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Rebecca Allen, a black banker in personal wealth management with Goldman Sachs, is suing the firm on the basis that it has steered top clients to her white colleagues while denying her promotions because of her race.

According to Ms. Allen’s complaint: "Simply put, Goldman Sachs does virtually nothing to hire, promote or develop black talent, instead focusing its efforts on retaining and promoting white employees to positions of leadership." Ms. Allen, who’s also Jewish, says that she has faced “discriminatory comments” at Goldman Sachs “based on the fact that she is Jewish, including various inquiries clearly designed to determine ‘how Jewish’ Ms. Allen is, given that she is Black.”

The lawsuit also named Goldman investment banking partner, Christina Minnis, who allegedly was instrumental in having Ms. Allen removed from an account that she had worked on for 3 years. According to the complaint, Brent Saunders, the CEO of drug giant Allergan, had "expressed interest in committing significant assets to" the private wealth management division. Yet, Ms.Minnis had Ms. Allen removed after Minnis "became Mr. Saunders' investment banking relationship partner."

Goldman Sachs, which plans to vigorously contest the lawsuit, issued the following statement:  "Our success depends on our ability to maintain a diverse employee base and we are focused on recruiting, retaining and promoting diverse professionals at all levels."

The case is Allen v. Goldman Sachs Group Inc, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:17-cv-06195.