Paralegal Says Park Avenue Lawyer Tried To Make Her His Third Wife
Sabrina Rafi, 27, claims in her sexual harassment lawsuit that her boss, James R. Ray, 50, bragged about having multiple wives and casually chatted with her about porn, the New York Post reports.
“He was describing his sexual encounters with women. How he would say he met this woman at a club and she was from a Middle Eastern country,” Rafi told the Post. "He said, 'You're from a Middle Eastern background too.'"
Rafi went to work at Ray & Associates as a paralegal for $800 a month in December after graduating from American University's law school because of the terrible job market for lawyers, according to her complaint posted by Above the Law.
Ray began sexually harassing her almost immediately, talking to her daily about his love for polygamy, she says.
In January, Ray invited Rafi out to dinner at a midtown Korean restaurant and asked her if she'd like to become his third wife, according to the suit. When she insisted she had a boyfriend, he allegedly kept pressuring her and tried to get her to feed him with chopsticks.
She ran out of the restaurant after he started talking about lesbian porn, Rafi says.
After the dinner, she felt so uncomfortable that she wore several layers of clothing to work, she says in the suit. "I actually felt sick working for him," she told the Post.
She claims he fired her at the end of the month because of her clothing.
Ray has not immediately responded to a request for comment.
Ray runs Park Avenue law firm Ray & Associates and is a "former boxing promoter, restaurant owner, and college professor," according to the firm's website.