Ex-Citi exec alleges sexual harassment against Sieg in lawsuit

A high-ranking former Citi executive is accusing wealth head Andy Sieg of sexual harassment, alleging that his actions and an investigation led to her being forced out of the company.

Julia Carreon, who served as Citi's global head of platform and experiences until 2024, filed a civil complaint in federal court for the Southern District of New York accusing the firm of sexual and racial discrimination. The lawsuit alleges she was subjected to a "harassment campaign" and a "misogynistic investigation" that reduced her to a "sex object" in the eyes of her colleagues.

Carreon, a longtime employee of Wells Fargo, was recruited by Citi in 2021 to improve its lagging digital systems. Her suit contends that when she joined the firm, she was met with hostility from a "boys club" of white, male leaders who were "reluctant to embrace the change" she was hired to carry out.

A big driver of the complaint is Citi's alleged use of a "weaponized" human resources department to shield male executives while forcing out women who "reach too close to the heights of power." The suit contends that Citi has worked to force employees into the "secretive world of arbitration" to avoid the consequences of rampant harassment.

READ MORE: Citi backs Sieg in earlier conduct investigation

A Citi spokesperson told Bloomberg, "This lawsuit has absolutely no merit, and we will demonstrate that through the legal process." The lawsuit was reported on earlier by the Financial Times.

Sieg's trials and triumphs at Citi

The allegations take a particularly sharp turn with regard to Sieg, who was recruited to the firm from Merrill in 2023 as part of CEO Jane Fraser's plan to reinvigorate its stagnant wealth management business. Fraser and others have praised his performance even as he has been dogged by accusations that he's treated members of his staff, particularly women, unfairly.

Bloomberg reported in August that Citi had retained an outside law firm to look into alleged instances of misbehavior by Sieg, including expletive-filled rants. At least six managing directors at Citi lodged human resources complaints against Sieg, Bloomberg reported. His treatment of former private banking head Ida Liu, who now leads HSBC's global private bank, came under particular scrutiny.

Throughout it all, Citi stood by Sieg. Fraser said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in September that she was "comfortable" with the way the outside investigation into Sieg's alleged misconduct had gone and expressed confidence in his work in the firm's wealth management division. Sieg was paid $13 million for his work at the firm in 2024, which Citi has called a "turning point" year for its wealth business.

Allegations against Sieg

Carreon's lawsuit says Sieg praised her as a "rockstar" when she joined the firm but then alleges his support eventually turned into "unrelenting and egregious sexual harassment, manipulation, and grooming."

According to the complaint:

• Sieg repeatedly insinuated in public settings — including holiday dinners and meetings — that he and Carreon were in an intimate relationship.
• He allegedly told Carreon he was "glazing her so hard" to other executives that it "made him feel dirty."
• Sieg reportedly contacted her from a "burner" phone and sat conspicuously close to her in meetings to cultivate an impression of inappropriate closeness.

The suit alleges there was a "widespread false assumption" that Carreon was sleeping with her boss. That, according to the suit, ruined her professional reputation, leading one colleague to tell her, "Julia, you realize you're being groomed, right?"

When HR officials eventually stepped in, according to the lawsuit, they didn't investigate Sieg's conduct, but instead interrogated Carreon. The investigators allegedly used "sexist language," asking if she was "indiscreet" or if she "got to travel because Andy liked you," while failing to interview witnesses who could attest to her character.

"It was a rite of passage to be investigated for having an affair," Carreon's supervisor reportedly told her when she asked for the defamatory investigation to stop.

The 'boom-boom room' scandal of the 1980s

Carreon's suit makes reference to the "boom-boom room" scandal on Wall Street in the 1980s. In that, a former employee of the securities firm Shearson/American Express mounted a discrimination suit against the firm's successor, Smith Barney, over complaints of lewd and harassing comments and behavior. The name "boom-boom room" referred to a basement party cove in the firm's Garden City, New York, office.

Bill Singer, an industry lawyer who worked in Smith Barney's legal department in the 1980s, said Carreon's suit shows Wall Street has yet to outlive its reputation for being a hostile place for women. Smith Barney was acquired by Citi in the late 1990s.

"Wall Street of 2026 isn't Smith Barney and the boom-boom room," Singer said. "We don't have guys urinating in potted plants in the office. But there is still a residual from the 1980s that's hanging at these big financial services firms."

Carreon in her complaint says she was "constructively discharged" in June 2024, meaning the conditions at her workplace became so intolerable she was virtually forced to quit. She is being represented by Stowell & Friedman, a firm that has taken up similar sexual and racial discrimination cases against Wall Street firms in the past.

The lawsuit relies on the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, a law passed in 2022 to ensure these sorts of claims are "adjudicated and redressed through the court system" rather than behind closed doors.

- This article has been updated with more background and comments from an industry expert.