This article is from the
Daily Mail. My prayers to the intern and his family. My previous work involved long hours either at the office or off-site, and I've had enough of that already.
Investment bank intern, 21, on £45,000 worked 'until 6am for three nights in a row' before he was found dead in his London flat
- Moritz Erhardt had been interning with investment bank Merrill Lynch
- Erhardt, from Germany, was found dead in his East London flat last week
- 21-year-old had 'pulled all-nighters' during his summer internship
- Summer interns are paid £45,000 a year pro rata for their work
By
Christian Gysin,
Claire Ellicott and
Martin Robinson
PUBLISHED:
16:29 EST, 19 August 2013
|
UPDATED:
05:19 EST, 20 August 2013
 |
| 'All-nighter': Moritz Erhardt, 21, had been working gruelling hours as an intern at an investment bank
|
A young student has died in mysterious
circumstances while employed as an intern at a top investment bank –
amid claims he was asked to work punishingly long hours.
The
body of Moritz Erhardt was discovered on Thursday evening as he neared
the end of a seven-week internship with the Bank of America Merrill
Lynch’s investment bank division.
The
21-year-old – understood to be from Germany – had joined Merrill Lynch
earlier in the summer hoping to forge a career with the firm.
Paid interns at the bank normally earn £45,000 a year pro rata - around £2,700 a month.
Yesterday
it was claimed Mr Erhardt may have suffered a fit or seizure. However
internet forum users said he may have been working ‘all-nighters’ during
his stay with the company.
Many
banks are known to encourage their young students to work late into the
night and in the past there have been claims those keen to impress have
put in long hours with very little sleep.
On
one site, called wallstreetoasis.com, many posters insisted Mr Erhardt
regularly worked long hours and added: ‘One of the best interns at BAML –
three all-nighters, didn’t turn up, colleagues went to find him.’
Mr
Erhardt had been living in the Claredale House student accommodation
flats in Bethnal Green, East London. The apartments are rented out to
hundreds of interns during the summer months.
Another
poster on the wallstreetoasis.com site added: ‘It is absolutely true –
he was found dead in the shower by his flatmate. Intern at BAML who went
home at 6am three days in a row.’
On Friday staff at the
Claredale complex issued a statement to residents, part of which read:
‘Some of you might be aware that the emergency services were called to
Claredale yesterday evening.
‘The
reason for this is that we were made aware of an incident involving one
of our residents. Sadly the resident concerned had passed away.
‘To
avoid any rumours or misinformation, we would like to inform you all
that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.’
In recent years interns have told of working long hours at investment banks.
One 20-year-old told London’s Evening Standard in 2011 that ‘you work whatever hours you’re asked to’.
He
added: ‘Every intern’s worst nightmare is what’s called “the Magic
Roundabout” – which is when you get a taxi to drive you home at 7am and
then it waits for you while you shower and change and then takes you
back to the office.’
Another
24-year-old told the same newspaper: ‘About 100 hours a week was the
minimum and the average was probably 110. I worked six-and-a-half days a
week.’
A source at Bank of
America Merrill Lynch said Mr Erhardt had completed previous internships
at other investment banks but could not confirm or deny claims he had
worked exceptionally long hours.
However he insisted staff are given
both ‘mentors’ and ‘buddies’ when they join the firm and are monitored
by staff from the human resources department.
The
source added Mr Erhardt was very well-liked by members of staff and
there will now be a post mortem examination and inquest into his death.
A statement from BAML said: ‘We are deeply shocked and saddened by the news of Moritz Erhardt’s death.
'He was popular amongst his peers and was a highly diligent intern at our company with a promising future.
‘Our first thoughts are with his family and we send our condolences to them at this difficult time.’
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