Deloitte accountant’s death 'unconnected' to Standard Chartered

DELOITTE HAS denied that the suicide of a partner in its New York office was connected to the work it was carrying out on behalf of Standard Chartered Bank.

Daniel Pirron, a partner in Deloitte’s general counsel’s office, was found dead near his home in Fairfield, Connecticut on 13 August.

Following Pirron’s death, the Telegraph suggested there was link between the accountant’s suicide and accusations by the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) that Deloitte helped the bank disguise billions of dollars of secret Iranian client transactions from US regulators.

In an interview with the newspaper, Pirron’s brother, Mike, said the family believed the two events were connected.

“My brother didn’t discuss the case but he told me they were in big trouble with this case in London,” he said. “He was clearly apprehensive about a case that was about to come out. It is just extraordinary, when he was fine, that somebody would take his life.”

However, Deloitte denied that Pirron had any involvement with the firm’s Standard Chartered work.

In a statement reported by Reuters, a Deloitte spokesman said: “Dan was a highly respected member of our office of general counsel who made many contributions to our firm. However, Dan was not involved in any way on our work for Standard Chartered Bank. Our thoughts are with his family at this very difficult time.”

Deloitte has previously denied the claims made against it by DFS.