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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 12 February 2020

Feds: Ex-convict extorted college students for nearly $1M

By JIM MUSTIAN help pay the false debts.
Associated Press "Ray subjected his victims
NEW YORK (AP) — An ex- to almost unspeakable
convict accused of bilking abuse," Berman said, alleg-
several college students ing Ray once tied a wom-
out of nearly $1 million and an to a chair and placed a
forcing some into prostitu- plastic bag over her head
tion or unpaid labor was ar- that nearly suffocated her.
rested Tuesday on extortion Ray collected more than
and sex trafficking charges. $500,000 from that woman
Lawrence "Larry" Ray was after forcing her into prosti-
previously known for his role tution, prosecutors said.
in helping to send former Ray previously played a
New York City police com- role in a scandal involving
missioner Bernard Kerik, Kerik, a former police driver
who was a close confidant for Giuliani while he was
of Rudy Giuliani, to prison. mayor. Kerik became New
Federal prosecutors said York City's corrections com-
Ray, 60, used "physical, missioner in 1998 and then
sexual and psychological its police commissioner
abuse" to extort money from 2000 to 2001, serving
from five different students U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman points to a photo showing Lawrence Ray during a news conference, during the 9/11 attacks.
at Sarah Lawrence Col- Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020, in New York. Kerik nearly became Presi-
lege, a private liberal arts Associated Press dent George Bush's home-
college outside New York Ray allegedly ensnared harming him by attempting The college said it inves- land security secretary in
City. He convinced them many of his victims while to poison him or to delib- tigated the allegations 2004, but his name was
they were indebted to him, they were college sopho- erately damage his prop- raised in the New York abruptly withdrawn as the
authorities said, subjecting mores at Sarah Lawrence. erty," Berman said. magazine article but "did nominee. Two days later,
them to "grueling interroga- His first victims were his Ray solicited false confes- not substantiate those spe- The Daily News reported
tions" that spanned hours daughters' roommates, sions from more than a cific claims." that Ray, who had been
and deprived them of food Berman said. half-dozen victims, Berman "The charges contained in the best man at Kerik's
and sleep. Ray moved into the stu- said, and coerced them to the indictment are serious, wedding, had come for-
Ray was taken into custody dents' on-campus hous- make payments "they did wide-ranging, disturbing ward with evidence that
Tuesday and expected to ing in late 2010, presented not actually owe and could and upsetting," the college Kerik failed to report thou-
appear hours later in Man- himself as a father figure to not possibly afford." Pros- said in a statement. "As al- sands of dollars in gifts he'd
hattan federal court. He the roommates and began ecutors said Ray recorded ways the safety and well- received while working for
had previously denied the conducting "therapy" ses- some of the confessions. being of our students and the city. A the time, Ray
allegations, saying they sions with them, according In interviews with New York alumni is a priority for the was under indictment in a
were the result of a conspir- to an indictment filed in U.S. magazine, Ray said he be- college." $40 million stock scam.
acy against him. It was not District Court. lieved he was being poi- Prosecutors allege that Ray Kerik ultimately served
clear whether he had a de- Prosecutors said he alienat- soned as part of a conspir- directed the students to nearly four years in prison
fense attorney who could ed them from their parents, acy hatched by some of drain money from their par- for tax fraud, making false
comment on the charges. persuading some of them the students and Kerik, who ents' savings accounts and statements and other
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Ber- to move into a Manhattan denied any involvement. forced some of them into charges related to gifts he
man told reporters the in- apartment and convincing Sarah Lawrence said Tues- unpaid labor at a family accepted from companies
vestigation was prompted them they were "broken." day that it has not been member's property in North looking for favors, includ-
by an article that ap- "After gaining his victims' contacted by federal pros- Carolina. Others opened ing a construction firm that
peared last year in New trust, Ray turned on them, ecutors but would cooper- lines of credit or solicited wanted his help getting a
York magazine. falsely accusing them of ate "if invited to do so." contributions from others to city license.q