Dad who lived in New York dorm gets 60 years for abuse of daughter’s buddies

An ex-con who made millions of dollars from forced labor and prostitution of his daughter’s former classmates was sentenced on Friday to 60 years in prison by a judge who called him an “evil genius” who used sadism and psychological torture to control everyone. aspect of the lives of his victims.

Lawrence “Larry” Ray, 63, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by Judge Lewis J. Lyman.

“There is no reason to believe that Mr. Ray will grow old due to criminal behavior,” Liman said, noting that the crimes began when Ray moved into his daughter’s dorm at Sarah Lawrence College, a small New York liberal arts college, in late 2010. . school.

The judge said Ray charmed his victims with his “exaggerated sense of self” and his intelligence before “depriving them of their relationships, self-worth, memories, and then their bodies” after convincing them they poisoned him and owed him for it. .

“Through psychological terror and manipulation, he convinced them that what they thought was true was actually a lie,” Liman said. “He beat his victims. He tortured them and sometimes starved them. He humiliated them sexually to the point where they lost all self-esteem.”

As soon as the number of his vulnerable victims decreased, Ray extorted money from them, forced them to work and have sex with one woman, Lyman said.

“He had an evil genius to take people who were young, underage, and break them… and then use them for his own evil purposes,” the judge said.

Liman announced the verdict after Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Bracewell requested a life sentence, citing Ray’s “unspeakable cruelty”.

Given the opportunity to speak, Ray showed no remorse, but denounced the prison conditions and physical ailments.

“Being in jail was terrible,” he said, noting that his father and both adoptive parents recently died in the same week.

Defense attorney Marne Lenox argued against a life sentence, saying the mandatory minimum of 15 years was enough, especially because Ray ended up in harsh conditions in federal prisons.

She said that her client still believes he is innocent and that his victims poisoned him.

Ray was convicted in court last April on charges including racketeering, conspiracy, forced labor and sex trafficking.

During the trial, one woman testified that she became a sex worker to try to pay reparations to Ray after she was convinced she had poisoned him. She said she gave Ray $2.5 million in installments over four years, averaging between $10,000 and $50,000 a week.

Lawrence Wray — a federal informant whose information helped arrest former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik — was arrested by the FBI on charges of sex trafficking and other charges, according to the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. .

In a statement read out by a lawyer on Friday at the sentencing, the woman said she was subjected to “continuous sadistic torture” by a man who offered a “distorted, empty and broken version of life.”

“Today I am haunted by what I experienced during the sex trade,” she said in a statement. She said that Ray made “we keep his evil for him. … Every time we tried to suppress him, he mistreated us.”

One victim who spoke said she was living a happy, exciting life in her sophomore year of college when she met Ray, “and it all went down the drain.” He said that he had repeatedly tried to commit suicide.

Another victim stated in court that she feared Ray would find a way to harm him from jail.

During Ray’s trial, several students testified that they were drawn into Ray’s world as he told them stories of his past influence on New York politics, including his role in ruining the career of former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik after serving as best man at her wedding a few years ago.

In fact, Ray was the subject of a corruption investigation that thwarted President George W. Bush’s 2004 nomination of Kerik as head of the US Department of Homeland Security.

Ray was arrested in February 2020. Then-U.S. Attorney Jeffrey S. Berman said the investigation was launched after a 2019 article appeared in New York magazine.

In handing down the verdict, Liman paid tribute to victims willing to testify for bringing justice to justice for such crimes, which are “difficult to uncover and hold accountable”.

“This case demonstrates the strength of the human spirit and the dedication of law enforcement,” Liman said.

The judge said that Ray’s attempt to “extinguish life” had failed and the verdict he announced would ensure that Ray would never hurt anyone else again.

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