Dad Guilty In Federal Sarah Lawrence 'Sex Cult' Exploitation Case

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — The father accused of launching a sex cult, along with a sex trafficking and extortion racket, from the couch of his daughter's Sarah Lawrence dorm room, has been convicted of all charges in a federal courtroom, according to an AP report.

Lawrence Ray was convicted following a Manhattan trial during which jurors heard weeks of testimony from witnesses who detailed his psychological manipulation of the young people he first met at Sarah Lawrence, starting in 2010. The jury returned guilty verdicts on each of 15 counts after deliberating for just four hours.

“Twelve years ago, Larry Ray moved into his daughter’s dorm room at Sarah Lawrence College," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a Department of Justice release. "And when he got there, he met a group of friends who had their whole lives ahead of them. For the next decade, he used violence, threats, and psychological abuse to try to control and destroy their lives. He exploited them. He terrorized them. He tortured them. Let me be very clear. Larry Ray is a predator. An evil man who did evil things. Today’s verdict finally brings him to justice. This verdict would not have been possible without the victims who testified in court. We are in awe of their bravery in the face of incredible trauma."

Witnesses painted a picture of how Ray targeted his daughter's friends and subjected them to physical abuse and sexual and psychological manipulation.

Ray lived with some of the victims in a dormitory and afterwards in an Upper East Side apartment and in North Carolina. He used physical and psychological threats and coercion to indoctrinate and exploit the college students.

Prosecutors revealed how he extorted nearly $1 million from five of the victims, coercing them to perform unpaid labor through force and fraud. He is also accused of forcing at least one victim to engage in prostitution. Ray laundered the proceeds of his crimes through an internet domain business.

In 2010, Ray moved into on-campus housing with his daughter and her male and female roommates at Sarah Lawrence College. He presented himself as a "father figure."

His tactics included sleep deprivation, psychological and sexual humiliation, verbal abuse, threats of physical violence, actual physical violence, threats of criminal legal actions, alienating the victims from their families and exploiting the victims' mental health vulnerabilities.

The manipulation allowed Ray to get false confessions from seven of the victims that they caused damage to him and his family and associates. He then extorted payment for those false damages.

The victims made payments to Ray by draining their parents' savings, opening lines of credit, selling real estate ownership and, at Ray's direction, performing unpaid labor and earning money through prostitution.

Ray forced one student to engage in commercial sex acts to pay damages to him that she did not actually owe.

SEE ALSO:

• Westchester Sex Cult Client List Accidentally Released: Report
• Sarah Lawrence 'Sex Cult' Federal Trial Starts
• Bail Denied In Sarah Lawrence Student Sex Trafficking Case
• Man Accused Of Sex Trafficking, Extorting Sarah Lawrence Students

According to her testimony, beginning when she was just a college student, she was groomed by Ray and he collected sexually explicit photos and other personal information which he then used to coerce her into prostitution. He is also accused of using physical violence, tying her to a chair, placing a plastic bag over her head and nearly suffocating her.

“Mr. Ray allegedly used his proximity to his victims to lay the groundwork for psychological conditioning, eventually leading several young adults to become unwitting victims of sexual exploitation, verbal and physical abuse, extortion, forced labor, and an egregious case of prostitution," FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said. "For the better part of the last decade, we allege there was no limit to the abuse Ray’s victims received, and there is no way of knowing the amount of damage he may have caused them in the years to come."

In total, Ray collected more than $500,000 in forced prostitution proceeds from this victim.

Ray also forced three of the female students to work for free on a family member's property in North Carolina. He used psychological and physical abuse to force the three women to do extensive physical labor, sometimes in the middle of the night, for no pay.

The 62-year-old was convicted of racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit extortion, extortion, sex trafficking, obtaining forced labor, forced labor trafficking, conspiracy to obtain forced labor, violating the "Travel Act," four counts of tax evasion and money laundering.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 16, when Ray will face 15 years to life in prison.