Sarah Lawrence College sex cult leader convicted on all charges at his trafficking and extortion trial
- A jury found sex cult leader Lawrence "Larry" Ray guilty of 15 counts on Wednesday.
- Prosecutors alleged he manipulated and sexually abused Sarah Lawrence College students he met through his daughter.
Lawrence "Larry" Ray — the sex cult leader who extorted Sarah Lawrence College students out of millions of dollars — was convicted on 15 counts of sex trafficking, extortion, and racketeering conspiracy by a Manhattan jury Wednesday.
Ray was arrested by law enforcement after the publication of a New York magazine article detailing allegations that he abused and manipulated his daughter's classmates for years at the Bronxville, New York, college.
Throughout the three-week trial, held in a federal court in Manhattan, prosecutors presented his victims, who described being under his spell.
One woman, Claudia Drury, said she met him while she was roommates with his daughter at Sarah Lawrence College in 2011. She testified that he forced her into sex work and took the $2.5 million she made for him over four years, during a time in which she worked seven days a week. Drury testified that Ray physically abused her to keep her in line and convinced her to make false confessions as collateral.
Other victims testified about how Ray went from becoming a father-like figure they trusted, allowing them to live at his apartment in Manhattan's Upper East Side, to a manipulating cult leader.
Prosecutors presented jurors with evidence that Ray maintained academic articles with titles like "Cult Membership: What Factors Contribute to Joining or Leaving?" and "Mind Control: The Ultimate Terror" on his computer hard drives, according to the New York Times.
Ray, who is 62 years old and appeared to experience seizures twice during the trial, faces life in prison.
His defense attorneys have claimed that he was the victim of his accusers, who they said manipulated Ray into delusions of grandeur.
Ultimately, the jury didn't buy it.
"Twelve years ago, Larry Ray moved into his daughter's dorm room at Sarah Lawrence College. And when he got there, he met a group of friends who had their whole lives ahead of them," Damian Williams, the US Attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement following the verdict.
"For the next decade, he used violence, threats, and psychological abuse to try to control and destroy their lives," Williams added." 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."
Ray's sentencing has been scheduled for September 16.