The jury in the sex trafficking trial of accused “cult leader” Larry Ray was given a glimpse of the vast trove of evidence gathered by investigators, including explicit footage of Ray’s alleged victims engaging in sexual activity with men and each other.
The court case began Thursday morning with testimony from two witnesses, including FBI Special Agent Kelly Maguire, with prosecutors expected to rest on Friday.
Through Maguire’s testimony, the government introduced a wealth of documentary evidence into a case Judge Lewis Liman called “extraordinarily complex”.
Maguire told the court how she combed through hundreds of documents stored on dozens of devices owned by Ray and his so-called “lieutenant” and co-defendant, Isabella Pollok.
The loot included handwritten notes and diaries, thousands of texts and emails, and thousands of hours of audio and video files – 40 of which were explicit videos of cult victim Felicia Rosario engaging in sexual acts with other men and with Pollok.
Lawrence Grecco, 84, the father of accused sex cult leader Larry Ray, attended his son’s trial on Thursday and was seen approaching his son in court
A photo evidence shows Ray, 62 (right) with his father Lawrence Grecco. Tay is accused of running a sex cult from his daughter Talia’s dorm at Sarah Lawrence College
Explicit photos of Claudia Drury – who told the jury early in the trial that she had been forced into a life of prostitution to repay money she “owed” Ray – found on Ray’s cell phone were shown to the jury but sealed from the public.
In addition to audio and visual documents, prosecutors produced receipts showing how Ray and Pollok used earnings from Drury’s prostitution to support a living in luxury hotels, designer clothes and high spending.
A receipt showed that Ray had paid $7,000 in cash for clothes, priced just under that sum, purchased from Bergdorf Goodman, a store he frequented.
For her part, Pollok visited Neiman Marcus where, according to receipts presented in court, she spent hundreds.
At one point, the couple spent almost $5,000 to stay at the luxurious Pierre Hotel in Manhattan’s Midtown. During that time, they spent more than $3,000 on room service and $2,000 at the hotel’s restaurant.
Nowhere, Maguire testified, did they find evidence of the medical bills Ray claimed were accrued for treatment for his “poisoning” — a crime every cult member has at some point “confessed to.”
The government had also siphoned a search history from one of Ray’s devices showing that he appeared to have researched mind control, cult membership and quitting, how to spot lying, coercion and brainwashing.
Earlier Thursday, Yalitza Rosario, 32, the younger sister of Felicia, 39 – who testified that she once thought she would marry Ray and considered herself his “wife” – finished the testimony she began yesterday, when she told the court about her mental breakdown and multiple suicide attempts under the influence and coercion of Ray, she claimed.
The jury was shown Thursday clear photos of Claudia Drury – who claims she was forced into prostitution – found on Ray’s cell phone. The photos should be sealed by the jury from the public
Rosario (pictured, which arrived in court earlier this week) told jurors how she came to realize her “romance” with alleged sex cult leader Larry Ray was a sham
According to Felicia Rosario, Ray’s so-called “lieutenant” Isabella Pollok (left) was Ray’s main partner. Pollok and Ray’s daughter Talia (pictured right with her father) have been named as co-conspirators in the sex trafficking case
Ray’s father, Lawrence Grecco, 84, was also present in court to witness the day’s trial. Early in the trial, it was alleged that Grecco threatened Felicia Resario when she tried to break away from the Ray family.
In an audio recording of a conversation between Rosario and Grecco played in court, the elderly man can be heard: “[If] Someone hit on my son, you don’t want to know me. I have nothing to lose.’
“I’m 82 years old, after that they can lock me up for ten or twenty years. I do not care.’
Wearing his baseball cap, black jacket and pants as a Navy veteran, Grecco declined to comment when approached by ahead of the statement.
On one occasion, Judge Liman rebuked Grecco when it was brought to the judge’s attention that the elderly man had not worn his mask as required in court.
According to prosecutor Sassoon, some jurors complained that Grecco “made facial expressions” during testimony that were “distracting and “unhelpful.”
Addressing the issue, the judge warned, “If you’re not wearing your mask, I may have to excuse you from the courtroom.”
He urged Grecco and everyone present to consider this “fair warning”.
On Wednesday, Sassoon tried to portray the younger Rosario sister as a young woman whose mental fragility Ray had exploited.
But on Thursday, defense attorney Allegra Glasshauser tried to imply that it was precisely this mental fragility that made Rosario an unreliable witness who had lied under oath in the past.
Under Glasshauser’s questioning, Rosario’s memory failed her repeatedly, and she responded by default to “yes/no” questions with “it’s complex” or “it’s complicated.”
But she admitted that she knowingly lied under oath when she was called to testify as a character witness for Ray in a housing dispute.
“You took an oath just like here. You raised your hand and swore to tell the truth,” Glasshauser claimed. ‘And then you made your statement on the spot.’
Rosario contradicted the assessment and explained her false statement: “I already had a story about it in my head.”
On Wednesday, Yalitza Rosario sat dry-eyed as a video of her was shown to the court, far from catatonic as Ray bombarded her with questions about her mental state.
But when Assistant US Attorney Danielle Sassoon later played footage of Rosario with her brother Santos, Ray’s daughter Talia, Daniel Levin and Isabella Pollok happily enjoying the January 2012 holidays together, she took off her glasses and cried.
Witness Yalitza Rosario, 32, the younger sister of Felicia, 39 – who testified that she once thought she would marry Ray and considered herself his “wife” – ended her testimony that began yesterday
Yalitza Rosario and Felicia Rosario
The Columbia graduate explained, “I felt like I had a group of friends that I didn’t have [elsewhere].’
Ray’s Upper East Side apartment was, she said, a “sanctuary” centered on Ray, a “paternal figure” when she was first introduced to the group by her brother in 2011.
In a now-familiar pattern, Rosario shared how she shared her history of depression, body image struggles and relationship anxiety with Ray, who at first seemed just trying to help.
She said: “I felt like he could help me feel better [and that] he knew how to live healthy and I trusted him.”
According to prosecutors, their trust was betrayed in the worst possible way. Rosario was the fourth “cult” member to testify for the prosecution.
About her interactions with Ray, she shared how she came to believe she had borderline personality disorder and developed suicidal thoughts that led to two suicide attempts.
Her first came in April 2013, her second in October of the same year.
Like her sister Felicia, who was completing her testimony Tuesday, Rosario traveled to Ray’s stepfather’s home in Pinehurst, North Carolina, in 2013.
Upon seeing Felicia, Rosario said, “Her voice was childlike, she was very different, she looked wide-eyed, confused and distractible.”
Ray faces charges of tax evasion, extortion and money laundering, as well as multiple counts of sex trafficking and forced labor.
According to prosecutors, the 62-year-old made money primarily from prostitution, which “cult” victim Claudia Drury claims she was coerced into, into a web domain portfolio in a money-laundering scheme that could have netted more than $17 million benefit.
Ray eventually endeared himself to his daughter Talia’s friends Santos Rosario (left), Daniel Levin, Felicia Rosario (right) and Isabella Pollok
Alleged cult victims Claudia Drury and Dan Levin
Sarah Lawrence College is an elite liberal arts college in Bronxville, north of New York City
The jury saw details of the accounts of Claudia Drury, Felicia Rosario and Isabella Pollok. Ray’s name was notably missing since the man prosecutors claim was the kingpin didn’t have any bank accounts in his name.
Instead, cash deposits — sometimes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars — as well as PayPal transfers and wire transfers have been moved between Drury’s account and those of Ray’s “wives” Rosario and Pollok, who is accused of being his co-conspirator.
Between July 2015 and April 2019, the court heard that more than $600,000 had flowed from one of Claudia Drury’s accounts to Rosario and Pollok’s.
All of Drury’s incoming funds came from customers in the form of PayPal payments, credit cards, cash, Venmo, and wire transfers.