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Sarah Lawrence Student's Father Charged With Sex Trafficking And Extortion Through Alleged Campus Cult
By
Sophia Chang
Published Feb 11, 2020
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By
Sophia Chang
Published Feb 11, 2020
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Lawrence Ray, the man accused of moving into his daughter's Sarah Lawrence College dorm in 2010 and grooming a group of young students into a cult, ultimately forcing one of the women into prostitution, has been arrested, federal officials announced Tuesday.
Ray was charged with extortion, extortion conspiracy, sex trafficking, forced labor, forced labor trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, two counts of use of interstate commerce to promote unlawful activity, and money laundering.
He faces life in prison if convicted.
FBI agents arrested Ray at his Piscataway, New Jersey home Tuesday morning -- in the house at the time was one of the trafficking victims and one of his daughter's roommates, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman told reporters at a press conference in Manhattan.
"Ray ensnared many of his victims while they were teenagers -- a time of particular vulnerability for the young people he preyed upon," Berman said. "Ray's first victims were sophomores at a college in Westchester County -- girls and boys young enough to be his children. In fact, his initial victims were his daughter's college roommates."
The federal investigation was prompted by a bombshell New York Magazine article last year featuring allegations that Ray methodically broke down his college victims through psychological grooming, verbal and physical abuse, forced labor, extortion, sexual coercion, and ultimately forcing one of the women into prostitution and pocketing $500,000 from her earnings over four years. He is charged with money laundering of "approximately one million dollars" that was taken from at least five victims, the criminal indictment said -- including money from desperate parents who sent him hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep him from alienating their children, the article reported.
Ray allegedly found his victims once he left prison in 2010 after serving time for a previous conviction of securities fraud, and he moved in with his daughter in her on-campus dorm at the Westchester liberal arts school. School officials told New York Magazine last year they had no record of him living in her building and that "a father has a right to visit his daughter on campus."
Ray also flaunted his connections to influential political figures -- including most famously, Bernard Kerik, the former NYPD commissioner. Ray was Kerik's best man in his wedding until their friendship unraveled, and Ray participated in the state and federal prosecutions of Kerik.
“Larry Ray is a psychotic con man who has victimized every friend he’s ever had,” Kerik told New York Magazine. “It’s been close to 20 years since I last heard from him, yet his reign of terror continues.”
In a statement Tuesday, the college called the charges against Ray "serious, wide-ranging, disturbing, and upsetting."
"In April 2019, New York Magazine published a range of accusations about this former parent. At that time, the College undertook an internal investigation regarding the specific activities alleged in the article to have occurred on our campus in 2011; the investigation did not substantiate those specific claims. We have not been contacted by the Southern District of New York, but will of course cooperate in their investigation to the full extent of the law if invited to do so."
"For so many of us and our children college is supposed to be a time of self-discovery, and newfound independence, a chance to explore and learn all within the safety of a college community," Berman said at the press conference. "But as alleged the defendant exploited that vulnerable time in these victims' lives through a course of conduct that shocks the conscience."
"The conduct alleged here is outrageous. If you're not angry, you don't have a soul," said Bill Sweeney, the FBI's Assistant Director in Charge of the New York field office, at the press conference.
Investigators believe there may be more victims who have yet to come forward-- tips and information can be sent to 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Tagged
fbi
cult
sdny
human trafficking
Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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