NYC finance pro busted in alleged Brooklyn MTA worker assault

Stand clear of the raging financial pro.

An equity analyst for a boutique Midtown investment firm found himself behind bars after he was accused of punching a subway train operator in a drunken rage, police said Saturday.

Jean Francois Coste, 53, was inside the Stillwell Ave. station in Coney Island about 12:30 a.m. Friday when he got into an argument with 56-year-old train operator Tanya McCray, cops said.

Clearly intoxicated, Coste, a senior equity analyst at Tocqueville Asset Management, tried to get into an employee-only crew room on the station mezzanine, possibly to use the bathroom, police sources said.

McCray, a 21-year MTA veteran, was leaving the crew room at the start of her shift when Coste tried to enter.

McCray said when she closed the crew room door and told Coste he couldn’t go inside, the banker punched her in the face.

“I didn’t see him punch me,” McCray told the Daily News. “I didn’t see the punch, it happened so fast.”

McCray fought off Coste, striking him in the face with her lunch bag and thermos, before a co-worker pulled the Brooklyn resident off her.

Coste then ran to a train platform. MTA workers cornered him in an idling train before cops took him into custody.

At the time of the attack, the Stillwell Ave. station — the last stop for the D, F, N, and Q trains — teemed with police officers, homeless advocates and mental health professionals conducting wellness checks on homeless riders, said a source with knowledge of the case.

Stillwell Ave. also houses a Transit Bureau police precinct.

McCray suffered several bruises and was taken to Coney Island Hospital for an evaluation.

“I hope justice is done,” she said. “I hope he gets jail time.”

Coste was charged with assault on a transit employee, harassment and menacing and was ordered released without bail during a brief arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court. He’s expected to face the charges in March. The judge also ordered Coste to stay clear of the MTA employee.

The arrest was Coste’s first, a police source said.

At his Boerum Hill brownstone, Coste — who sported a black eye and scratches to his face — declined comment to The News.

Before joining Tocqueville Asset Management in 2008, Coste was a senior vice president of global investments at U.S. Trust, according to his company biography. His LinkedIn page says he was educated in France.

McCray’s bosses and co-workers are standing up for her.

NYC Transit Chief Operating Officer Craig Cipriano said the agency has “zero tolerance” for assaults on employees. And Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Richard Davis said the union will urge harsh punishment. “We will see this guy in court …. No more slaps on the wrist,” Davis said.