by Tyler Durden Mar 2, 2017 1:25 AM
A prominent 47-year-old hedge fund trader was killed when he jumped from a luxury apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side, in an apparent suicide, authorities told the NY Post.
Kevin Bell, most recently head of Credit Risk at Arrowgrass Capital, jumped from a ninth-floor kitchen window at the Apthorp building on West End Avenue near West 79th Street around 7:20 a.m. He landed on scaffolding that was set up in front of the building and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Bell left a note indicating he had been depressed, the source said. He had a history of depression, the source added.
According to the NY Post, Bell left behind a wife and two daughters. His family was at home when he jumped, according to the source. “The family is hysterical. He was under a lot of meds. He did not give a specific reason why he jumped, but he was depressed,” the source said.
Bell, a graduate of Duke University, worked at Arrowgrass Capital Partners, where he was head of credit risk, according to his LinkedIn page. Arrowgrass managed $4.5 billion as of mid-2016. It is run by former Deutsche Bank traders Henry Kenner and Nicholas Niell, and in 2015 had been stocking its ranks with Saba alumni after losing several employees in its credit-trading group in April. The firm focuses on strategies including corporate distressed assets in the U.S. and Europe.
Prior to Arrowgrass, Bell worked at various prominent hedge funds and banks including Saba Capital, Citadel, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank.
“We are deeply saddened that our friend and colleague Kevin Bell has passed away today. We extend our sympathies and condolences to his family,” Arrowgrass spokesman Nick Lord told The Post in a statement from the UK.
A building worker said some residents saw the man’s body. “A couple of our residents reported hearing a thud,” the worker said. “The daughter of a tenant looked out the window and she told her mother there was a man lying down on the scaffolding.”
The worker said the mother saw the body and notified building workers.
“He was bleeding,” the worker said. “Some of the residents are pretty shaken up.”
Based on resident reports, this is not the first suicide at the building: a man who works in a nearby doctor’s office was stunned about the suicide. “Oh my God, another one?” he said in disbelief. “Somebody committed suicide a few months ago … on the other side of the building. I can’t believe it, it’s almost exactly the same thing, but just around the side.”
Among the Apthorp building’s famed tenants were Al Pacino, Sydney Poitier and singer and Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson. The building, which is modeled after the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and takes up an entire city block, from Broadway to West End Avenue between 78th and 79th streets.
It was unknown as of this writing if Bell's alleged depression had been impacted by recent market performance.