By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Podcast Vlog
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Jan 20 – Larry Ray was found guilty of sexual exploitation, prostitution, forced labor and money laundering on April 2, 2022. Inner City Press live tweeted the verdict here and below. And see book, here.
On January 20, Larry Ray was sentenced to 60 years in prison. Inner City Press live tweeted it, here:
OK: now sex cultist of Sarah Lawrence college Larry Ray is about to be sentenced. Inner City Press covered the trial, the John List (of Claudia Drury) and wrote a booklet about it and will live tweet, thread below
Judge Liman: Larry Ray was arrested for securities fraud, and violated terms of probation and supervised release. In 2010 he pled to interference with custody. The guidelines are 360 months to life. No departure is available. Are there victims who wish to be heard?
Assistant US Attorney: Santos Rosario, Mr. Daniel Levin, and Claudia Drury's attorney. We'll start with her.
Drury's friend and attorney, formerly of Simpson Thacher: Claudia did not attend because she wants to move on. But she wrote this:
Drury's letter: He lured me in with the promise of making my family a healthier one. Then he convinced me I'd poisoned him and his family. He'd call me and say they were dying. He made me work as a prostitute to pay back for imaginary damage
Drury's letter: I feel profoundly violated. I trusted Larry Ray with everything. He destroyed my life, convinced me I was evil, he sexually groomed me, enslaved me in prostitution, beat me, extorted me - he bound me and suffocated me with a plastic bag
Drury's letter: He called m a B-list actress. So when I left emotions, I thought I was being disingenuous. I have nightmare. I have been unable to hold any job. Everything exhausts me. [Larry Ray is in prison beige, with two US Marshals behind him, & 5 lawyers]
Drury's lawyer: My mother has stress related health issues. This is a man who prefers to target families. He gave me an eating disorder. I'd eat from a pile of junk food to the toilet and then see a client. Then repeat it. I'd throw up in client's homes.
Drury's lawyer: I didn't get my period. I was freezing all the time. Stomach acid ate my teeth. My front tooth chipped. The day I left New York and severed contact with Larry as the day I started recovering. It was hell, a deliberate campaign to break me
Drury's lawyer: Every time I was forced to prostitute I became more numb. Larry wanted to watch me break into pieces and give the parts away. Nothing was enough. He threatened to expose my clients. Everything I touched ended up broken. I lied to everyone. Drury's letter: I pushed myself past every limit. My soul was completely depleted. I was catatonic. I would say, Get off of me. I am often disgusted with myself. I feel backwards and unnatural. I am still so sorry, just like I was when I believed I had poisoned
Drury's letter: No one deserves such a broken version of life. I don't know what made Larry this way. It doesn't matter. I have no forgiveness. I forced me to feel what it must be like to be him. He was experimenting on our souls, like lab mice.
Drury's letter: Larry will bide his spite and unleashed it on our loved ones. I have one thing to say to him directly. You are still a human being. You cannot escape that or your soul. However you have tarnished it. I am rebuilding. I believe in God.
Judge Liman: Thank you. Next I'll hear from Santos Rosario. [He's in a sweater, at podium] Santos: In 2010 I was 19 years old and a sophomore in college. I was happy. Then I met Larry Ray. The next decade was misery. My family was ripped apart.
Santos: He used me to drain all my family's money. I was contemplating suicide. I left one of the top colleges in the country. He blackmailed me, he took away everything that made me, me. By 2012 I had lost my sense of self, I lost trust in myself.
Santos: I was homeless for months. He took ten years of my life from me. I have perpetual anxiety these days. I can't relate to others. Therapy is difficult, similar to my time under Larry. I can't convey this man's crimes. I ask that he be given a life sentence.
Daniel Levin is in black pants and a black shirt. Levin: My name is Daniel. I met Talia's dad. What he went on to do to me [pauses] How do you explain to a partner, one day to my children, that when I was 19 my friend's dad moved into the dorm and abused me?
Levin: In the trial, jurors got to see some of the worst things every committed to video. Imagine living them. You can't go outside, you can't go to the bathroom. You'll be tortured from your thought. For the rest of my life, Larry Ray will be over me with a knife
Daniel Levin: Lawrence Ray made me mouth a dildo and asked if I still thought I was gay. He put a garotte around my testicles and pulled my tongue with pliers. He said he knew better than I did. I doubt what I believe. My joy is tinged with pain
Levin: They'll call it a sex cult. But that's a dumbing down. People will call us weak or naive. Look at the reality. We were intelligent, just like you. What happened was because of one man. Lawrence is not so special. He is petty and seeks power
Levin: He could not stand what was broken inside of him, so he convinced us he could solve our problems. He feigns illness to get sympathy. He tortured us. I would like to hear him say he's sorry and mean it, but I know he never will. He might try to trick you Levin: He will spend every day in prison plotting against us. He will attempt to hurt me from confinement. If he is released from prison, my death warrant will have been signed. That said, this morning I went for a walk and talked to a friend. Because I can.
Levin: Tonight I can go back home, and lock the door behind me. Because I have the key. He took that away. He does not deserve that right, until he dies. Judge Liman: Thank you. AUSA: The Rosario sisters are here. The government is seeking a sentence of life
Assistant US Attorney: The defendant put the Rosarios in diapers and pacifiers. There was Claudia's BDSM, shared with the defendant - he suggested she have sex with a tool salesman who was married.
AUSA: He must be incapacitated to protect the public. Life imprison alone can accomplish that. Judge Liman: I'll hear from the defense. Federal Defender: I generally begin by recognizing defendant's family members in the audience. Today there's no one
FD: His loved ones died while he was in jail, in inhumane detention. The MCC closed because of atrocious conditions. Mr. Ray has been punished, and he will continue to be punished. He will remain in jail at least for the next decade. We say, 15 years is enough
Federal Defender: This is not a murder case. Mr. Ray has not expressed remorse on the advice of counsel, to protect his appeal -- Judge Liman: I'm not holding that against him. FD: Mr. Ray was frightened of COVID. The Bureau of Prisons subjected him to lockdowns
Federal Defender: Larry Ray's mother bragged of poisoning people's food. The court cannot ignore this family dynamic. This case is nothing like #NXIVM - that went on over 15 years, including a 15 year old minor. #GhislaineMaxwell got 240 months. #RKelly got 360
Federal Defender: Mr. Ray is 63 years old and sick. More than 15 years is a effectively a life sentence. Thank you. Judge Liman: US on forfeiture of Pine Hurst property? AUSA: It was used as an instrumentality of the crime, forced labor. The statute allows it.
Judge Liman: I'm going to take a brief recess -- Federal Defender: Mr. Ray wants to speak. Judge Liman: Now is the time. Larry Ray: These 3 years have been hard. I am in pain all the time. I experience numbness in my extremities. I have ringing in my ears.
Larry Ray: The lesions I get are frightening. The areas are expanding. I need specialists - but I'm in jail. The MDC sends me to Brooklyn Hospital but they don't have what I need. They sent me to Mount Sinai. MCC had mice. I couldn't review all my discovery Larry Ray: I lost my father, my step-father and my step-mother all in one week. They are gone. Judge Liman: Thank you Mr. Ray. I am taking a recess. Thread will continue.
Judge Liman is back. Judge Liman: The guideline is 360 months to life. Mr. Ray's conduct was particular heinous. He used his charm to gain the trust of a group of college students and robbed them of money, self-worth, ultimately their bodies.
Judge Liman: There was a particular cruelty. He targeted one uncertain of his sexuality. He abused him with sex toys, to make it clear to the others that they were next. A medical student, he told her she'd never get a job, and to have sex with strangers
Judge Liman: It was sadism, pure and simple. It involved grooming. He would have destroyed more lives if given the opportunity. He believed he was above the law. This is not about him going to trial, he is not being penalized.
Judge Liman: He did not believe his victims would have the courage to testify. But they did. This case shows the resiliency of the human spirit. There is no reason to believe Mr. Ray will age out of criminality. 15 years would not capture the enormity of his crimes
Judge Liman: I intend to impose a sentence that ensure Mr. Ray is never released. But I do not intend to impose a formal life sentence. That would be to descend to the defendant's depths. Mr. Ray did not take lives - he attempted to extinguish them.
Judge Liman: I sentence Larry Ray - please rise - to 720 months or 60 years in prison, then supervised release of life.
On January 6, 2023, Ray's Federal Defenders put in a memo asking for the minimum sentence, 15 years, and blaming Ray's actions beginning with Ex-Lax in cupcakes and a manipulative mother. They say that negative media coverage is punishment enough. They put in letters from Martha C. Ray, Larry Grecco - then letters entirely redacted.
On January 13, the US Attorney's Office put in its submission, with victims' impact statements, and argued that "a guidelines sentence of life imprisonment is justified." They note that Ray "extracted millions of dollars in extortion and sex trafficking proceeds from Claudia Drury." We'll have more on this.
On November 1, Judge Lewis J. Liman set a hearing on post-trial issues: "ORDER as to Lawrence Ray: Count Fifteen of the trial indictment under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29 on November 15, 2022 at 11:30 a.m. The hearing will be held in-person in Courtroom 15C at the 500 Pearl Street Courthouse. The parties should be prepared to discuss the following issues: (1) whether there was sufficient evidence that Female Victim-1 suffered "physical injury" as defined in New York Penal Law § 9."
On November 8, into an SDNY courthouse empty on Election Day, Ray's Federal Defenders submitted an argument that Claudia Drury's terror "did not meet the elements of physical injury" -- this despite testimony about suffocation to the point of passing out.
But when the November 15 in-person hearing came, Inner City Press was there, but not Larry Ray. His Federal Defenders said he was in the hospital with lessions. Judge Liman expressed doubts about the timely of Ray's legal issues, but agreed to postpone until the next Monday, with sentencing moved to January 20.
On the next Monday, November 21, Inner City Press was there - but again, no Larry Ray. The argument went forward, thread here:
Larry Ray was supposed to be brought here to court for his argument that suffocating Claudia Drury was not physical injury, only fear. But it will go forward without him.
Apparently, because Larry Ray kept pimping Drury out after strangling her, her "work was not impaired." That's what Federal Defenders are arguing.
Judge Liman asks, What if a person emailed a photo of a gun in order to menace? And notes he is not bound by the DOJ guidance that Federal Defender cited
Assistant US Attorney says this turns on obstructed airway. And "being suffocated with BDSM collar." Larry Ray's Federal Defenders will be appealing. But he remain in jail - at least for now...
Note: the implications of Federal Defenders argument that suffocation is not physical injury on #ICantBreathe cases and even #GeorgeFloyd are troubling.
On November 23, Judge Liman denied Ray's motions, including this one, noting that The jury "was instructed on the elements of menacing under the New York penal law. It concluded both that Defendant had engaged in an assault with a dangerous weapon and that such conduct was in violation of state law. The Government need not have established that the minimal requirements of that state law violation could, in theory, be satisfied by conduct that did not involve assault with a dangerous weapon. The evidence here establishes that Defendant’s conduct was at the core of the crime of menacing and not at its periphery. It is sufficient to support the verdict that the Government presented evidence that supported both that Ray committed an assault with a dangerous weapon and that by such conduct he also violated state law. There thus is no basis for Defendant’s motion to overturn the conviction on Count Seventeen. CONCLUSION Defendant’s motion under Rule 29 is DENIED." Full Order on Patreon here.
We'll have more on this.
On September 7, Ray's co-defendant Isabella Pollok pleaded guilty with a maximum sentence of five years, to conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charge, and her allocution, did not mention sex trafficking. But the prosecutors emphasized that sex trafficking was a part of the sentencing guideline.
Does that mean Pollok, who participated in the smothering of Claudia Drury to make her continue to prostitute herself, will not have a register as a sex offender? Inner City Press at the end of the proceeding put the question to Pollok's lawyer, without answer. It live tweeted the plea proceeding, here:
OK - Pollok is at defense table in a dark suit, with 2 lawyers. As Inner City Press reported, she's worked at Amazon warehouse on Staten Island - with ankle bracelet.
There are 13 people in the courtroom gallery, 3 masked, all or nearly all of us media. When we're the victims notified?
All rise! Judge Liman: Tell me about the plea agreement. AUSA: It's a pleasure to conspiracy, money laundering. The stipulated guideline is 60 months.
Judge Liman: To your plea deal, does the Adam Walsh Act apply? AUSA: No. [So far, no question has been asked about victims' rights. Then again, the way they structured the plea, the only victim is "the United States."
Judge: Your education? Pollok: Sarah Lawrence College in Westchester County. Judge: Any mental treatment?
Pollok: (Pause) In 2009 and 2014. Judge: Are you being treated for anything? Pollok: ADHD
Note: per trial evidence, Pollok was present for all night torture of Claudia Drury. "Money laundering"
Ritual Q&A elicits that her full name is Isabella Constance Pollok. She's now 31. Out by 36, if not sooner.
AUSA: Remember forfeiture. Judge: Of proceeds traceable to the offense. [No amount is stated]
Judge: The plea agreement is 6 pages and will be returned to the prosecutors for safe keeping. 60 months is the max.
Judge: Tell me what you did. Pollok (reading) I agreed with Lawrence Ray to laundering money from extortion. [This allocation does not mention sex crimes nor (forced) prostitution]
Cynical footnote: Isabella Pollok's plea deal and allocation do not mention sex trafficking. But AUSA says the guidelines are based on sex trafficking. Hmm.
Sentencing not until February 22, 2023 at 11 am. Still no mention of victims (unlike, for example, in UN rapist Elkorany's plea, which Inner City Press is also covering. Adjourned.
I asked Pollok's lawyer if she'll have to register as a sex offender under SORNA. That, he didn't answer.
Ray's sentencing was supposed to be on September 16. But on August 11, Ray's Federal Defender wrote in to request a full 90 day delay, citing "COVID infections and lockdowns at the MDC." Many in the MDC have not had their sentencings delayed.
On August 12, Judge Liman ordered: "Set/Reset Hearings as to Lawrence Ray: Sentencing set for 12/1/2022 at 10:30 AM in Courtroom 15C, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007 before Judge Lewis J. Liman."
On September 6, this went into the docket: "NOTICE OF HEARING as to Isabella Pollok: A Plea hearing is scheduled for September 7, 2022 at 10:00 AM in Courtroom 15C, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007 before Judge Lewis J. Liman." What will be the plea deal? Watch this site.
On August 30, Ray's tribulations in the MDC, video screen sharing needed to review Pre-Sentencing Report: "Dear Judge Liman: We write, as counsel for Lawrence Ray in the above-captioned matter, to update the Court on our ability to meet with Mr. Ray to discuss the draft of his presentence report and submit any response to Probation. Currently, our response to Probation is due on August 31. Unfortunately, an individual in Mr. Ray’s unit tested positive for COVID and the unit was placed on quarantine, preventing our planned legal visits to review the draft. We schedule a video conference for Thursday, August 25, to do so, but were informed that morning by the MDC that its video equipment was not working and we would only be able to speak with Mr. Ray via telephone. Although we had mailed Mr. Ray a copy of the draft report, the MDC had not provided him with the copy, so we were unable effectively to review the document over the phone without the benefit of screen sharing." Full letter on Patreon here. Watch this site.
When Larry Ray was arraigned on charges of sexual exploitation, prostitution, forced labor and money laundering on February 12, 2020 he was wearing prison blues and still had a Federal Defender, but no financial affidavit to have FD appointed. Twitter theadette; More on Patreon here.
On March 29, the funneling by Ray of Clauria Drury prostitution money into North Carolina politics emerged, and Inner City Press began researching and asking, below
On March 9, 2022, the jury for Larry Ray was picked, by his five Federal Defenders and three prosecutors, on the robing room of Judge Lewis J. Liman. Inner City Press live tweeted, thread here (podcast here)
On March 10 Inner City Press live tweeted the opening statements, here (podcast here)
On Day 2 of the trial, March 11, Santos Rosario continued on direct examination, Inner City Press live tweeted it here (morning vlog here)
Song here.
On Day 3 of the trial, March 14, Santo Rosario finished his direct and the cross began. Inner City Press live-tweeted here (morning vlog here)
Day 4 of the trial started late - Larry Ray had a seizure, resulting in cancelation of the trial on March 16 and 17 - but then got into troubling videos and a question. Inner City Press live tweeted here (morning vlog here)
On March 18 the trial continued, with Claudia Drury on the stand. Inner City Press live tweeted here (vlog here)
On March 21 the trial continued - then broke at 11 am, again. Inner City Press live tweeted it, here.
[The US Attorney's Office had put in an exhibit, cult articles on Ray's laptop, on Patreon here]
On March 22, Claudia Drury continued on direct examination, getting into her Backpage business for Larry Ray and describing a client as creepy. Inner City Press live tweeted here.
On March 24, after a day off for seizure, Drury continued on the stand. Inner City Press live tweeted it here.
On March 25 another John was outed, this time with immunity: editor Randy Levinson. Inner City Press live tweeted it, now #JohnListGone song here.
On March 28, another Larry Ray victim took the witness stand: Felicia Rosario. Inner City Press live tweeted here:
On March 30, after testimony about how few GoDaddy domain names Ray sold, Upper East Side doorman Carlos Pagan testified. Inner City Press live tweeted here.
On March 31 as the US case came to rest, a slew of exhibits through Agent McGuire, Inner City Press live tweeted here.
On April 1, the US rested then grilled, along with Judge Liman, Ray's former lawyer Glenn Ripa. Inner City Press live tweeted it here.
On April 4 after Ripa, the US gave its closing. Inner City Press live tweeted here.
On April 5, the defense closing went after Claudia Drury and the AUSA countered with the word slut, drawing a curative instruction before the legal instructions. Inner City Press live tweeted here.
On April 6, Ray was found guilty of sexual exploitation, prostitution, forced labor and money laundering on April 2, 2022. Inner City Press live tweeted the verdict here
OK - it's on. Judge Liman: Jury wrote at 1:45 pm, we have reached out verdicts. Shall I bring them in? Federal Defender: We have a pending motion for a mistrial! Judge Liman: Government? AUSA: Let's take the verdict.
Judge Liman: We convert it into a motion for a re-trial, assuming the verdict is guilty. I deny your motion for reasons I'll elaborate on later. With that, any reason not to bring the jury in? FD: No. Judge Liman: Mr. Fishman, please bring the jury in.
Jury entering! Judge Liman: Juror Number 5, you are the foreperson. Please hand up the verdict. Deputy: How to you find Lawrence Ray on Count 1? Juror 5: Guilty. And Counts 2 through 9: GUILTY Inner City Press @innercitypress · 3h Deputy: Counts 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15? Foreperson: GUILTY on all.
Jurors leave. Judge Liman: Sentencing will be September 16 at 2 pm. Anything else? No. Coming soon - a book(let)
[What follow up has there been in North Carolina to the money laundering shown through Lowell Simon and Act Blue / the NC Democratic Party?]
Why are some Johns outed and others protected?
More on Patreon here.
On March 22 Ray said he had another seizure and was taken out to an an ambulance and March 23's trial was canceled, video and notice here.
[Inner City Press question: What did Sarah Lawrence College do? Why haven't they been mega-sued?]
Covering will continue, including on Patreon.
Back on April 28, 2021, there was a suppression hearing about his arrest and questioning. Inner City Press live tweeted it here and below.
On December 22 Ray's Federal Defenders requested a jury questionnaire citing adverse publicity "not only in traditional media outlets." But the next sections contains redactions, after the words "Community Bookstore live, and apparently of a URL, because it contains a name. But how then is it confidential?
On February 4, the Federal Defenders wrote to Judge Lewis J. Liman that "the attorney client relationship between Mr. Ray and his defense team has irreparably broken down... Mr. Ray requests that the Court appoint new counsel." This was heard on February 10, without the previously available call-in line (unlike a February 4 Coinbase oral argument on which the line was opened).
On March 7 in Courtroom 24B, Judge Liman informed the parties that he will not tell the jurors about sexual grooming, finding it incorporated in sexual manipulation.
Ray's lawyers said they'd like the jurors unmasked, so their faces can be seen. They cited NYC Mayor Eric Adams on March 7 eliminating masking requirments except on the subway. Judge Liman said his previous ruling requiring masks stands.
While Inner City Press always likes counsel asserting the public's right to access, it is ironic because the Federal Defenders are arguing to SDNY Judge John P. Cronan, and now the 2d Circuit, that the financial affidavit of "Dirty Doc" Cruciani should be sealed, despite Inner City Press' requests as in Avenatti and Correia, here.
On October 20, Judge Liman granted severance: "ORDER as to Lawrence Ray, Isabella Pollok. It is hereby ORDERED that the proposed schedule appearing at Dkt. No. 219, setting forth the deadlines related to expert witnesses in the case United States v. Ray, 20-cr-110-LJL-1, is APPROVED. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, for the reasons stated by the Court on the record at the October 19, 2021, Status Conference, the motion of Isabella Pollok for a continuance is GRANTED and the trials of Lawrence Ray and Isabella Pollok are severed, with Isabella Pollok's trial to begin on July 18, 2022."
The case is US v. Ray, 20-cr-110 (Liman).
***
Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.
