2: When the #MeToo movement first took off

3: and we were getting women coming forward

6: and telling their stories of harassment, assault

9: or discrimination in their workplace.

12: We're like this is only a matter of time

14: before we get some really good stories

15: coming out of the financial industry because

16: we know that it exists.

19: Wall Street just like lots of areas has

22: some serious and pretty deep problems.

24: But a big cultural moment has not happened.

29: Now to the #MeToo movement growing this morning

32: in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

34: High powered men across entertainment, media,

37: technology and politics have been brought down

40: by women who feel empowered to tell their stories.

43: But on Wall Street a system of silence

46: has protected the status quo.

47: The primary difference for women on Wall Street

50: versus other industries is money.

53: And money is power and Wall Street has the most money

59: and most power of any industry.

62: You know story by story we get this peek

65: into this machine, different arms of the machine.

69: Those arms explain why there was no revolution

71: in finance this year.

73: Instead there were rare moments of revelation

75: that pierced the silence.

77: Keeping people quiet doesn't make it better

80: for the business.

81: You don't hire the best people if you exclude people

85: who are brave.

86: This is the story of the forces

88: that have kept the #MeToo reckoning

89: from hitting Wall Street.

91: At least so far.

93: Women didn't want to come forward with their stories.

96: They didn't want to go on the record.

98: The women I talked to didn't even want to name

100: the people who had assaulted them or hurt their careers

104: in a particular way.

106: And we kind of had to take a step back

107: and say why is that happening.

110: And evaluate what is the culture in Wall Street

113: or the system in Wall Street

115: that's keeping women from doing that?

117: There is a machine of silence

119: that we've learned about that has to do

120: with arbitration and human resources

123: and public relations and a culture of fear

126: and a culture of money.

128: And all those things together combine

130: to create kind of a wall between allegations

133: and transparency.

134: First of all you have this very male dominated industry.

138: About 26% of senior executives on Wall Street

141: are women and when you get to the CEO level

144: it's abysmally low.

146: Women only make up 8% of CEOs

148: at major financial institutions.

151: And in the history of Wall Street, no woman has ever led

154: any of the six largest U.S. banks.

158: I remember Wall Street women saying to me,

160: what do you think Wall Street values?

162: They value relationships and they value secrecy

166: and they value loyalty and if I dare

170: to go against those things, I will be exiled.

173: And if someone does decide to complain

176: it isn't done in public.

177: But rather hidden behind a widespread system

180: of arbitration.

181: Arbitration needs to be relabeled.

184: It needs to be called forced silence.

186: Arbitration is a private system

188: that takes fights behind closed doors

190: away from a judge and jury.

192: It was originally used to solve industry disputes

195: but Wall Street has helped it spread to all kinds

197: of fights including harassment.

199: Civil Rights issues should be dealt with in court.

203: Civil Rights issues should be transparent.

206: That's Lee Stowell, a Wall Street veteran

209: whose suing Cantor Fitzgerald for harassment,

211: discrimination and retaliation.

213: But that's just a part of her fight.

215: She's also battling to stay away from arbitration.

219: I want to go to court because I want it to be transparent.

222: It's not a female thing.

223: It's not a male thing, it's a human thing.

225: What's so wild for us as reporters following Lee Stowell's

228: story is that she had not one but apparently

233: two arbitration agreements Cantor says.

235: So basically she said, I'm not supposed to be

238: thrown out of court, I'm supposed to stay in this venue

241: and the court agreed with her.

242: Cantor denies her allegations

244: and is appealing the decision to let her stay in court.

247: But these days judges all the way up to the Supreme Court

250: have been siding with arbitration.

253: From Wall Street's perspective that system

255: is quicker, cheaper, quieter and just as fair

258: as going to court.

259: Women like Lee see it differently.

261: For those of us who are not corporations,

264: we want to be able to show the evidence

266: and we want to be able to change behavior.

271: Women are not learning about each other.

274: They're being isolated from each other.

277: So they can't really come together

280: and bring something bigger against a bank or an institution

284: and say, you have a major problem here

287: because it's all in the hush-hush system

289: that nobody knows about.

290: While Lee was fighting against arbitration,

293: women thousands of miles away were struggling

295: to have their stories heard inside Lloyd's of London.

298: Lloyd's is a 331-year-old exchange for the worldwide

302: insurance market that's steeped in tradition.

305: So this is the large loss book, where we show

307: a book for the current day and a corresponding book

311: from 100 years ago.

312: Much of the work there is still done face-to-face

316: by mostly middle-aged white men on paper

320: and sealed with rubber stamps.

323: But reporting from Bloomberg uncovered

325: that Lloyd's also has a deep seated tradition

328: of sexual harassment.

329: We spoke to women who had been attacked by their bosses

332: in pubs and taxis.

335: And we'd spoken to other women who were deluged

337: with text, graphic text, graphic emails

341: from their employers basically soliciting for sex.

344: What's so sinister about these stories

346: isn't just the picture they paint of rich men behaving

349: badly but the way HR protected them.

352: At least in my experience for the Wall Street firms.

356: Most of the time say that they simply can't go to HR.

360: It's just not an option.

362: Because if they do, HR is then going to report them

367: to either the exact male that they just complained about

371: or somebody else in a position to make things difficult.

377: But of the ones who did go to HR,

379: they reported being discouraged from pursuing

382: their complaints further.

385: They were warned about the possibility of being marked out

388: as difficult women.

390: So they kept quiet.

391: Lloyd's first female CEO, Inga Beale,

394: tried to change that.

396: But she was met with hostility, including a death threat.

399: And was eventually replaced by John Neal in 2018.

402: Bloomberg's reporting hit a few months later.

405: Two executives at the company have now resigned

407: following allegations of sexual harassment.

410: Sometimes when we're reporting our stories like this

412: companies just deny what we find

415: and say, look everything is fine.

417: In the case of Lloyd's, Gavin's reporting was so powerful

419: that the CEO of this insurance market

422: came out afterwards and said, yeah, this is pretty much

424: unacceptable and we will change.

427: This is not the Lloyd's that I want to be part of

431: and not the Lloyd's that many of my colleagues feel

434: they want to be part of either.

436: Lloyd's unveiled a whistleblower hotline,

438: banned alcohol and announced a lifetime ban

441: for sexual harassers.

442: Whether there is any long-term impact from these measures

447: it's too early, I think to tell.

451: And while the Lloyd's story

452: showed how women's stories can help bring an antiquated

455: institution into the 21st Century,

457: a conference in California showed what happens

460: when the industry's bystanders break their silence.

463: Everyone it's Alex Chalekian,

464: just got back from the Tiburone CEO Summit dinner.

467: In October of 2019, Alex Chalekian

470: who runs a firm called Lake Avenue Financial

473: was attending a conference and did something unheard

475: of on Wall Street.

476: He publicly spoke out against someone

478: at an invite-only conference.

481: Things that were said by Ken Fisher

483: were just absolutely horrifying.

485: He made comments about genitalia.

487: He talked about picking up on a girl

491: and don't show them what's in your pants.

494: And shortly after, Bloomberg reporter

496: Sabrina Willmer was able to speak to Ken Fisher

498: on the phone.

499: His initial reaction is that he didn't think

502: it was a big deal because he's been saying

505: this a very long time.

507: And nobody has questioned it.

508: Ken Fisher was speaking in a way that he was used

511: to speaking which was gross, quite frankly.

515: I don't know if I could but if was 30-years-old

517: and I had to do over again, I'd have more sex.

521: While I could, while I could.

523: Once you get older you're like a Christmas tree,

527: you're firm once a year and the balls are for decoration.

531: But instead of awkward laugher

533: behind closed doors, this year Fisher's institutional

536: clients from Texas to New Hampshire yanked

538: about $4 billion from his investment firm.

542: Fisher CEO, Damian Ornani, even went directly

545: in front of a Los Angeles pension board to apologize.

548: I'd just like to apologize.

550: That we're here today talking about this

554: and these inappropriate comments happened

557: in the first place.

558: Ken knows they were wrong, I know they are wrong.

562: But for pension board members

564: like Brian Pendleton that apology wasn't enough.

567: I'm incredibly proud of what the L.A. Police

569: and Fire Pension Commission did by decisively

571: terminating the contract with Ken Fisher.

573: That it hopefully sends a loud message

576: to the financial community.

578: While about $4 billion was lost, the firm still

581: manages $115 billion.

584: And the company has said that since the incident

586: their assets have actually grown.

589: And we talked to each other inside the newsroom

591: and we ask is this as much change as we're gonna see.

596: It's plausible that is as far from the status quo

600: as things are gonna veer and things will get back

603: to business as usual.

604: I'm not in favor of outing other women

607: but I will say that women have reached out to me

609: and told me that we need to keep this going.

613: I'm certainly a drop in bucket to the issue

617: and the only way to change that is for a couple

619: of people to stand up and I'm hopeful

621: that other people will stand next to me.

623: We're never going to stop trying to tell women's stories.

626: What we can hope for is that the industry is moving

629: in a direction in which more women feel comfortable

632: telling their stories.