Kriti Mehrotra
As documentaries that live up to their titles, Peacock’s ‘Sex, Lies, and the College Cult’ and Hulu’s ‘Stolen Youth’ can only be described as equal parts horrid, shocking, as well as terrifying. That’s because it delves deep into the way a single man managed to brainwash his daughter’s friends at the reputed Sarah Lawrence College for a decade before the truth finally came to light. So now, if you wish to learn more about him — Lawrence “Larry” Ray — with a specific focus on not just his wrongdoings but also his current standing, we’ve got all the essential details for you.
Who is Larry Ray?
Although born as Lawrence Grecco in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn back in 1959, Larry took up his stepfather’s last name as soon as possible to match the people he deemed his real family. There’s actually no denying he’s a New York native considering the way he has lived a high-flying life, yet it’s imperative to note he’s also a dangerous conman skillful enough to exploit any situation. According to The Cut, he thus rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest names from every industry by simply blending some truths and lies to climb up the ladder, that is, until the 2000s.
Larry reportedly worked on Wall Street in the 1980s, did some consultancy, was a restaurant partner, and even served in the Air Force for 19 days — the reason behind his discharge is unclear. He was hence able to build a good rapport with politicians, military officials, entrepreneurs, as well as mob families alike, only to later turn into an FBI informant on a securities fraud by the latter. The amount for this conspiracy offense totaled $40 million, which is why when he was found to have cooperated simply because he himself had a hand in the matter, he was officially indicted.
From what we can tell, Larry received five years’ probation in April 2003 upon pleading guilty to fraud — a fact that infuriated him since he got no aid from his NYPD commissioner friend Bernard Kerik. This is purportedly the moment everything changed for the manipulative chameleon, especially as his every ensuing action was not simply for power or money anymore but also for vengeance. It’s what drove him to refuse the court order of passing over the custody of his children to his former wife/their mother around the mid-2000s, leading to a six-month detention in jail for contempt.
However, it was a 2006 domestic abuse incident against a girlfriend that made the FBI bring up Larry’s probation violation stipulations, meaning he was soon apprehended and sent behind bars. He was then granted release in the fall of 2010, which is when he moved in with his daughter Talia into her sophomore year two-story brick dorm at the elite liberal arts Sarah Lawrence College. That’s where Larry gained the trust of her friends as well as roommates by acting as a complete father figure — offering them food and advice — just to later take advantage through conditioning.
Larry’s “therapy sessions” to ostensibly “help” the young adults with their “psychological problems” laid the groundwork for the mental, physical, and personal conditioning, according to records. After all, it left them utterly vulnerable, eventually leading them “to become unwitting victims of sexual exploitation, verbal and physical abuse, extortion, forced labor, and prostitution.”
As if this is not enough, per police reports, Larry even “alienated several of the victims from their parents, and convinced several of the victims that they were ‘broken’ and in need of fixing by [him].” The fact he moved into a flat on the Upper East Side the following year with some of the youngsters, only to soon add others and then dictate every facet of their lives, just made matters worse.
Larry Ray is Behind Bars Today
It was in February 2020 that Larry Ray’s reality came to light, ultimately leading to his arrest on fifteen federal counts related to the terror he reigned when praying on those much more susceptible. His threats to dismember a male victim while brandishing a sharp knife, earning $2.5 million from forcing a female victim into prostitution, and falsely making them confess to a complex conspiracy involving his former friend Bernard “Bernie” Kerik ordering them to poison him were also brought out.
Therefore, following a four-week trial in early 2022 — during which Larry was rushed out of the court twice owing to ostensible seizures while his victims were testifying — he was found guilty as charged. It took the jury less than four hours to convict him of racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit extortion, extortion, sex trafficking, violent assault, obtaining forced labor, forced labor trafficking, conspiracy to obtain forced labor, violating the Travel Act, four counts of tax evasion, and money laundering on April 6, 2022. More than nine months later, on January 20, 2023, the 63-year-old was sentenced to 60 years without the possibility of parole, meaning he’s currently incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center-Brooklyn in New York City, New York.
We should mention that on the day of Larry’s sentencing, US Attorney Damian Williams candidly said, “Larry Ray is a monster. For years, he inflicted brutal and lifelong harm on innocent victims. Students who had their lives ahead of them. He groomed them and abused them into submission for his own gain. Through physical and psychological abuse, he took control over his victims’ minds and bodies and then extracted millions of dollars from them. The sentence imposed today will ensure that Ray will never harm victims again.”
Read More: Where is Larry Ray’s Daughter Talia Ray Now?
