“I’m going to break every bone in your body.”
That’s one of just dozens of threats and insults accused sex cult leader Lawrence Ray hurled at one of his victims during an 2014 interrogation over allegations he put the 62-year-old’s personal information on the internet.
In the hours-long interrogation, which was played in open court on Friday at Ray’s sex-crimes trial and obtained by The Daily Beast, Ray is also heard telling Santos Rosario to jump out his Upper East Side apartment building window, hitting him with a hammer on his legs, and threatening to use a sharp razor on him.
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“I want to take you out in a brutal way,” Ray tells Rosario at another point during the interrogation, while the college drop-out was desperately trying to appease him.
Ray pleaded not guilty to several charges, including sex-trafficking, extortion, and racketeering conspiracy, after allegedly moving into his daughter’s Sarah Lawrence College dorm in 2010 shortly after his release from a New Jersey prison and where he allegedly ran a sex cult for nearly a decade under the guise of “therapy sessions.” Prosecutors allege that in reality, Ray physically, sexually, and psychologically abused several college students for almost a decade.
The first victim to testify, the now 30-year-old Rosario told jurors that he met Ray when he was a 19-year-old sophomore at the elite New York college and immediately thought that the ex-con was “cool.” Eventually, Rosario said, Ray’s behavior turned more sinister, escalating from a father figure concerned about his well-being to a physical and verbal abuser.
Rosario said that Ray hit him, slapped him, held a knife to his throat and genitals, and put him into a chokehold until he passed out after Ray accused him of making a mistake, damaging his property, or trying to “sabotage” him. He told jurors on Friday that Ray would accuse him of lying and would be so insistent he was not telling the whole truth he would believe that he must be “misremembering” the truth.
The 2014 hours-long interrogation—which was a chilling example of Ray’s alleged abuse and manipulation—began after the father alleged that Rosario put his personal information on the internet and that he provided “mental health services.” Other people can be heard in the room, including Rosario’s sister, Felicia, whom Ray also threatens to put in jail.
At first, Ray can be heard telling Rosario he is going to go to jail for putting his name and number online—before suddenly becoming enraged and demanding that he remove the post “now.” Ray is then heard repeatedly hitting Rosario, who simply responds “ok.”
“I’m trying to think of how to get it off,” Rosario desperately says, while Ray continues to raise his voice and abuse him.
“I’m not going to jail,” Ray said. “Why should I not break your whole body?”
“You better hurry up or I’m going to kill you,” Ray later adds.
When Rosario seems to be unable to take down an internet ad—and it’s unclear if he even posted it in the first place—Ray then tells him he needs to “leap like a frog” out the apartment window. In another bizarre punishment, Ray tells Rosario to put an ad on social media with his parent’s address saying that he likes to “suck big cock.”
As someone is heard crying in the audio, Ray is then heard calling Santos a “piece of shit” and to “crawl on the floor like a dog.” “Get down dog,” Ray is heard saying.
“How dare you do this to me,” Ray says at another point.
At the end of the audio recording, Rosario still seems unable to find login information to take down Ray's personal information—noting he has tried every email and password combination he can think of—but it doesn’t stop the father from continuing to hurl insults at him.
“That’s bad news because he’s going to be a turtle in fucking court. And you know what’s going to happen? He is going to be declared not capable,” Ray says, seemingly implying Rosario will face criminal charges over the incident.
Manhattan federal prosecutors allege that several of Rosario’s other friends were affected by Ray’s mistreatment, including one woman who was forced into sex work for his financial benefit. In one disturbing act of violence, Ray allegedly used a plastic bag to choke that woman—identified in court as Claudia—inside a Manhattan hotel room after she was subjected to hours of “torture” that also included being smothered with a pillow and choking her with a leash.”
To ensure their loyalty and silence, Ray also forced the students to write fake emails and journal entries, give him thousands of dollars—often making them drain their parents’ bank accounts—and even took explicit photos of them.
During opening arguments, Ray’s defense have claimed the allegations are just “stories” from a group of misguided young adults. “I am not saying Larry Ray is a saint,” defense attorney Allegra Glashausser admitted. “You don’t have to like him. But these things are not federal crimes.”
