Goldman Sachs banker charged with rape in New York state

REUTERS - A New York-based Goldman Sachs managing director was arrested and charged with raping a 20-year-old woman while on vacation in the up-market Hamptons resort in New York state.

The East Hampton Town Police arrested Jason Lee, 37, after responding to a disturbance at a house, the local police service said in a statement.

Lee was arrested on a charge of first-degree rape and was released on bail on Wednesday, the statement said.

The police did not name his employer, but his role at Goldman Sachs' New York office was confirmed to the New York Times by his lawyer Edward Burke Jr, who said Lee "adamantly denies the allegations."

Reuters independently verified that Lee works at Goldman Sachs.

A London-based spokeswoman for the bank declined to comment.

A police dispatcher told Reuters that East Hampton Chief of Police Edward Ecker was due to release a press statement around 9.00 am (1300 GMT)

Burke told the New York Times his client is an "investment bank managing director who has never been in trouble in his life, never accused of any impropriety at all."

Lee was detained after officers learned that the unnamed woman had been sexually assaulted inside the residence where several people had gathered, the police statement said.

Lee was renting the home in East Hampton with his wife for the month of August but is no longer staying there, the Wall Street Journal said, citing Burke.

Lee was released after posting bail of $20,000 and is due back in court on September 19.

(Reporting by Krithika Krishnamurthy in Bangalore, Laura Noonan and Sinead Cruise in London; Editing by Erica Billingham)