Also that year, after Marc Cardillo, a managing director at investment consulting firm Cambridge Associates, met Wesson, he shot an email to Jeffrey Gandel, another of her former Fidelity bosses: “hubba hubba - how’d you let her go?” Later, presumably after hearing why from Gandel, the consultant got an email from Wesson, which he forwarded to Gandel adding the word “Crap!,” according to one of Wesson’s court filings. Cambridge Associates declined to comment.

Taunting Email

In 2014, years into Wesson’s fruitless job search, Enrique Bellido, former director of construction management at Fidelity, sent her an email: “Karma is a bitch isn’t it Erika?”

In response to Wesson’s filings, Fidelity called much of her evidence little more than hearsay and also said it wasn’t responsible for her former supervisors’ comments because they no longer worked there. Fidelity, itself, it said, had never been asked for a reference. In 2011, the year Wesson left the company, her former unit spun off from Fidelity to become Long Wharf Capital LLC, which declined to comment. Wesson’s filings say Fidelity treats Long Wharf as an affiliate for tax purposes; Fidelity says no corporate relationship exists.

Around the same time Wesson was working at Fidelity, another woman seemed well on her way to the highest reaches of the mostly male world of money management.

Alicia Frank, who researched emerging-markets stocks, was only in her 30s and earning as much as $650,000 a year. If all went well, she would become a portfolio manager, making her eligible for millions in annual pay.

But, in 2007, she became romantically involved with Bob von Rekowsky, who managed Fidelity’s emerging-markets fund, according to court records. Both were married. He told the human-resources department about the relationship.

‘Significant Turmoil’

At first, Fidelity asked the two to keep their relationship “invisible,” according to the company. Later, managers said the two had created “significant turmoil” because they had been spending so much time together that other analysts were complaining about favoritism.

The company then sought to enforce a policy prohibiting managers from dating subordinates. Frank said that von Rekowsky, though in a senior role -- he was paid as much as $3 million a year, according to court records -- was not her direct supervisor.