Lawyer Charged With Masturbating In FIDI Gym: Report

FINANCIAL DISTRICT, NY — A partner at a prestigious Lower Manhattan law firm was arraigned Monday on charges that he masturbated inside an Equinox sauna while staring at a stunned gym staffer, the New York Post reported.

Steven Hammond, 65, was charged with public lewdness and exposure of a person for pleasuring himself at the Wall Street gym at 4:30 a.m. on June 29 while winking at an employee in the sauna, according to court documents obtained by the New York Post.

“I went into the steam room, I saw that gentleman sitting there, so I sat down and he looked at me, and then he started to jerk off,” the 27-year-old victim told The Post. “We were the only ones in the steam room at the time . . . he looked at me again, inferring, ‘Let’s do this.’"

The Hughs, Hubbard & Reed attorney, whose firm specializes in international commercial litigation, proceeded to stroke himself for about a minute, the victim told The Post. Judge Sandra Roper released Hammond without bail and issued an order of protection for the worker Hammond allegedly targeted.

The victim told the newspaper Equinox management discouraged him from reporting the incident. The luxury gym chain has a reputation of ignoring sexually inappropriate behavior at its locations, including at a West Village branch where a member is suing the company for ignoring his report of an attempted rape in the steam room earlier this month.

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