A 21-year-old German student interning for Bank of America’s London office was found dead Tuesday morning after reportedly working for 72 hours straight. Moritz Erhardt apparently suffered from epilepsy and collapsed in the shower of his student housing, after, according to posts from colleagues on an Internet forum, working until 6 a.m. three days in a row. An anonymous banker attested to The Independent that “interns can regularly clock up to 100 or even 110 hours a week,” and another spoke of the “magic circle,” in which interns go home at 7 a.m. to shower and change before returning to the office. The head of communications for Bank of America and Merrill Lynch said the company is “deeply shocked and saddened by the news” and cautioned against speculation.
