Investment giant Morgan Stanley has identified one of its brokers as the mystery man who was in talks with accused Upper East Side madam Anna Gristina allegedly about setting up an online prostitution business right before her arrest in Manhattan, sources told The Post today.
The broker, David Walker, works in Morgan Stanley’s wealth management unit, sources said.
Prosecutors, without naming Walker, said at Gristina’s Feb. 23 arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, “We picked her up yesterday with a Morgan Stanley banker who she counts a close friend and she had been present at his office for a meeting in which she was trying to solicit money to fund what we believe is another business venture on the internet that involves matching up male clients with female prostitutes,” court records show.
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Assistant District Attorney Charley Linehan also said as that court hearing of the 44-year-old mom-of-four Gristina, “She has business contacts worldwide. . . she counts many ‘high wealths’ among her friends and clients.”
Morgan Stanley declined to comment today, saying the bank is still investigating the allegations that one of its employees had been meeting with Gristina.
The allegations are the second major black eye involving the investment behemoth recently.
Last week, managing director and top banker W. Bryan Jennings was arrested by Darien, Conn., cops on charges that he stabbed a New York City cabby who had driven him to his suburban home Dec. 22, and had made racial slurs against the Egyptian-born hack.
Jennings has gone on indefinite leave from his job, which paid him about $2 million last year.
Internal Affairs Bureau cops met this morning with Sgt. Richard Wall over his possible connection to an Upper East Side madam, sources said.
Wall, a 12-year veteran assigned to the 19th precinct – which covers the neighborhood – was spotted numerous times coming and going from the four-story apartment building at 304 East 78th Street, a neighbor told The Post.
Wall was ordered to appear before IAB cops with his memo book, which tracks his day-to-day activities.
An NYPD spokeswoman said Wall may have visited the building while on official duty when he was assigned to the 19th from 2006 to 2011.