Hughes Hubbard & Reed partner Steven Hammond pleaded not guilty this week to misdemeanor lewdness and public exposure charges, according to news reports, related to allegations that he masturbated in a sauna in front of an employee at a high-end Wall Street gym.

Hammond, 65, co-chairs Hughes Hubbard's international practice from New York. He is facing misdemeanor charges of public exposure and lewdness for exposing a body part in public, according to New York criminal court records.

Steven Hammond

Hughes Hubbard did not respond to an inquiry regarding the charges against Hammond or his status at the firm. A receptionist answering his phone said he was not in the office Wednesday.

Clayman & Rosenberg partner Isabelle Kirshner, hired earlier this year by disgraced former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, is representing Hammond. She also did not return a request for comment about the charges against her client, although Kirshner has rebutted them elsewhere.

“Mr. Hammond vehemently denies these specious charges and intends to launch a full and complete defense,” said Kirshner, according to the New York Post.

The Post reported that Hammond was in a sauna at Equinox, a luxury fitness center on Wall Street in Manhattan's financial district, when a male employee of the gym entered. Hammond proceeded to make eye contact with the man and began masturbating, the alleged victim told the newspaper for an Aug. 25 story.

The victim's lawyer, Marc Held of Brooklyn-based Held & Hines, did not immediately return a request for comment. Held is also reportedly representing a number of defendants who may file a class action suit against Equinox related to its treatment of employees.

Court records show that the incident allegedly involving Hammond took place on May 21 and that the Hughes Hubbard partner was arrested on June 29. He has been a partner at the firm since 1986, according to his profile on professional networking website LinkedIn. Hammond graduated from the University of Maine School of Law in 1977.

The Post reported the charges Hammond faces could carry a sentence of up to three months in jail.