On Tuesday, New York’s business elite were shaking in their boots after a list of alleged clients of a student prostitute in the Sarah Lawrence “sex cult” case was inadvertently posted online.
The list, which was sealed as evidence in court, includes lawyers, businessmen and socialites from across the tri-state area.
Purchased a copy of the list of 121 names, which was removed almost as quickly as it was published.
A top executive from clothing company The Gap and her husband were one of two married couples included.
Also mentioned is a former justice of the New York State Supreme Court.
Another prospective client is an artist who has workshops in Manhattan’s East Village and in Italy. The third is an architect known for designing college and university buildings.
Other names include a hedge fund manager who donated millions to charity and is engraved on a museum building in New York, a lobbyist who worked for a foreign resistance movement, and an international diamond trader.
They also include the head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, an Amazon account manager, and an accomplished travel writer.
The Justice Department admitted it “inadvertently” released a list of alleged clients of Claudia Drury (pictured arriving at court on Tuesday), a “victim of a sex cult” by Sarah Lawrence who claims she was forced into prostitution.
During two days of testimony, Drury told the court how Ray (right) allegedly forced her into prostitution, taunted her and threatened to kill her after fawning over her and her friends when she was a student at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York
The list was to be used in a federal case against Larry Ray, 62, who is on trial in New York on charges of running a sex cult from his daughter’s dorm room at Sarah Lawrence College.
It is said to have been compiled by a former student of Sarah Lawrence, 31-year-old Claudia Drury, who testified against Ray, who she claims forced her to become a prostitute.
But somehow the government posted the “sealed” document on the Internet, and then immediately set about halting the dissemination of the information.
“By order of the court, Government Exhibit #3217 (GX 3217) has been accepted under seal,” a Justice Department spokesman wrote in an email shortly after the document was taken offline.
“This file was accidentally uploaded to the US v. Ray. Please do not copy, share or use this exhibit in any way. If you have downloaded this file, please delete it.”
But the agency’s announcement is unlikely to be successful, as the document has already been posted on Twitter.
The list is included in an email purportedly sent by Drury to the Department.
The Justice Department admitted it “inadvertently” released a list of alleged clients of Claudia Drury (depicted in Monday’s court sketch), a “victim of a sex cult” by Sarah Lawrence who claims she was forced into prostitution.
Claudia Drury testifies in the Larry Ray trial on Monday, March 21, 2022.
A 31-year-old prosecution witness (pictured outside the court on Monday) said she was forced into prostitution by alleged sex cult leader Larry Ray, 62.
Drury told the court how Ray (right) allegedly forced her into prostitution, abused her and threatened to kill her.
“This is not an exhaustive list, but includes all of my top clients/regular clients and many more,” she wrote.
Drury, 31, began her testimony Friday by telling jurors in Manhattan Federal Court how Ray’s charismatic campaign led to her being admitted to a psychiatric hospital and eventually prostitution.
She described how she went from naive student to sexual harassment, eventually passing $2.5 million of income to Ray, his daughter Talia and his “lieutenant” and co-defendant Isabella Pollock.
Drury admitted that she was always very uncomfortable, lacked confidence in her body, and couldn’t believe that anyone would find her attractive.
She attributed this uncertainty, as well as Ray’s coercion, to her decision to have a sexual relationship with “Sam”, a married man from whom Ray bought power tools.
Earlier in the trial, the jury were also shown texts between Drury and Pollock, Pollock and Talia, apparently discussing Drury’s prostitution, her clients, payments, and cash transfers to Pollock’s bank account.
In texts read aloud, Drury listed appointments and amounts of money she expected as payment.
One read: “I’m meeting Joe, the $3,500 guy, at 3:30 pm. I think it will be another $8,000, although maybe less.”
Amounts of money discussed ranged from a few hundred to over $17,000 in cash and bank accounts.
In a subsequent text message exchange between Pollock and Talia, ostensibly about transferring money Drury earned through prostitution, Talia reassures Pollock, “We got the fool.”
Ray eventually found favor with his daughter Talia’s friends at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, including Santos Rosario (pictured left with Talia), Daniel Levine, Felicia Rosario (right), and Isabella Pollock.
On Monday, jurors heard how Ray allegedly insulted “cult” victim Dan Levine (pictured) whenever he thought the young man was “playing with the truth.”
Isabella Pollock is accused of being Ray’s “lieutenant” and conspirator.
On Monday, the court was shown emails praising Ray’s selflessness and the alleged psychological “help” he provided to her and college friends, including Santos Rosario, Dan Levine, Felicia Rosario and Ray’s co-defendant and alleged “lieutenant” Isabella Pollock. .
At the time, she called 62-year-old Ray “the hero of history.”
Ray was introduced to the group by his daughter Thalia, who also attended an elite liberal arts college in Bronxville, just north of Manhattan.
Speaking on the second day on Monday, Drury continued her account of the alleged gaslighting, physical and sexual abuse she claims she suffered at Ray’s hands.
One day, she recalls, Ray showed her a photograph of a friend and fellow student, Levin.
She explained: ‘[Ray] told me that he had a confrontation or conversation with Dan about Dan’s sexuality and that in the course of this Isabella was folding laundry and Dan was looking at the dress all the time.
Larry asked Dan, “Do you want to wear a dress?” He told me Dan really did it and so he made Dan put on a dress and go get the mail in that dress.”
Upon returning to the Upper East Side apartment, which was mostly occupied by students and Ray, Drury said the confrontation had “escalated”.
“From there it escalated into Larry telling Isabella to bring her bag of sex toys and dildos and get the biggest one and he [Ray] showed me a picture of Dan trying to put it in his mouth,” she added.
Sarah Lawrence College is an elite liberal arts college in Bronxville, north of New York City.
“The whole thing was framed the way Dan wanted – it was helpful and clear to Dan.”
But according to Drury, Levine’s face was “skewed” in the photo, which showed him looking directly at the camera.
She said: “He looks panicked, questioning and scared. I have never seen that look on anyone else’s face.”
Ray is charged with 17 counts, including sex trafficking, extortion, money laundering, violent crimes in support of racketeering, conspiracy to racketeering.
In another incident that Drury recalled in court, Ray made a “loop” out of foil and had Levine put it on his testicles while he interrogated him, tightening the noose whenever he thought the young man was “playing with the truth.” .
She went on to tell the court how the control campaign intensified in the summer of 2013 when she and several others traveled to Pinehurst, North Carolina to help with yard work on Ray’s stepfather’s property.
At this point, she said, Ray controlled what the students ate—forbidden carbohydrates—and sometimes forced them to work until three or four in the morning to correct the mistakes he found in their work.
“Someone went out and bought hamburgers, fries and milkshakes. [Ray] said, “This is your last meal, Felicia. You can eat carbohydrates, you can eat whatever you want, ”she told the court.
Earlier in court, prosecutors said Ray dominated college girls, forcing some of them into prostitution and forcing others to wear diapers as punishment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Keenan began her opening statement last week by describing the horrific alleged attack in October 2018.
Keenan said that Ray and his “trusted lieutenant” found the victim they “forced into prostitution” in a hotel where Ray tortured her for hours to make sure she would continue her sex work.
The prosecutor said Ray used “violence, fear, sex and manipulation” to gain sex, power and money.
Ray’s attorney told jurors that Ray did not commit federal crimes as he surrounded himself with college-age “storytellers” who claimed to have poisoned him and physically attacked him.
“You will see that Larry Ray is innocent,” said lawyer Allegra Glasshouser.
Pictured: Larry Ray outside his stepfather’s house in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
The court heard Ray’s alleged control campaign escalate in the summer of 2013 when Drury and several others traveled to Pinehurst, North Carolina to help with yard work on Ray’s stepfather’s property (pictured).
Ray, who was once best man at the wedding of disgraced former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik, has been incarcerated since his arrest in 2020.
He is a notorious New York con man with a dark past. In addition to spending time behind bars for his role in securities fraud, he worked on Wall Street, owned nightclubs, was an FBI informant, and was involved in influential networks by arranging meetings.
He had previously been given a five-year suspended sentence for his involvement in securities fraud.
The allegations surrounding the latter case were outlined in a lengthy 2019 New York magazine article, The Cut, which included stories from some alleged cult members.