The Point72 intern lawsuit was filed in June 2025 by Andrew Pardo, a former summer intern at Steven A. Cohen’s hedge fund, who alleges he was fired after asking for a desk change to accommodate his PTSD. The complaint, filed in New York County Supreme Court, brings claims of disability and race discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment under New York state and city human rights laws, and seeks $20 million in damages. Point72 has called the suit “ridiculous and without merit.”1Business Insider. Former Point72 Intern Sues Over Disability Discrimination
What Pardo Says Happened
Pardo joined Point72’s 2023 summer internship class.2Point72. Point72’s Largest Summer Internship Class Kicks Off Across the Globe According to his complaint, he has PTSD stemming from past physical abuse, and he was placed at a desk with his back to a high-traffic corridor. He describes that setup as a “specific somatic trigger” that produced flashbacks, panic symptoms, and difficulty functioning at work.1Business Insider. Former Point72 Intern Sues Over Disability Discrimination
He asked to be moved. Point72 eventually relocated him to a quieter area, but the lawsuit says he was fired shortly afterward. The complaint alleges that once he disclosed his condition, the firm treated him “not as an asset to be supported but as a liability to be managed,” and that upon being let go he was told, “We can’t send you to a portfolio manager…like this.”3eFinancialCareers. Point 72 Intern
Pardo also says HR and internship staff ignored his requests, that he was unable to finish his first assignment, and that he was cut from the program before a group trip to Chicago.3eFinancialCareers. Point 72 Intern
Hostile Environment Allegations
The complaint goes beyond the accommodation dispute. It describes intern happy hours as “informal rites of passage” where interns were expected to drink in front of staff and recruiters, a culture Pardo says was especially difficult for someone managing PTSD. He alleges he suffered a PTSD episode on his first day and missed that evening’s happy hour as a result.1Business Insider. Former Point72 Intern Sues Over Disability Discrimination The suit also alleges a full-time employee smoked marijuana with interns during the program.4AOL. Ex-Intern Sues Point72
The Race Discrimination Claim
The complaint names race as a legal basis for its discrimination claims alongside disability, but public reporting on the lawsuit has not detailed specific incidents or factual allegations tied to Pardo’s racial identity.4AOL. Ex-Intern Sues Point72
The Legal Basis
Pardo’s claims are brought under the New York State Human Rights Law and the New York City Human Rights Law, both of which prohibit employment discrimination based on disability and race. The city law has explicitly protected employees from retaliation for requesting a reasonable accommodation since 2019, and a parallel amendment to the state law took effect in December 2025, formally classifying accommodation requests as protected activity.5NYC Commission on Human Rights. The Law
Under both statutes, employers must provide reasonable accommodations for disabilities unless doing so creates an undue hardship. Moving a desk is a low-cost accommodation, and Pardo’s lawyers frame the firing that followed as retaliatory. A retaliation claim generally requires showing the employee engaged in a protected activity, that the employer knew about it, that the employee suffered an adverse action such as termination, and that the two events are connected.
Damages and Point72’s Response
The complaint demands $20 million. Pardo’s attorney, Lindsay Goldbrum of Goddard Law, has described the figure as a “procedural placeholder,” saying the final amount has not been determined.1Business Insider. Former Point72 Intern Sues Over Disability Discrimination No breakdown between compensatory and punitive damages has been made public.
Point72 issued a short statement: “This complaint, for which the plaintiff is demanding $20 million in damages in connection with his summer internship, is ridiculous and without merit. We intend to address these matters in the appropriate forum.”3eFinancialCareers. Point 72 Intern As of the available reporting, the firm has not filed a motion to dismiss or offered further detail, citing the active litigation.
Case Status
The case, Andrew Pardo v. Point72 Asset Management, L.P. et al, is docketed as a civil labor and employment matter in New York County Supreme Court with a filing date of June 27, 2025.6UniCourt. Andrew Pardo v. Point72 Asset Management, L.P. et al No hearings, rulings, or settlement discussions have been publicly reported, and the litigation remains in its early stages.
Earlier Discrimination Claims at Point72
Pardo’s is not the first discrimination suit against the firm. In February 2018, Lauren Bonner, then Point72’s head of talent analytics, filed a gender discrimination suit in Manhattan federal court, alleging she was paid as much as two-thirds less than male counterparts and describing a hostile environment in which senior executives excluded women from meetings and used demeaning language.7Institutional Investor. Steve Cohen’s Point72 Discriminated Against Women, Lawsuit Claims Point72 moved the case into private arbitration and settled in 2020 for undisclosed terms, stating there were “no adverse findings” against Cohen or the firm.8Stamford Advocate. Cohen’s Point72 Settles Gender Discrimination
Also in 2020, two female employees filed discrimination grievances with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities against Point72, though details of those complaints are limited in public reporting.9Bloomberg. Cohen’s Point72 Faces Discrimination Claims From Female Staffers None of the earlier claims involved disability discrimination or the circumstances Pardo describes.