Heleen Mees, Ex-NYU professor arrested for stalking Citigroup’s chief economist

A former New York University professor and outspoken advocate for women's empowerment has been arrested for allegedly stalking and harassing her ex-lover, chief Citigroup economist Willem Buiter.

According to police officials and court documents, Dutch economist and educator Heleen Mees, 44, sent Buiter - a married father of two - more than a thousand emails over the course of two years, which included photos showing Mees pleasuring herself and other sexually explicit images.

Missives from Mees to the world-renowned economist allegedly contained threats as well as sexually charged language.

'What can I do to make it right? Shall I lick your b***s?' Mees allegedly wrote to her paramour.

In another letter cited by The New York Daily News, the 44-year-old ex-adjunct professor at NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service allegedly suggested that she and Buiter adopt a child.

Mees was taken into custody just before noon Monday and arraigned today on multiple stalking and harassment charges. She was ordered held on $5,000 bail.

Mees' attorney, Vaneshka Hyacinthe, claimed that her client 'had a long-standing relationship' with Buiter and 'the emails go in both directions.'

A Manhattan judge ordered the 44-year-old economist to avoid all contact with Mr Buiter and his family.

It is believed that the married 63-year-old economist and the Dutch NYU professor once had an intimate relationship, but at some point it ended.

'Hope your plane falls out of the sky,' the embittered Mees wrote to Buiter, according to court documents.

Buiter, a native of the Netherlands, is married to economics professor Anne Sibert, and the couple have a 22-year-old son and a 19-year-old daughter. 

Mees, who is fluent in five languages, including Mandarin and French, was assistant professor in economics at Tilburg University and a researcher at the Erasmus School of Economics in the Netherlands. 

Her area of expertise is monetary policy and emerging economies.

It is believed that the brilliant economist and vocal advocate for the advancement of women in the workplace has become obsessed with her distinguished lover.

Court papers filed in the case against Mees paint a portrait of an unhinged woman who bombarded Buiter with a slew of increasingly bizarre and disturbing emails between July 1, 2011 and Monday, including one sent May 3 that included an image of dead birds. 

Mees even dedicated her PhD dissertation to Buiter and thanked him for being 'so kind' to meet with her in the summer of 2008 in London, according to the New York Post.

According to the court filings, the 44-year-old alleged stalker also harassed Buiter's wife and children despite her ex-lover's repeated requests that she stop her barrage of messages.

On February 27, Mr Buiter sent Mees a cease and desist letter, but that did nothing to deter the lovesick professor, who proceeded to fire off several hundred more emails to him, according to court documents.

Willem Buiter has chaired the World Economic Forum and was on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee. In 2010, he was hired as Citigroup's chief economist.

Over the past three decades, Buiter had taught economics at some of the world's most prestigious institutions, including Princeton, Yale and Cambridge universities. His wife currently teaches at University of London's Birkbeck college.