In 2010, Talia Ray lived in a student dormitory with seven other students from the art school Sarah Lawrence College in New York, USA.
Her father, Lawrence Ray (63), had at this time just finished serving a sentence for money laundering.
He therefore badly needed a place to live.
In September of that year, Talia asked if it was okay with the other students if her father could stay with them for a couple of days.
Lawrence Ray moved into his daughter’s student house thirteen years ago. It was the start of a nightmare.
Vulnerable young people
According to the magazine The Cutwho were the first to mention the case in 2019, several of the students were very vulnerable when Talia’s father moved in.
One of the male students had struggled with suicidal thoughts over a number of years. One of the girls had just broken up with her boyfriend.
Several of the students have subsequently explained that they saw Ray as a father figure – a role model, and someone they looked up to.
In the midst of their grief, they therefore found comfort in Ray. However, it would turn out that Ray had completely different intentions.
– A predator
In April 2022, Ray was convicted on 15 counts, including sex trafficking, forced labour, tax evasion and money laundering.
according to APthe prosecution will now demand that the 63-year-old serve a life sentence.
During the trial between March and April 2022, the public prosecutor thoroughly reviewed how Ray’s victims had been exploited over several years.
– When he got there, he met a group of young people who had their whole lives ahead of them. Over the next decade, he used both physical and psychological violence to gain control and to destroy their lives, prosecutor Damian Williams said at Lawrence’s trial in April 2022.
ON CAMPUS: On this campus of Sarah Lawrence College in the United States, seven students were introduced to Lawrence Ray. Photo: Luke Sheridan/AP
According to the verdict, Ray has abused several students sexually and psychologically over a number of years.
– Let me be clear: Larry Ray is a predator. A vicious man who did vicious things, the prosecutor continued.
Forced into prostitution
According to the verdict, Lawrence has pressured several of his victims for money. According to the AP, he made several million dollars from ruining students’ lives.
During testimony in April, one of the victims explained that Ray had convinced them that they had harmed or poisoned him and therefore owed him money.
The victim who testified allegedly paid Ray about $2.5 million over a four-year period.
JUDGED: Sketch of Attorney Lindsey Keenan speaking during opening statements in the trial of Lawrence Ray in New York, US, March 10, 2022. In April, Lawrence Ray was sentenced Photo: Jane Rosenberg / Reuters
Other victims have explained that they took out loans and emptied their parents’ savings accounts to afford to pay Ray. Others were forced into prostitution.
Among other things, one of the victims was forced to record pornographic films, so that she could repay money she never owed in the first place.
Ray abused the woman over several years.
According to the verdict, he had collected sensitive and sexual images of her from when she was a student at the school. Ray then threatened to share these images further if she did not perform more sexual acts.
