STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Wall Street tango turned into a $20 million lawsuit when a Midland Beach woman charged a chief executive with sexually assaulting her on a trading floor in front of several brokers.



In the suit filed Aug. 4 in Manhattan Supreme Court, Jessica Franqui, 27, alleges that her boss Marcus Bolton, 45, CEO of Tullet Prebon Americas Corp., drunkenly manhandled her when he grabbed her and broke into a tango.



Bolton left her "violated" and "humiliated" by putting his foot on her breast as she lay on the ground of Tullet Prebon's trading floor while other brokers looked on.



"My client is completely devastated. She can't get her life together," said Ms. Franqui's attorney Barry Weiss, of the Manhattan firm Weiss & Rosenbloom, who claims Ms. Franqui suffered physical pain, humiliation, emotional distress, anxiety, severe depression, loss of earnings and future earning capacity.



Ms. Franqui, of Sanilac Street, worked as a clerk for the British-based trading firm at the time.

She was at her desk closing for the day shortly before 5 p.m. on Jan. 6 when Bolton

walked over and said he was "taking the boys out for drinks, come join us," Weiss said.

Ms. Franqui, "the only female on the trading floor at the time," declined, but Bolton "grabbed" her "without warning and began to dance with her," the suit alleges.

Bolton twirled Ms. Franqui around and "dipped" her backwards into a vulnerable position and held her close to his face and body against her will," the suit charges.

"She felt uncomfortable," Weiss said. "He stunk from alcohol."

Ms. Franqui told Bolton, "Get off of me," then broke free before she dropped to the floor on her back.

Bolton allegedly used his foot and stepped on Ms. Franqui's right breast "with force enough to cause significant pain and shortness of breath."

"He has a size 14 foot," Weiss said. "He steps down on her breast hard, and then he pumped his fists in the air as if to say, 'Look, I'm the man.'"

Ms. Franqui was able to push Bolton's foot away and get back on her feet.

When she said, "I can't believe you were standing on my chest," Bolton replied, "Oh, come on now, it's alright. They are big and you probably didn't even feel it," the suit alleges.

The next day, Ms. Franqui reported the incident to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Tullett Prebon suspended Bolton without pay for three months and sent him back to London. Weiss said the CEO recently returned to his job in Lower Manhattan.

A call to Tullett Prebon's Manhattan office seeking comment on the suit was referred to the company's London headquarters. Nigel Szembel, Tullett Prebon's director of communications in London, was unavailable for comment yesterday afternoon.

"This was an actual sexual battery under the definition of law," Weiss said. "[The company] found inappropriate conduct and suspended [Bolton], but they never acknowledged he was drunk in the workplace. He was never sent to sensitivity training. He certainly wasn't fired.

"Mr. Bolton got a slap on the wrist and it's business as usual on Wall Street," Weiss said.

Ms. Franqui remains employed by Tullet Prebon, but has not worked at the company since the incident. She is a student at the College of Staten Island, but Weiss said the alleged attack had a negative effect on her studies.

"One of her issues is, she can't pull things together," Weiss said. "She's in a deep depression."

According to the suit, Bolton has previously been accused of being intoxicated at work and sexually harassing female employees on the job.

Weiss said another Tullett Prebon CEO also has pending sexual harassment charges brought on by two female brokers from the company.

"There are other allegations out there," Weiss said, "and we're gonna get to the bottom of it."