US commodities firm fires trader over vandalism of hostage posters

The footage showed Mistry and his cohort, Shailja Gupta, wrapping tape around the posters to hide them as they showered the person filming them with foul-mouthed antisemitic abuse along with obscene gestures.

By Ben Cohen, The Algemeiner

A commodities trader caught on camera vandalizing posters in New York City that highlighted the plight of the more than 240 hostages seized by Hamas during its Oct. 7 pogrom in southern Israel has been fired from his job.

Kurush Mistry was terminated by the Stamford, CT-based firm Freepoint Commodities as a result of the video, which was filmed on Nov 9 — the 85th anniversary of the infamous “Kristallnacht” pogrom in Nazi Germany — on the corner of 68th Street and Riverside Drive on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The footage showed Mistry and his cohort, Shailja Gupta, wrapping tape around the posters to hide them as they showered the person filming them with foul-mouthed antisemitic abuse along with obscene gestures.

Mistry had been employed by Freepoint for nine years, according to the Financial Times. Previously, he worked for leading banks Morgan Stanley, Barclays, and Lehman Brothers.

In a statement confirming Mistry’s dismissal, Freepoint said it was “aware of the recent antisemitic incident reported on social media, and the individual involved is no longer associated with Freepoint.”

It added: “We welcome the diversity of views and opinions held by our employees, but Freepoint does not tolerate discrimination and hate speech directed against any group.”

In the offending video, both Mistry and Gupta show no remorse for their actions while screaming abuse at the Jewish man who filmed them.

When Mistry was asked why he was vandalizing the posters, he responded by displaying his middle finger to the camera, while Gupta — who bills herself on LinkedIn as a “visual artist, film-maker and emerging tech strategic consultant” — tells the Jewish man, “none of your f—ing business dude, f—off.”

Mistry then taunted the man by waving a poster he pulled from his bag that described Israel as an “apartheid state” carrying out a “genocide.” Both Mistry and Gupta told the man that he should “go back to your country, go back to Israel.” When the man replied that he was an American, an increasingly unhinged Gupta answered that she was “also a f—ing American, darling.”

When the man pointed out that “you don’t want my country to exist, so where should I go?” Gupta told him, “you don’t want my f—ing country to exist.” Asked what country she was referring to, Gupta — who like Mistry is an Indian-American — emphatically answered “Palestine.”

When the man said he hadn’t heard of “that country,” Gupta called him a “f—ing uneducated prick.” She then began laughing hysterically, asking rhetorically, “does he even know who is my Dad?” and accusing Jews of being “rapists.”

“I’ve already proved it,” she said, when challenged. “My papers have been published all over.” It was not clear which “papers” she was referring to, or which journals have published her writings.

Commenting on the incident on on X/Twitter, Sonam Mahajan, an Indian-American political analyst, said she wanted to assure her “Jewish friends that Ms. Gupta does not speak for the vast majority of Hindus. She is a vile person who also frequently makes disparaging remarks about Hindus, targeting their religious beliefs.”

She added: “We have no idea who these two are friends with or what their motivations are, but they appear pretty desperate and need to be made accountable for their actions.”

The incident with Mistry and Gupta comes amid growing unease among top executives over hiring individuals who have participated in pro-Hamas demonstrations and activities since the Oct. 7 Hamas atrocities.

A report published by the Anti-Defamation League on Monday recorded 832 outrages targeting American Jews between Oct. 7 and Nov. 7 — an average of 28 incidents per day and a 316 percent increase on the same period in 2022.