He exploited the close-knit group, using threats and violence to enrich himself with millions of dollars.
FILE - U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman points to a photo showing Lawrence Ray during a news conference, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020, in New York. Ray, an ex-convict known for his role in a scandal involving former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik, was convicted Wednesday of charges that he exploited a group of students at Sarah Lawrence College using threats and violence to enrich himself with millions of dollars.
Ray’s followers said on the stand they lost their sense of self in his web of lies, conspiracies, threats and violence. Video footage showed them behaving as if in a trance. They hit themselves when he demanded it, laughed at his abuse of others and, in at least one case, went into prostitution and gave Ray the proceeds.
Ray viciously physically and sexually abused his followers under the guise of helping them. At the same time, he convinced the youngsters that they were poisoning him as part of a bizarre plot orchestrated by Ray’s’ nemesis, former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik. One woman testified that she became a sex worker to try to pay reparations to Ray after becoming convinced that she had poisoned him. She said that, over four years, she gave Ray $2.5 million in installments that averaged between $10,000 and $50,000 per week.Ray, who has been incarcerated since his early 2020 arrest, did not testify. Twice, the trial was interrupted as he was taken to the hospital in an ambulance for undisclosed illnesses.
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