Bensonhurst Wall Street Worker’s Love Obsession Costs Her Job, Sanity

Wall Street hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Ling Chan, a Bensonhurst woman, lost her job and is facing a lawsuit that alleges sexual harassment among other complaints. The New York Post is reporting that Chan made life hell for her coworkers and bosses long after they fired her for misconduct.

The bizarre story started in the offices of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the policing agency for the financial industry, in December of 2011, where Chan worked as an oversight examiner. Chan was romantically infatuated with coworker Dan Small, repeatedly asking him out, only to be rejected over and over. The Post describes the series of incidents that led to Chan’s dismissal:

She sent him romantic e-mails; Small said no thanks, the suit says. She made frequent Facebook friend and LinkedIn contact requests; Small ignored them. She bought him cards, an initialed coffee mug and golf balls, the suit alleges; all were declined, the suit says.

On February 14, 2012 – Valentine’s Day – Chan allegedly asked him five times for a “coffee date.” When that failed, she harassed five other co-workers, demanding they divulge his private cell phone number and dish on his relationship status, the suit says.

“Although Small repeatedly made it clear that he was not interested in Chan romantically and that her amorous advances should stop, they did not,” the suit says.

One day after Chan’s alleged Valentine’s Day onslaught, Small begged his human services department for help. But when an HR rep told Chen to back off, she brazenly asked if he could forward a love letter to Small for her, the suit alleges.

Chan was then fired on February 22, 2012, but allegedly continued her stream of harassment towards Small and human resources manager John Braut. Chan put forward her own lawsuit over her firing and took to the internet to denigrate her former coworkers. The Post detailed how Chan’s behavior continued to spiral:

That’s not all. In the year and a half since her firing, Chan has applied 574 times to 82 positions at FINRA, using at least 150 aliases from 11 different email accounts, the suit claims – applying even to positions “for which she was not even remotely qualified.”

Perhaps worst hit of anyone by Chan’s alleged escapades was HR manager John Braut, who Chan allegedly signed up “for various unwanted magazine subscriptions, some of which were pornographic in nature, as well as for gay porn sites, using his FINRA e-mail address,” the suit alleges.

Chan is also being blamed for posting negative and threatening comments about him on websites including Craigslist.com, Jerk.com and Twitter.

“I want to smash your ugly mug with my fist. Burn in HELL douchebag,” was among the Jerk.com postings Chan allegedly dedicated to Braut.

“Be careful on your way home a******!!!!!” she allegedly posted. “I would love the opportunity to push you in front of a taxi or bus. Bye Bye john braut. The world would be better with one less fag.”

The New York Daily News described how Chan’s harassment spammed all levels of FINRA, enraging the entire organization:

Chan also “bombarded” FINRA’s online ethics board with 154 complaints, sent 129 complaints to the company ombudsman, and ignored repeated legal warnings to stop, the papers state.

In response to the embarrassing news of Chan’s lawsuit becoming public, the former clerk had little to say.

“That’s a personal matter, I don’t want to discuss it,” Chan told the Daily News.

Well, if Chan doesn’t want to discuss this “personal” matter, I suppose I will. I have some sympathy for Chan, not because of her alleged behavior, which has been reprehensible, but because of the ensuing media blowup that laid out all of her “dirty laundry” in public. If the lawsuit is to be believed, Chan’s behavior was infantile and uncalled for but they also speak to someone who might be suffering from psychological and social disorders. Everything she is accused of doing is shameful, but her humiliation, which started in December of 2011, has reached its zenith.

I suppose the lawsuit was necessary considering Chan’s continued actions but for the media to pile on in a case whose subject is clearly suffering some deranged emotional breakdown seems cruel. These don’t seem to be the actions of someone who “has it all together.” Either way, I find the story more sad than funny. What do you think?