have been angry about a colleague’s untimely death, but the current response has prompted more people to speak up, sources said.

Employees are finding vindication and camaraderie in popular financial chat boards on Reddit and WallStreetOasis.com. And popular Instagram accounts like Litquidity and Overheard on Wall Street, with more than a million followers between them, have given airtime to some of the most egregious problems.

One Wall Street Oasis post from an anonymous banker, highlighting a list of demands for employees welfare, recently generated more than 450 comments.

The anonymous banker behind Overheard on Wall Street has spoken with multiple Bank of America employees and shared some of their comments with The Post.

Bank of America has a system called ‘banker diary,’ where junior bankers input their weekly hours. It is supposed to safeguard us from overworking by flagging anyone who inputs more than 80 hours a week, one said. I cannot actually even start to count the number of times I was asked by [managing directors and directors] to lie on my banker diary so that it wouldnt get flagged.

“Our policy is clear and we expect employees to accurately record their hours,” Bank of America said in a statement.

While Wall Street culture varies by firm and department, investment banking  the division in which Lukenas worked  is notoriously the most grueling. It’s also the most lucrative, where bankers only a year out of college can pull down $200,000 a year, but regularly clock 100-hour work weeks.

It’s a top-down problem, sources  most of whom asked for anonymity because they feared repercussions for speaking out said.

VPs do not respect junior peoples time, a managing director sympathetic to younger bankers told The Post. “They will proactively give someone a piece of work at 6 p.m. on a Friday that could have given it to them on Tuesday, but [managers] were distracted.

Mark Moran now runs an investor relations firm Equity Animal, but spent four years working on mergers and acquisitions at Lazard and Centerview Partners.

You typically dont have to get to the office until 10 a.m. and you often dont get any work assigned until the afternoon, he said of many junior employees at large banks But around 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., you often get an assignment and have to stay until 2 p.m. finishing it.

These CEOs love talking about efficiency and productivity but they literally waste their most important asset: Peoples time, one source who left Wall Street after six years told The Post.

Most junior employees, typically referred to as associates, spend just two years on the bottom rung before leaving a firm or getting promoted.

Lukenas, who lived in Brooklyn, had been a Green Beret for more than a decade from 2013 until he joined the bank as an associate last July according to his LinkedIn page. He leaves behind a wife and two young children. 

His death came three days after working around 100 hours a week for several weeks in a row, completing a $2 billion merger, according to Reuters.

Those two associate years can reportedly be hell, with employees complaining they have no control over their schedules.

According to a survey conducted by Overheard on Wall Street, junior bankers average just 5 hours of sleep a night.

One source who left investment banking for private equity told The Post that, at her old job, she was so exhausted that she had to rest her eyes in a bathroom stall every few hours just to function.

Sleep deprivation can lead to depression, physical illness and, in some cases, use of drugs like cocaine to stay awake, bankers said.

Hank Medina, who chronicles Wall Street culture on the Instagram account Litquidity, told The Post how, after months of chest pain and heart palpitations when he worked at Jefferies Bank, he finally worked up the courage to ask his manager for time off to see a doctor.

The pain was diagnosed as being caused by incredibly high stress and a lack of sleep,” Medina said.

The week the doctor had me wear a heart monitor, the analyst I was working with told me he also had one [chest pain] happens a lot, Medina said. “The adrenaline from the job was unsustainable. 

Another Bank of America source told Overheard on Wall Street: I have led deal calls with clients from a hospital bed before  apologizing for the sound of my heart rate monitor in the background. I returned to work after sick leave only to be made to feel guilty for taking time off for my health, when the job is the primary cause for my health issues.

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Over the years, a handful of suicides and deaths have resulted in some reforms. In 2013, after a Bank of America intern in London died of a seizure after working until 6 a.m. for three consecutive days, Goldman Sachs implemented the so-called Saturday rule requiring employees be out of the office and not working between 9 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Sunday. 

Other firms like JPMorgan and Citi reportedly adopted similar rules but sources told The Post those guidelines are now frequently ignored at some firms.

Wall Street firms including D.E. Shaw, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs offer egg-freezing as a benefit for female employees as a benefit a process that would free them up to work intensely before starting a family.

But, sources say, much of the change is cyclical. When profits are high and there is a talent shortage, banks assuage junior employees by promising to limit meetings or giving them Peloton bikes, as Jefferies has.

But as soon as profits dip, firms are pressured to cut costs, reduce headcount and force more work on fewer employees starting the cycle again.

And some older bankers just aren’t sympathetic.

What happened to [Lukenas] was absolutely tragic, but for junior bankers to leverage is untimely death with the aim of reducing the heavy and intense workload required to be a successful investment banker is inappropriate, one banker who spent two decades on Wall Street told The Post. “Elon Musk works more than 100 hours a week and he hasnt dropped dead.”

Another banker added: If you dont want to do the job, there are three junior people behind you who will take your seat.”

But one former Goldman employee told The Post there’s no excuse for the exhausting workload.

While not working with one’s hands like in a factory, working 100-hour work weeks as a junior financial analyst has similar features to serious labor in being physically demanding and taxing that are under appreciated, Jon Hartley, who is now an economics PhD Candidate studying labor and financial economics at Stanford, told The Post. There’s an overall culture that needs to change which requires both employers and employees to put health and well-being first, above incremental low-productivity hours.

I dont get it because it wouldnt take that much to be a leader and make real change, another longtime Wall Streeter told The Post. Its such an archaic culture.

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Utes’ Whittingham reenergized after ’24 free fall

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Utes' Whittingham reenergized after '24 free fall

FRISCO, Texas — A dynamic new quarterback, a new offensive system and two projected first-round picks up front have Utah coach Kyle Whittingham feeling enthusiastic about the Utes’ chances of bouncing back from a disastrous debut season in the Big 12.

Utah was voted No. 1 in the Big 12 preseason poll last year after joining from the Pac-12, but a brutal run of injuries and inconsistency resulted in a seven-game conference losing streak and a 5-7 finish — the program’s first losing season since 2013.

After weeks of contemplation about his future and what was best for the program, Whittingham, the third-longest-tenured head coach in FBS, decided in December to return for his 21st season with the Utes.

“The bottom line and the final analysis was I couldn’t step away on that note,” Whittingham told ESPN at Big 12 media days Wednesday. “It was too frustrating, too disappointing. As much as college football has changed with all the other factors that might pull you away, that was the overriding reason: That’s not us, that’s not who we are. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. I did not want to miss the opportunity to try to get that taste out.”

“The bottom line and the final analysis was I couldn’t step away on that note. It was too frustrating, too disappointing. … That’s not us. That’s not who we are. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. I did not want to miss the opportunity to try to get that taste out.”

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham on going 5-7 in 2024

Whittingham and Utes defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley conducted a national search for a new offensive coordinator and quickly zeroed in on New Mexico‘s Jason Beck. Then they managed to land Devon Dampier, Beck’s first-team All-Mountain West quarterback, via the transfer portal.

After finishing 11th nationally in total offense with 3,934 yards and 31 total touchdowns and putting up the fourth-most rushing yards (1,166) among all FBS starters, Dampier followed his coach to Salt Lake City and immediately asserted himself as a difference-maker for a program that had to start four different QBs in 2024.

“He’s a terrific athlete,” Whittingham said. “He’s a guy that, if spring is any indication, he’s an exciting player, and we can’t wait to watch him this season. … He’s got that ‘it’ factor. He’s a leader. Needless to say, very excited to see what he does for us.”

They’ve surrounded Dampier with 21 more newcomers via the transfer portal and will protect him with two returning starters at tackle in Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu, who are projected first-round NFL draft picks by ESPN’s Matt Miller.

“We feel they’re the best tandem in the country,” Whittingham said. “The offensive line in general, I feel, it’s the best since I’ve been there. And that’s quite a statement. We’ve had some really good offensive lines. We’ve got two first-rounders and three seniors inside that have played a lot of good football for us. That better be a strength of ours, and that’s what we’re counting on.”

Whittingham has previously said he did not want to coach past the age of 65. Now that he’s 65, he acknowledges that he might’ve arrived at a different decision about his future had the Utes ended up winning the Big 12 in 2024. He is reenergized about getting them back into contention, but he’s not ready to say whether this season might be his last.

“The best answer I can give you is, right now, I’m excited and passionate about going to work every single day,” Whittingham said. “As soon as that changes, I’ll know it’s time. I’m just counting on knowing when the time is right. I can’t tell you exactly what the circumstances will be other than losing the fire in the belly.”

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MLB to utilize ABS challenge system during ASG

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MLB to utilize ABS challenge system during ASG

The automated ball-strike system is coming to the All-Star Game next week in Atlanta.

MLB officials added the feature to the annual exhibition game knowing it could be a precursor to becoming a permanent part of the major leagues as soon as next year.

The same process used this past spring training will be used for the Midsummer Classic: Each team will be given two challenges with the ability to retain them if successful. Only a pitcher, catcher or hitter can ask for a challenge and it has to happen almost immediately after the pitch. The player will tap his hat or helmet indicating to the umpire he wants to challenge while any help from the dugout or other players on the field is not allowed.

MLB officials say 72% of fans who were polled during spring training said the impact of ABS on their experience at the game was a “positive” one. Sixty-nine percent said they’d like it part of the game moving forward. Just 10% expressed negativity toward it.

MLB’s competition committee will meet later this summer to determine if ABS will be instituted next season after the league tested the robotic system throughout the minor leagues and spring training in recent years. Like almost any rule change, there were mixed reviews from players about using ABS but nearly all parties agree on one point: They prefer a challenge system as opposed to the technology calling every pitch.

As was the case in spring training, once a review is initiated, an animated replay of the pitch will be shown on the scoreboard and the home plate umpire will either uphold the call or overturn it. ABS uses Hawk-Eye system technology which tracks the pitch trajectory and location in relation to the strike zone, providing an instant assessment which can be relayed to the home plate umpire.

The All-Star Game will be played at Truist Park in Atlanta on Tuesday.

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Royals sign former Cy Young winner Keuchel

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Royals sign former Cy Young winner Keuchel

The Kansas City Royals have signed former Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel to a minor league contract, the team announced Wednesday.

The 37-year-old left-hander will start at Triple-A Omaha and will earn a prorated $2 million salary if he reaches the big leagues, sources tell ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Keuchel has not pitched in the majors for nearly a full calendar year. He elected to become a free agent on July 18, 2024, after being designated for assignment by the Milwaukee Brewers.

In four starts with the Brewers last season, Keuchel had a 5.40 ERA in 16 2/3 innings without a decision. In 13 major league seasons, the 2015 American League Cy Young winner with the Houston Astros is 103-92 with a 4.04 ERA in 282 appearances (267 starts).

After pitching his first seven seasons with the Astros, Keuchel has made appearances for six different teams since 2019. He won a World Series with Houston in 2017 and is a two-time All-Star selection and five-time Gold Glove winner.

Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.

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