An anti-bribery compliance director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch has been charged with assaulting a police officer in Hong Kong.
A video circulating in Hong Kong shows a man, named by local media as 35-year-old American Samuel Bickett, attempt to grab a baton from another man, subsequently identified as a plainclothes police officer.
Local reports said the altercation began after officers attempted to stop a man from exiting the train station without a ticket.
Hong Kong news sites including Apple Daily, HK01 and Ming Pao have reported that Bickett was charged with assault and has been released on bail of HK$10,000 ($1,300). The case will be heard next year on Feb. 4. During that time, Bickett must report to police and notify them 24 hours prior to international travel.
A LinkedIn page for ‘Sam B’, director, APAC anti-bribery & corruption at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, linked to Bickett’s full name and image until recently, but no longer does. According to that page, Bickett has been based in Asia for seven years, originally working as a senior associate in dispute resolution at Freshfields. Prior to this, he was the APAC regional head of anti-bribery and corruption at Deutsche Bank in Singapore. He began his career in Asia as an associate at Ropes & Gray in Hong Kong.
Mark Tsang, a Hong Kong-based spokesperson for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, declined to comment on the story.
Although the arrest did not take place during a demonstration, tensions between police and office workers are at an all-time high in Hong Kong. Last month a Citi banker was detained after a scuffle with police, while lunchtime standoffs between chic office workers and riot police have become common.
Last Sunday’s Human Rights Day march was the largest demonstration since last month’s local elections. While largely peaceful, police said it was marred by a fire set outside the High Court and the Court of Final Appeal.
