Moritz Erhadt, 21, had worked until 6 a.m. three nights in a row before he collapsed in his shower and died. Erhadt was just finishing up a seven-week internship of punishingly long workdays at investment bank Merrill Lynch.

Although the precise cause of his death is unknown, the fact of his three all-nighters has drawn scrutiny to the treatment of interns and young workers in the financial sector, where there is a high moral valance placed on working long hours and forgoing sleep, driven by big money and competition.

Advertisement:

The U.K.'s Independent newspaper reported: