Hedge fund manager who dove off 9-story luxury apartment building was on mind-altering medication
by David Gutierrez, Natural News:
A 47-year-old hedge manager who killed himself by leaping from his ninth-floor luxury apartment in the historic Apthorp Building was “under a lot of meds,” a police source told the NY Post.
Kevin Bell, head of credit risk at Arrowgrass Capital, leaped from the window while his family was in the apartment. He left a suicide note saying that he had been depressed.
“The family is hysterical,” the source said. He was under a lot of meds. He did not give a specific reason why he jumped, but he was depressed.”
Bell had previously worked for prominent banks and hedge funds including Citadel, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Saba Capital.
Bell landed on scaffolding that had been set up in front of the building.
“A couple of our residents reported hearing a thud,” one building worker said. “The daughter of a tenant looked out the window and she told her mother there was a man lying down on the scaffolding.”
“He was bleeding. Some of the residents are pretty shaken up.”
Bell was pronounced dead on the scene.
A building resident and worker at a nearby doctor’s office said it was the second recent suicide at the building.
“Oh my God, another one?” the resident told the Post. “Somebody committed suicide a few months ago … on the other side of the building. I can’t believe it, it’s almost exactly the same thing, but just around the side.”
Certainly it is impossible to know from such sparse reports whether the “meds” Bell was taking played any role in his death. But antidepressants are well known to increase the risk of suicide among those taking them, independent of the suicidal risk that comes from being depressed. The risk occurs with all antidepressant drugs, but is particularly high with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the most widely prescribed class. (Related: Learn more about the risks of SSRIs.)
