Man charged in sex trafficking, extortion of Sarah Lawrence College students

The father of a former student at Sarah Lawrence College — accused of manipulating her school friends, extorting nearly $1 million from them and profiting from their work in prostitution — was charged with sex trafficking, forced labor and extortion, in a federal indictment released on Tuesday.

Lawrence Ray, 60, was arrested Tuesday at his home in Piscataway, New Jersey, and was to be arraigned Tuesday evening in federal court in Manhattan. One of the victims was with Ray when he was arrested, authorities said.

Ray, who has a previous conviction for securities fraud, could face more than 100 years behind bars if found guilty, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The charges were announced Tuesday in the unsealing of an indictment.

Ray had previously denied the allegations, saying they were the result of a conspiracy against him. It was not clear whether he had a defense attorney who could comment on the charges.

"The conduct alleged here is outrageous," William Sweeney, assistant director-in-charge of the FBI in New York, said at a news conference Tuesday in Manhattan. "It makes you angry. If you're not angry, you don't have a soul."

Moving into the dorm

The exploitation began in 2010 when Ray, fresh from prison, moved into an on-campus dorm with a group of sophomores, including his daughter, at Sarah Lawrence, Sweeney said.

"Ray began 'therapy' sessions with some roommates purportedly to help them with their psychological problems, and presented himself as a father figure to the roommates," the indictment reads.

"The arrangement was anything but traditional," Sweeney said in announcing the charges.

CRIMINAL HISTORY: Lawrence Ray has extensive criminal record

ONE VICTIM'S STORY: How Lawrence Ray manipulated, prostituted, extorted her: indictment

WHAT WE KNOW: Sarah Lawrence College sex trafficking case

Ray spent about a decade sexually and psychologically manipulating his victims and physically abusing them, the indictment alleges.

Until at least 2018 he forced his victims to perform unpaid labor and prostitute themselves for his financial benefit, authorities said. He's also accused of laundering about $1 million from his victims, some of whom drained their parents' bank accounts to pay Ray, authorities said.

The college responds

Sarah Lawrence, a small, co-ed liberal arts school, is located at 1 Mead Way near the Yonkers border with tony Bronxville.

"Sarah Lawrence College has just learned of the indictment of a former parent in the Southern District of New York," the college said in a statement Tuesday. "The charges contained in the indictment are serious, wide-ranging, disturbing, and upsetting. As always the safety and well-being of our students and alumni is a priority for the College.

"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."

The New York Magazine story by Ezra Marcus and James D. Walsh, titled "The Stolen Kids of Sarah Lawrence" was a bombshell of a report — it closely mirrored the indictment announced on Tuesday.

That magazine story prompted the federal investigation, said Geoffrey Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Multiple victims alleged

Ray had at least five victims, and authorities said there could be more. Anyone who may have been exploited or abused by Ray is urged to call the FBI at 1-800-225-5324.

Ray's crimes occurred in Westchester, Manhattan, and Pinehurst, North Carolina, authorities said. The scheme started at the college, authorities said.

Ray "made himself at home among the group of teens and young adults," Sweeney said.

The students later lived with Ray in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and in Pinehurst, he said. Sweeney said the "therapy sessions" led to the students becoming "unwitting victims."

“Ray alienated several of the victims from their parents, and convinced several of the victims that they were ‘broken’ and in need of fixing,” the indictment reads.

Once Ray gained the victims' trust, he leveled false accusations against each of them, including that he and his family had been poisoned by someone, according to the indictment.

Threats and more threats

He also used their coerced confessions — some in writing, others via video — against them, threatening to expose them to their parents and law enforcement.

Ray, who was also known as "Lawrence Grecco," had friends in high places. He was the best man at the wedding of disgraced former NYPD top cop Bernard Kerik.

Ray threatened to dismember a male victim, placed a knife to another male victim’s neck and grabbed and threw a female victim to the ground, according to the indictment. He also threatened to report two female victims to law enforcement for alleged crimes.

"For the better part of the last 10 years, Ray has continued to mentally and physically torture his victims," Sweeney said. "There was no limit to the abuse that Ray's victims received, and there's no knowing the amount of damage he may have caused them in the years to come."

Ray is accused of using tactics such as sleep deprivation, psychological and sexual humiliation, verbal abuse, violence, threats of legal action, alienating victims from their families, and exploiting victims' mental health issues.

Ray used those methods to convince the victims to falsely confess to damaging Ray and his family, then he extorted the victims for those purported damages, authorities said. He is accused of videotaping and documenting those false confessions.

Unpaid labor, prostitution, sleep deprivation

Victims drained their parents' savings, opened credit lines, solicited money from friends, sold real estate ownership and, at Ray's direction, performed unpaid labor and made money through prostitution to pay him, authorities said.

Ray is accused of taking sexually explicit photographs of victims and using that as leverage. One time he tied a victim to a chair, placed a plastic bag over her head and nearly suffocated her, then took more than $500,000 that she made in forced prostitution, authorities said.

Three victims traveled with Ray to Pinehurst to make physical improvements to a property owned by Ray’s family member, sometimes in the middle of the night, according to the indictment.

They were forced to sleep outside in the summer heat and didn’t always have access to food because Ray put a lock on the refrigerator, authorities said in the indictment.

Ray and at least two associates, who were not named by authorities, laundered the money through an internet domain business, officials said.

The indictment paints a picture of a master manipulator whose hold over his victims was complete, as he insinuated himself into the lives of the college students.

He allegedly ensnared many of his victims while they were college sophomores at Sarah Lawrence. His first victims were his daughters' roommates, Berman said.

“After gaining his victims' trust, Ray turned on them, falsely accusing them of harming him by attempting to poison him or to deliberately damage his property,” Berman said.

Ties to organized crime, Kerik

Ray's criminal record includes pleading guilty in 2003 to a federal securities fraud charge in the Eastern District of New York. That case stemmed from a pump-and-dump scheme that was tied to organized crime.

Ray, then a resident of Warren, New Jersey, was sentenced to five years of probation and nine months of home confinement.

Ray previously played a role in a scandal involving Kerik, a former police driver for Mayor Rudy Giuliani who became New York City’s corrections commissioner in 1998 and then its police commissioner from 2000 to 2001, serving during the 9/11 attacks.

Kerik nearly became President George Bush’s homeland security secretary in 2004, but his name was abruptly withdrawn as the nominee.

Two days later, The Daily News reported that Ray, who had been the best man at Kerik’s wedding, had come forward with evidence that Kerik failed to report thousands of dollars in gifts he’d received while working for the city. At the time, Ray was under indictment in a $40 million stock scam.

Kerik ultimately served nearly four years in prison for tax fraud, making false statements and other charges related to gifts he accepted from companies looking for favors, including a construction firm that wanted his help getting a city license.

Hours after the indictment, Kerik took to Twitter to retweet writer Ezra Marcus' link to his New York Magazine piece. Kerik added: "Outstanding investigative work!"

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Twitter: @MattSpillane