Rotten Mango - #361: NYC Top “Escort” Service Catering To Rich Married Men Turned Out To Be College S*x Cult

Episode Date: May 26, 2024

The Department of Justice makes a very public statement—it feels more like a threat.  “Please do not reproduce, share, or use this exhibit in any way. If you have downloaded this file, please del...ete it off your device.”  The DOJ had accidentally leaked a file they previously moved to seal from the public. Not one thing, nor one name was redacted.  The file in question - is the client list to one of the most high profile sex workers in all of Manhattan.  Her revenue in just a few years was in the millions of dollars - her hourly rate was $1500.  It’s safe to assume that this leaked, ’sealed’ file includes the names of NYC’s upper elite. High peorfile businessmen, millionaire-married couples, artists, restaurant tycoons, and lots and lots of rich married men.    Some of the names were recognized to be high level executives at Apple, other major retailers, one wealthy hedge fund manager, one international diamond dealer, and a former NY Supreme Court Judge.  But they hadn’t just been listed as clients for sex work.  They had all been named as alleged clients of a sex trafficking business run by a college cult.    10 years prior, a man had walked onto an elite private school campus to visit his daughter, a sophomore at the university. The man, her father, ends up staying on campus, living in his daughter’s dorm, and quickly begins the process of grooming and brainwashing all of his daughter’s friends.    The result was a decade long cult. Some of the friends turned cult members were ‘promoted’ to chauffeur or solder. Others into forced labor. His daughter’s friends would become his wives.’ And that left one, forced to turn to sex work. They all served one old, middle aged man.  This is the case of Lawrence Ray and his decade long cult of college students and sex.  Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:51 to talk to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. The Department of Justice makes a very public statement, similar to an Instagram apology, but it feels kind of more like a threat. Please do not reproduce, share, or use this exhibit in any way. If you have downloaded this file, please delete it off of your device. Naturally, this statement has the opposite effect.
Starting point is 00:01:21 If somebody was curious before this ominous sounding DOJ statement, they're probably fighting their Wi-Fi servers now to read what's on this document. The government has accidentally released a sealed file and for whatever reason they don't want the general public to read what's on that document. So what does the general public do? They read what's on that file, they download and save the top-sec secret document that is not supposed to be shared, and on it are a long list of names. This is not a random document. This is a file netizens have been trying to get their hands on for weeks now. The client list to a high profile sex worker in Manhattan.
Starting point is 00:02:00 Her revenue in just two years was in the millions of dollars. Her hourly rate was starting at $1,500. Just by doing the math, just by running some numbers, it is very safe to assume that her client list has some of the more powerful names in all of New York City, just by who can afford that. High profile businessmen, elite married couples who have purchased services together, artists, restaurateurs, architects, married men,
Starting point is 00:02:26 married hedge fund owners, a former Supreme Court judge, well, a New York State Supreme Court judge. It is a list that's gonna ruin a lot of people's lives, which is probably why it was sealed until it wasn't. Some of the names include high-level executives at Apple, other major retailers such as Gap, a wealthy hedge fund manager, an international diamond dealer, a former New York State Supreme Court judge, they had all been alleged clients of a sex trafficking
Starting point is 00:02:54 business run by a college cult. Ten years ago a man named Larry Ray had walked on to an elite private college campus to visit his daughter who's a student there. He ends up staying on campus, living in his daughter's dorm, and brainwashing all of his daughter's friends. He starts a decade-long cult. He would turn some of the members into his wives and others into sex workers. This is the case of Lawrence Ray and the college sex cult. We would like to thank today's sponsors who have made it possible for Rotten Mango to support Sanctuary for Families.
Starting point is 00:03:48 They are New York's leading NGO for survivors of domestic violence, sex trafficking, and related forms of gender violence. This episode's partnerships have also made it possible to support Rotten Mango's growing team of dedicated researchers and translators. We'd also like to thank our listeners for your continued support as we work on our mission to be worthy advocates of these causes. As always, full show notes are available at rottenminglepodcast.com. Before we get started, today's case does include themes of domestic violence and SA involving adults as well as children.
Starting point is 00:04:17 Additionally, self-exit and disordered eating or EDs are mentioned throughout. I know you guys hear this all the time, but please watch at your own discretion and take care and prioritize your health. And just like the previous episode, there are so many different opinions, discussions, doubts regarding victimhood versus culpability for two young women involved in today's case, Isabella Pollock and Talia Rae. I just want to explicitly state that we are only here to retell events as they happened and we did our best to present them in a way that is neutral and unbiased This is actually part two
Starting point is 00:04:48 The last episode that we uploaded is part one to this cult and we covered Talia Ray a sophomore college student at Sarah Lawrence in New York and there's two things you need to know about Talia Ray. She's a go-getter She knows what she wants in life in her future and she's really aggressive about pursuing it, which is a good thing, right? It's just very different from what all the other college kids are used to. And second, Talia Rae has an obsession with her dad, Larry Rae. That is all she will ever talk about. If you are alone in the room with her, she's gonna somehow turn your topic of going fishing in California over the weekend into a conversation about, oh, fish? That's cool.
Starting point is 00:05:25 Water, right? Have you ever heard of the Marines? My dad, Larry, was a Marine. He also worked for the DIA, the CIA, the FBI. He knew the mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, the police commissioner, Bernie Kerik, and Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader. Oh, look, here's a picture of him in Gorbachev.
Starting point is 00:05:40 But oddly enough, the great Larry Ray was thrown in prison. Talia said it was because he was a truth-teller and he knew too much about 9-11, the tragedy, and former George W. Bush personally had it out for her father. They needed to discredit Larry by taking custody of his two daughters from him and turning him into a felon. When Larry gets out of prison, Talia asks her seven roommates on campus if they're alright with her dad staying with them for a few days. I mean, how can they say no? But a few days turns into Larry sleeping in Talia's
Starting point is 00:06:08 best friend's room, Isabella's room, cooking up steaks every night, holding his own little group therapy sessions on the living room floor, and Larry convinces most of Talia's friends that they were brought here together by fate. Not coincidence, fate. Because every single one of them had hidden repressed traumatic childhood memories of essay where they were essayed by their own family members. None of them knew it yet though because they've blocked it out of their brains for how painful the experience was. But that's why they've all contemplated self-exiting.
Starting point is 00:06:37 But that's okay because Larry studied brains and psychology during his time at the Department of Defense and he was gonna fix them all because they're Talia's friends. now side note I will say that he has a very interesting relationship with his daughter. I mean I think it's very strange later the cult move into a one-bedroom apartment and Larry sleeps in the bedroom on a singular king-size bed with his daughter and her best friend Isabella that he refers to as his wife. in part one we covered how Larry would brainwash the students and they would start blindly following his commands. Eventually he got them all to move into the one-bedroom apartment off campus and he starts running it like a
Starting point is 00:07:11 marine-style boot camp. He starts conditioning the girls to do very bizarre sexual things. He would force them to go to bars. He would force them to go to Home Depot or find strangers on the street to have intimate relations with while they record it all for Larry to watch. He would force them to have intimate relations with while they record it all for Larry to watch He would force them to have intimate relations with each other while he watched or sometimes he would join in or he would just offer Up the girls to his business partners just because so I'm gonna give you a quick rundown of who's still in the cult and where We are now we have Larry then we have Talia his daughter She's on and off physically in the cult sometimes
Starting point is 00:07:44 She's with the group other times She stays with her step-grandpa in North Carolina Which sometimes the whole cult would stay in North Carolina with the step-grandpa Gordon That's his name just wait North Carolina is gonna be a huge saga So now we have Larry Talia here and there Isabella is Larry's right-wing woman He refers to her as one of his wives She's Talia's best friend and out of everybody else, Isabella probably holds the most power in the group. Some of the group members would say that she was almost like an equal to Larry.
Starting point is 00:08:10 But I don't know if that's the best way to put it. Then there's Larry's other wife, Felicia Rosario. She was training to be a psychiatrist before she met Larry, but she's... She's gonna go through a lot in this episode. Her entire psyche, her mind basically breaks in half and it's documented through a series of videos. You've got Felicia's younger siblings, Yelizia, a Columbia student, Santos, Talia's ex-boyfriend from Sarah Lawrence, and Claudia, another friend of Talia's, and she's gonna be a
Starting point is 00:08:36 key person in all of this. Daniel has left the cult. Larry forced him to wear a dress and take pictures doing very degrading acts with intimate toys and he's left And now most of the kids have graduated or dropped out and they're still living with Larry because this cult lasts 10 years and Almost always Isabella and Felicia are gonna be with Larry at all times Claudia is kind of always close by now With that being said that's the recap. Let's get started It was kind of a joke that they said at parties Well, it was partly a joke partly a way to cope because it's such a bizarre situation. Oh, yeah our friends
Starting point is 00:09:13 They joined a cult What I went to the apartment once where the they ran the cult and it was I mean, I've never seen anything like that before I didn't realize at the time before I got there But all my friends were living in that apartment with him, the cult leader. I mean, they're piled into this tiny little cluttered apartment with this guy, this 50-year-old bald man named Larry. It was weird. Everyone at the dinner table is fascinated, intrigued,
Starting point is 00:09:40 but also not really taking it that seriously, because I mean, the whole thing sounds like a fever dream. What do you mean your former roommates from a private school college that cost $80,000 a year joined a cult run by their friend's dad? Who is saying this though? Gabe, Max, Juliana, and Raven, the ex-roommates that did not join the cult. Oh, the four people who went away, yes. But they're gonna help save them. They're gonna be a pivotal part of taking down Larry Ray soon.
Starting point is 00:10:09 There was this woman? Well, I mean, part of her looked like a girl. She looked like she was in her 20s, but her mannerisms were almost that of a child. She looks like she's been lost in the woods for the past three weeks. She's clearly not in good condition. Her curly hair is so tangled and unkept that it's basically one giant knot on top of her head. Her lips are cracked, likely from severe dehydration.
Starting point is 00:10:34 The hunger at this point is probably gone. Her stomach probably feels numb, like a dull ache. She's been surviving off of a few figs a day from the fig tree that she found. Her eyes are unfocused. She's just walking around, cutting up the bottom of a day from the fig tree that she found. Her eyes are unfocused, she's just walking around cutting up the bottom of her feet from the tree branches. Sometimes she would walk in circles, other times she would stand there staring up at the sun squinting her eyes humming singing hey hey hey
Starting point is 00:10:58 what you got to say hey hey hey I you, Larry. I wanna get married. Passerbys would just shake their heads and start picking up their pace to walk faster. There goes the neighbor again. The woman was not lost in the woods. She's just roaming around the property of a suburban home in a suburban neighborhood, waiting for her husband, Larry,
Starting point is 00:11:23 to let her back into the house. She's sleeping on the sticky porch, trying to cover her ears so the North Carolina bugs don't crawl in, slapping mosquitoes off her legs. All the while, her love, Larry Ray, is inside the house, watching from the comfortable air-conditioned bedroom next to his other, quote, wife. Watching her suffer. It had been five days since Felicia had been thrown out. Larry is standing there inside the little house in North Carolina. And Felicia is standing there screaming for help. She's in distress.
Starting point is 00:11:53 Her body language is that of someone who's about to have a panic attack. But her husband Larry is just standing there watching her while another woman is recording all of this. Is she inside or outside the house? Inside now. Felicia tries to reach out to him to ask for help but he takes her and slams her down onto the ground, puts his whole body weight on her like some professional wrestler. He's holding her flat down on the cold hardwood
Starting point is 00:12:15 floor to hold her in place. He's gripping the back of her neck while she's crying on the floor. Please don't leave me Larry, please don't leave me." The camera cuts. But if she kept it up though, it's likely Larry would have enacted one of his favorite methods to torture his so-called wife. You're acting like a literal child. Fine, you want to be like this? Larry then turns to his other wife, Isabella. Go to the drugstore. You know what to buy. Fifteen minutes later, she'd come back with this little plastic bag. Larry rips it open. 15 minutes later, she'd come back with this little plastic bag. Larry rips it open. Isabella, go change Felicia into these diapers since she wants to act like a child.
Starting point is 00:12:50 Ten years ago, this woman, Felicia Rosario, would have gone on to become a Harvard and Columbia graduated psychiatrist. She was on track. But now, she's forced to sit on the sofa in nothing but a diaper, sucking a pacifier and Larry would tell her if you let it fall out of your mouth very bad things are gonna happen he would force her to sit there watching kids shows if she tried to get up he would zip tie her ankles and wrists and she would be stuck there until her mind went completely numb before Isabella and Felicia, there was Martha.
Starting point is 00:13:25 19 year old Martha's wedding day was coming up and her mother-in-law Ingrid has her running an errand that she just does not have time for. Go bring these to Carl's dad, your future father-in-law. Martha looks down at the little home baked cupcakes. Carl's parents are divorced and not on good terms, so why would Ingrid care to bake fresh cupcakes for her ex-husband on the day of their son's wedding?
Starting point is 00:13:47 Hurry before it's too late, he's going to eat a few before the wedding. I'm sorry Ingrid, I don't think I understand. What are you not getting Martha? The cupcakes are going to give him diarrhea. I put X-Lax in them so he's going to get sick and miss the wedding. I thought you'd be glad, one less person to worry about. That would be the first taste of what Martha's life was gonna be like married to Carl.
Starting point is 00:14:09 After the wedding, Martha becomes Ingrid's personal assistant, housekeeper, daughter-in-law, punching bag. Every single morning, she would wake up and her long list of to-dos would just keep getting longer. Clean the panels of the walls, clean crevices of furniture legs with Q-tips, skip lunch, only drink coffee and smoke cigarettes. The last item was the walls. Clean crevices of furniture legs with q-tips. Skip lunch, only drink coffee and smoke cigarettes. The last item was the hardest. Martha did not like
Starting point is 00:14:30 the way that the coffee and the cigarettes made her so anxious on an empty stomach. She's developing insomnia. She can barely keep her eyes shut at night while Carl next to her snoring away. The man has never seen or felt what it's like cleaning between the couch cushions with a q-tip before Martha tries to politely bring it up to Ingrid. Please Ingrid my heart is racing. I feel like I'm dying I think I need to go to the hospital With what money, huh? Ingrid would snatch the cigarette from her hand and shove a q-tip in it. Get back to cleaning Martha's stomach would be grumbling the entire time She's bent over trying to clean every little crevice of the sofa with a q-tip. I mean she doesn't know what's
Starting point is 00:15:06 worse, being starved by her mother-in-law or being forced to eat something her mother-in-law cooked. Probably the latter. There was one time Martha was doing dishes and she overheard this conversation between Ingrid, her mother-in-law, and her mother-in-law's friend named Nora. Ingrid was complaining about how she needs to do repairs around the house, but the contractors out these days, they want to get paid for stepping foot into the house. They're so expensive. Nora interrupts Ingrid.
Starting point is 00:15:31 Oh, well, my husband Jesse is really good around the house and he can help you out. He's a carpenter. A few days later, Jesse the carpenter shows up and he starts messing with the pipes. When Ingrid walks over, her eyes are trained on Jesse like she's going hunting. Martha's kinda nervous for this guy.
Starting point is 00:15:48 He always thinks he's looking good, doesn't he? What? I don't think he thinks, I mean, I guess, right? Maybe he's just confident. You know the hair on his head? Transplants. If you ask me, I think he's cheating on Nora, my dear friend, but it's fine.
Starting point is 00:16:03 He's gonna get real big soon. I put something in his food, blow him up real good, increase his appetite. No one's gonna want to sleep with him after that. Wait, she wants to poison her friend's husband? Yeah, so that he can't cheat on her friend. Okay. She winks at Martha and just walks off. That night, Martha would try to whisper to Carl that his mom is madam poison, okay, but he's
Starting point is 00:16:25 not having it. He would shout at her. Absolutely not. If my mother is putting anything into her food, it's love. She's a great cook and you're just jealous. This is not what Martha planned for married life. A poisonous mother-in-law, a mommy's boy husband, but now she feels like she dug her grave and she needs to lay in it. The one thing that she remembered to do though was later when she had kids, anytime they went over to grandma she would sit them down. Grandma is nice, you can love grandma, but you can never eat anything from grandma's house, are we clear? Even her kids are looking at her like, are you okay?
Starting point is 00:16:59 What is wrong with you? Nobody believed Martha, Nobody took her side. Except her brother-in-law, Lawrence Ray. Larry Ray. Larry was a good guy. Do you know why they say never to ask the mafia for a favor? Because now you owe them. And they're gonna call you to return the favor. Whenever they want. That's how Carl describes his brother Larry. Doesn't matter if you're his brother or a family member.
Starting point is 00:17:24 If he feels like he did something for you, he's gonna want twice back in return. You owe him plus interest. Which is why Carl never asks for a favor. And precisely the reason that Carl finds it even more insulting when he walks into his bedroom, Carl's bedroom, and he stumbles on a pair of bright neon speedo-esque
Starting point is 00:17:43 underwear. It is so neon that it's practically glowing in the dark and there is only one person in the whole world that Carl knows that wears underwear like this. Larry Ray. Larry Ray. He picks it up with the tippy top of his two fingers and he sees on it, on Larry's underwear, coral lipstick.
Starting point is 00:18:02 Martha loves coral lipstick. What. Which means either Larry is having an affair with Carl's wife or Larry knows that Carl is having an affair with Larry's wife and he's just returning the favor like the mob does. Yeah they're both having an affair with each other's partners. Okay. Larry's family history... Wait, I didn't know Larry has a wife? Larry had a wife. Oh, had a wife. Oh, right, right, right, right, right. Otherwise, got it.
Starting point is 00:18:34 So Larry's family history is very complicated. He married Teresa when he's at the pinnacle of his success. I mean, the height of his career. His best friend is the New York City police commissioner. He's got the mayor of New York City on speed dial and when Gorbachev the Soviet leader comes to town Larry's helping him arrange security detail and giving him tours around town his whole life is put together Larry is what you call a man of time management He's juggling world-class leaders high-profile businessmen his wife
Starting point is 00:18:59 There are two daughters the eldest Talia and then their youngest daughter who was born 11 years later She's not really part of the story, so we're just gonna write. He's juggling work, his whole family of four, as well as a long-term serious girlfriend, and all of Larry's business partners know that Larry has another woman on the side. And it's not even Martha. It's a different girlfriend. I mean, a lot of the business partners had a girlfriend on the side, but nobody was as obvious about it as Larry was. They'd be having a normal business dinner when the door would open, in walks this young beautiful girl, and she would plop down next to Larry, and Larry, this fully married man,
Starting point is 00:19:36 father of two children, would introduce her to everyone. Well, this is my girlfriend. If anybody wants to fuck her, just let me know. Just let me know. She does whatever I tell her to do. It's said that many of the guys would actually take Larry up on his offer. And the long-term girlfriend decides, I can't really do this anymore.
Starting point is 00:19:54 I'm not some sort of object that you can just give to someone whenever you feel like it. On top of that, you're married and I just can't stop thinking about, I don't know, it's just messed up to Teresa. She tries to leave amicably. I mean, Larry's gonna understand, right? It's not like she's leaving him alone.
Starting point is 00:20:10 He's got a whole family to go back to, but he's just staring at her. Yeah, okay, if that's what you want. She walks out, and in response, Larry then proceeds to send every single explicit photo and video of her doing intimate things with not just Larry, but all of his business partners, sends every single explicit photo and video of her doing intimate things with not just Larry but all of his business partners sends every single piece of graphic footage straight to her parents just video after picture after video after picture of some of the most graphic sexual encounters the Gambino crime family was at its height
Starting point is 00:20:42 one of the most powerful American mafia families. Annually they're bringing in at least half a billion dollars in income. They pretty much had their fingers in every little pot in New York City. They were forcing businesses to pay them a cut of their profits for security services, racketeering, aka pay me to not kill you and I will protect you from me. They dabbled heavily in extorting labor unions, illegal gambling, construction bribes, loan sharking. They, interestingly enough, would hijack massive cargo shipments to the port of New York and steal all of the goods on it to sell on the
Starting point is 00:21:14 black market. They were really diversified, but one of the easier ways for them to make money was through pump and dumps. A pump and dump scheme. Here's how it works. First, you find a small struggling company with a low stock price. The Gambino family, they've got the funds. So they start buying up the shares at the low price of let's say a dollar. At first, they'll start off slow so that nobody notices. But then they'll buy them all up and once they have controlling interests of this company, they start spreading rumors. You know, my uncle made 15k in three days off that stock. Look, you didn't hear it from me, but that company, they're going to be doing the next big thing.
Starting point is 00:21:50 They're going to be doing the next big thing. They're in talks to sign a contract with the Department of Defense, a military contract. You know what that means, right? Money. Profits. People start talking about the stock, and then there's this crushing feeling of, well, if I don't buy the stock, I I'm gonna miss out on getting rich like everybody else. Random people start buying up shares because it makes sense. They heard information about the company's future, the share prices are steadily going up. This is good.
Starting point is 00:22:13 Sometimes if the Gambino family want to take it all the way, they'll even pay off financial stock bloggers, reporters, anyone who can help bump up the share price. Let's say the family goes in at a dollar per share. Now with the hype, the news, the attention, everyone else is scrambling to buy into the next big tech unicorn. Each share is now worth $15. That's when the Gambino family will mass sell all of their shares, dumping everything, walking away with tens of millions of dollars in profits. Because at the end of the day, it's all manufactured hype about the company. None of it is true.
Starting point is 00:22:46 Larry's best friend, Bernie Carrick, the New York City Police Commissioner, he wanted to put an end to the Gambino crime family's reign of terror. And conveniently, his best friend Larry Ray knows a few people on the inside. He knows everyone. Yeah, allegedly a few higher-ups of the Gambino family were in attendance for Larry and Teresa's wedding, which means, you know, Larry, I thought you didn't meet my good friend Gary Ewer. He's investigating Ari Garofola's pump-and-dump schemes from the Gambino family. Oh yeah, I heard about that. You have? FBI agent Gary officially brings Larry in as a confidential informant for the FBI to get inside information on the Gambino crime family.
Starting point is 00:23:29 The two's, they start meeting three, four times a week where with their little coffees in their hands, Larry would go on and rant about what's been going on inside the crime family. I'm telling you, Gary, I'm risking a lot to be out here right now to help the good guys. I get nothing out of this. You know that, don't you? Wait, so this is actually FBI or? Actually FBI. He was an FBI agent. He actually turned into, well, he wasn't a president then. Donald Trump's bodyguard at one point, Gary. Why did he decide to work with them, Larry? If he knows he has, he's friends with these, you know? You'll see.
Starting point is 00:24:04 Oh, okay. knows he has his friends with these you know you'll see okay yeah the FBI agents like yeah we appreciate it we know it larry well i'm scared because now the gambino family they're gonna put a hit on on me i think they know gary would request security back up in larry's house they equipped larry's place with a whole new surveillance system that costs ten thousand dollars courtesy of taxpayer money three to four times a week, 52 weeks of the year for multiple years in a row, Larry would meet up with Gary in his little unmarked car and start rambling on and on about the happenings of the mob world that week until Gary starts getting a little... I don't know, his senses were going off. It felt weird. Larry never
Starting point is 00:24:41 told them any information that could put anyone behind bars or could prevent something from happening. Most of his information about the Gambino crime family, it was after they took a profit. Which is also now that Gary's thinking about it, they should run a check on Larry's finances. Where is he working? I mean the man never works. He's out here hanging out with the FBI and the mafia. How is that lucrative? Gary slowly, after years, realizes that Larry is not an informant for the FBI. He's an informant for the mob. The FBI is his mark. He's pretending to work with the FBI to bring back information on what the FBI knows to the Gambino crime family.
Starting point is 00:25:19 He's playing both sides. He's making money off the pump and dump. Is he crazy? He's making money off the pump and dump. Is he crazy? He's crazy. In 2000, Larry is charged with 19 other people with securities fraud, the pump and dump that stole $40 million from investors. But it's fine. Because Larry's best friend is the police commissioner of New York City. It's going to be okay. He asks Carrick to Bernie to put in a good word for him at the U.S. Attorney's office. And Carrick, his best friend, the best man at the wedding, who's always signed off on every single email, love
Starting point is 00:25:49 you, responds, I would do anything for you. In the event that I am called to testify, I must tell you, my recollection of the events is not consistent with what you remember. This would have a severely negative impact on your credibility. I'm sure you understand. This time he did not sign off love you at the end of his email and Larry's life was now in freefall. In 2000 he gets arrested for the pump-and-dump scheme. In 2004 his wife
Starting point is 00:26:13 Teresa files for divorce and custody stating that Larry was abusive. 2005 Larry files for bankruptcy. 2005 he loses custody of his daughters. 2007 he's arrested for kidnapping his daughter Talia. And the one person that he blames for all of this is not himself. He blames Bernie Kerrick, that so-called scum of a best friend, police commissioner of New York City. And Larry is someone who knows how to hold a grudge. Meet our summer collection of grillable faves that come on sticks, in spirals with bite-size bursts of flavor and more.
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Starting point is 00:27:51 He traps her in her own apartment, holds her hostage, pins her down and starts strangling her. Larry's technically out on probation for the pump and dump and for the custody thing, so this is a clear violation of that. And the US Marshals office, they put a warrant out for his arrest. They come to collect him. And he is ducking his head side to side. He's playing this weird game of dodgeball.
Starting point is 00:28:12 And both of his hands are gripping his daughter Talia and whipping her in front of the Marshals officer's faces. This man is using his daughter as a human shield. What do you mean? He's like, don't arrest me. And just using Talia as a human shield. What do you mean? He's like, don't arrest me. And just using Talia as a human shield. Oh, actually. Actually as a human shield. Some of the marshals have children of their own.
Starting point is 00:28:32 And let's just say they were not delicate when it came to grabbing Larry out from behind his daughter. They broke his wrist in the process. Talia is standing there ready to take a bullet for her dad, but she doesn't even know why he's being arrested. She still thinks it's all because of Bernie Carrick and because her dad knows too much about 9-11. When Larry gets out of prison, he joins his daughter at Sarah Lawrence, starts secretly
Starting point is 00:28:53 living in the dorms and brainwashing her friends. By this point in the story, everyone has graduated or dropped out and Larry has a few members that he's super focused on. Isabella, Felicia, and Claudia. Even his daughter Talia is out of the picture, most of the time. They bounce from New York City to Larry's stepdad's house in North Carolina, and there is a very strange house in North Carolina. All the neighbors avoid it. There were rumors that the police had to bring out canine dogs to snip around once, specifically cadaver dogs.
Starting point is 00:29:25 That's the one that searches for just one thing. Death. They thought the house was just weird. I mean, it has craters all over it. It looks like Mars, the surface of Mars. Just massive holes all over the property lawn. Some of them are so deep, if you were to fill them with water, they would be deeper than a residential swimming pool.
Starting point is 00:29:43 Others were so big that you could do laps in them just holes dotting all over the property If you had a satellite image, it would make you itchy This is where Larry starts forcing everyone in his cult to start doing heavy construction work For no reason other than he wants to this is very interesting He would spend money renting out massive bulldozers commercial grade equipment tractors Then he would force the members typically Isabella Claudia Felicia Yelitsia and Santos Talia would be there But she's just mainly observing he would force the members who know absolutely Nothing about construction work to dig literal moats on the suburban property for the reason that I don't know
Starting point is 00:30:21 It's not helping the property value. They're not doing it correctly, it's just leaving crater-sized holes everywhere. The group's time in North Carolina can only be described as a very creative, twisted kind of hell on earth. If someone were to be high on drugs and figure out a way to torture people that is cruel and unusual, this would be that. There's full industrial-grade construction equipment equipment full-scale bulldozers tractors They had to dig trenches tear up the lawn lay down sod with professional equipment that they have no knowledge and expertise on how To use safely their mission was to install a new drainage system in the yard But in order to do that they have to accomplish a few things first one cut down a massive
Starting point is 00:31:02 25 foot tall tree in the yard in the dark. for some reason, larry would have them work through the night so less neighbors would see what they're up to. they're in the pitch black outside screaming move! run! because the giant tree is coming down. all they have is a singular flashlight. the trunk is probably so thick that you can't even wrap your arms around it when you hug it, but they're trying to cut it down in the pitch darkness in the middle of the night. If someone estimated incorrectly or if someone lost their balance, that tree was going to crush someone to death.
Starting point is 00:31:33 In the back, there were just these mounds of mud and dirt because they had to dig this trench that goes all the way through the property to let the rainfall funnel off the property. Because the summer's in North Carolina, Carolina it rains it pours there's thunderstorms but it doesn't matter to Larry they better be out there working if they don't have the equipment Larry would make them get on all fours in the thick mud and just dig even while it's pouring rain even if they're doubling their body weight just by the heavy sticky mud that's clinging to them 12 to 14 hour days 7 days a week when they're done for the day they'd be drenched in sweat, mud, cuts all over their faces and legs, mosquito bites
Starting point is 00:32:09 everywhere. They would walk into the house. They're not allowed to sleep, eat, unless Larry okays it. Claudia lost 40 pounds in the first few weeks there. Every single day Larry would go out there, see the state of the yard, and he would scream at them. He would lose his freaking marbles that they're ruining the property on purpose because they want to kill Larry's stepdad. They want to give him a heart attack and you want him to die. But what's the instruction? Just dig holes?
Starting point is 00:32:34 That's it? Yes. The end? He wants to tap into the city's well. Somehow. I don't know if there was even a well there to be tapped into. What? They're just digging holes.
Starting point is 00:32:47 It was just the New York City apartment torture, but on steroids. He would have them doing manual labor nonstop. In part one, we went over how Larry would send the girls off to bars or any other public space to force them to find people to be intimate with. He starts getting more unhinged in North Carolina. He would bring in Felicia into the car, drive on the highway, and stop at the most isolated, creepy rest stop there is. Get out.
Starting point is 00:33:13 What? Get out and don't come back until you find someone that's willing to have intimate relations with you and you better record it. If Felicia didn't listen, she'd be punched in the face, slapped, pulled by her hair, punched in the stomach, and choked. A lot of people have a hard time understanding why these academically gifted, intelligent students would even give Larry the time of day. And of course, a lot of it started with Larry being able to very quickly identify someone's wants. Whatever it was, he would offer it up on a silver platter for these people. And that's how he pulls them in but he gets them to stay first through the blackmail
Starting point is 00:33:48 videos videos of them having intimate relations with strangers with each other with Larry videos of them confessing to all sorts of bizarre crimes property damage to poisoning Larry that becomes a big thing this episode but as for how Larry brainwashes them all of it comes down to Adderall. Adderall, the ADHD medication, controlled substance, stimulant. Larry would force the members to stay awake for days at a time, force-feeding them crushed-up Adderall pills, and by hour 48, they're believing whatever Larry's telling them. So like sleep deprivation? Through Adderall.
Starting point is 00:34:26 Their brain has no defense mechanism because of how exhausted they are. They have no time to rest. They have no time to regulate their hormones. Nothing. And not hormones as in like women are so hormonal. Literally that's when your hormones regulate is in your sleep. Larry himself took over a hundred milligrams of Adderall a day. To give you some context, the normal range for an adult man is around 20 milligrams per day. He would take about a hundred. A hundred to a hundred and twenty every single day. One Redditor who takes a lot
Starting point is 00:34:53 of Adderall, about a hundred twenty milligrams, repeatedly said, shit was bad. I gave myself psychosis from that. I was tweaking so hard, if that's the right terminology. I felt like I was on crack. Not that I know what crack feels like, but if you haven't done crack, you know what I mean. And he's doing that every day? Every day. And he's not losing his mind? I mean, I guess some would argue he's lost his mind, but not to the point where he's
Starting point is 00:35:17 not aware of what he's doing to these people. Right, right, right. But he's still like, surviving and doing all these things to others. Yes. And with any drug, especially stimulants like Adderall, what goes up comes down. One Redditor said, when you crash from Adderall like that, it was rough. I was depressed on the way down. I had to call people to comfort me because my dark thoughts were getting to me. I had to distract myself in any way that I could. There's a video of Felicia where she tells Larry upfront,
Starting point is 00:35:45 I wanna go to bed. But he keeps telling her to sit. He will not let her lay down and sleep. I just wanna go to bed. He walks over to her, grabs her, and slams her down on the ground. And Felicia is screaming, stop it, get off of me. I need to restrain you.
Starting point is 00:36:00 Please just get off of me, I wanna go to bed. You're gonna hurt yourself or someone else. No,'s not. Yeah that's what Larry says after he slams her onto the ground. Yeah. Sometimes the members would just beg Larry to just let them lay down for an hour. I mean they can't stay awake they're losing their minds and Larry would argue no I need you to stay awake for a long period of time because when you're really exhausted that's when you have the raw nerves. It's gonna help me help you advance your emotions. They're raw. Your brain is more open to creating new neural pathways when you're tired.
Starting point is 00:36:33 The Adderall contributed to the members starting to lose their minds. When you are a judge in New York City, it's safe to assume that you've seen a lot that there is to see. People suing each other for the most frivolous, insane things, witnesses confessing to felonies on the stand for no reason at all. Claudia is sitting in front of a New York City judge, glancing around the courtroom, and she clears her throat.
Starting point is 00:36:56 She begins her story. When I was nine years old, I knew that my entire destiny had already been written for me. The first time I heard his name mentioned, I was nine, maybe even on the younger side. Claudia looks at the judge and tells them that her family has hated Larry Ray for the past three generations. It trails all the way back to her grandfather. Even as a child she heard her grandfather talking about Larry. Larry this, Larry's making trouble, Larry's
Starting point is 00:37:21 gone off to do that. Once Claudia was old enough, her parents told her in a very serious conversation, maybe too serious for someone her age, that she would grow up and go to Sarah Lawrence College in New York because she needed to kill Larry Ray and Talia Ray. Her family needed her to do this. It was the only way Bernie Carrick, the New York City former police commissioner, was going to send them money. Each week it was a different mission. Once it was trying to poison Larry with cyanide, then it was arsenic, then mercury, silver,
Starting point is 00:37:48 lead, they were just trying to do everything. Claudia's mom would encourage her, Bernie, Carrick is really happy with your performance Claudia, keep it up. At the time, Claudia was just doing what her parents told her to do, but she told the judge. That's before she got to know Larry. Then she realized what a kind soul Larry is, and for her to do this to him was so heinous, and she just wants him to finally find peace and happiness, and she wants to come clean. The judge is speechless. Uh, we call to the stand
Starting point is 00:38:19 witness Yelizia Rosario. Yelizia takes Claudia's place on the stand. I'm here because my parents are drug dealers and money launderers who pimped Felicia, my older sister, out when she was a child. My parents have been plotting for us to kill Larry since we were young. I would mix poison into Larry's coffee and if that didn't work, I went to heroin, fungicide, LSD. At one point, I smeared fecal matter onto his bandages because I was hoping he would get an infection and get sepsis from it. My parents promised to pay me a million dollars if I could kill Larry Ray.
Starting point is 00:38:52 She would turn to the judge, but just like Claudia, I started to get to know the man and he is just the most loving father figure guardian of the youth man that I have ever met. I mean just the nicest most compassionate person ever. Which is why the girl states to the judge that after years of trying to murder Larry Ray, youth man that I have ever met. I mean, just the nicest, most compassionate person ever. Which is why the girls state to the judge that after years of trying to murder Larry Ray, they don't wanna do this anymore. They don't wanna kill him. They wanna take care of him.
Starting point is 00:39:13 Larry's staring at them in the courtroom with just tears pooling in his eyes and the judge's eyeballs are nearly popping out of their eye sockets. Ma'am, you're testifying against an eviction notice. This is all happening during eviction court. They're in court, civil court, for an eviction notice. And they're testifying that for three generations,
Starting point is 00:39:37 their families have been trying to murder Larry Ray. What you're talking about the one bedroom that they're getting kicked out? Yes. And when was this? This is not year 10. 2017. And when was this like year like this is not your 10 2017 It was close to year 10. It was near the end. They were in that one bedroom for like five years Six years, so they're getting kicked out. Yes
Starting point is 00:39:58 Getting sued like the landlord was like get these people out of here So they went to court and these girls are just talking about no we try to kill him and now I love him. The judge is expecting them to provide evidence of payment of rent or some sort of ownership over the property to prove that they have the right to stay in this apartment in New York City. The girls go up there because they are listed as witnesses and instead of proving hey this is what we did to the place this is how we fixed it up this is the money that we paid they are confessing to trying to poison and murder Larry Ray and what what will happen next the judge does nothing they get evicted the judge is like no this is not my not my not my job this is above my pay grade you guys are getting evicted most people who get out of prison,
Starting point is 00:40:45 they cherish every single second that they get once they're free. I mean, it makes them reevaluate how they spend their time. Lee Chen, the Asian man with the ponytail from episode one, is standing in his one bedroom apartment in Manhattan, staring at the group of college kids, eating pizza around the dining table, confused about what the hell is going on.
Starting point is 00:41:04 He brings Larry to the side. Lee Chen met Larry in prison, which we're not off to a great start, right? But they became buddy-buddy and naturally when they got out, Larry told him he was going to be staying in his daughter's dorm room and now that it's summer break, they got to move off campus. So Lee Chen is a prison buddy. Mm-hmm. And he got out earlier. Yes. And when Larry got out of the prison, he caught up buddy Li Chen.
Starting point is 00:41:30 Yes. And buddy Li Chen drove him to his daughter's apartment. Dorm room. Dorm room. Mm-hmm. For a while and then. Summer break. Summer break and he's like, let me move into your one bedroom apartment.
Starting point is 00:41:42 For a week or two. And Li Chen's in there too? yes okay but it's been a week and there is no indication that Larry has been looking for a temporary space to live instead all these college kids are here sleeping in the living room every day
Starting point is 00:41:58 doing push-ups every single morning and it's fucking weird hey don't you feel like you're wasting your precious time right now? you should be out there living we got out of prison Lee's saying that? and it's fucking weird. Hey, don't you feel like you're wasting your precious time right now? You should be out there living. We got out of prison. Lee is saying that? Yeah, to Larry.
Starting point is 00:42:10 And with a very serious expression, Larry looks at him. Lee, you and I can only do so much. Right now, I'm building an army. Your Honor, he was building an army of squatters. Li Chen has been trying for the past five years to kick Larry out of his apartment, but he has refused to leave. So for five years, Li Chen would have to pay his mortgage, and Larry would rack up over $7,000 a year in electricity bills, and he would not vacate. He changed the locks, refused to let Li Chen back in. Li Chen thought it'd be two weeks. It's been five years. Five years. And they tore up the place. Li said, when I walked into my apartment
Starting point is 00:42:49 Larry had completely changed the appearance. He took down walls, painted the foyer pink, and left electrical wires just hanging in the breeze. It was the most incredible thing I'd seen. Larry never paid me any rent. It's difficult for me to convey to you his coercive abilities unless you've experienced it yourself He has this unusual mannerism. He has this habit of not only changing the subject but talking you to death For example, I told him look you've got to get out of my bedroom You've got to get these kids out of my home But then he would change the subject and start talking to me about how my father and how my father treated me when I was young
Starting point is 00:43:24 And then it would go on for hours and hours and every time I even frowned in his presence he would start berating me that I was infecting people with my negative mood and that I was sabotaging his work. That's what they were in court for when Claudia, Isabella, and Felicia start talking about the great poisoning. A conspiracy to poison and kill Larry Ray that went beyond the college students. It went as deep as their own parents, as deep as their own grandparents. Their families had set them up for this.
Starting point is 00:43:52 And who set up their parents? Bernie Carrick, the former New York City Police Commissioner. Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and associate of Donald Trump. The former president during the time of 9-11, George W. Bush and his VP, Dick Cheney. These are the people that want Larry dead. And they're using college kids to do it. I mean, how do you pay back attempted murder? A what?
Starting point is 00:44:16 How do you pay someone back for trying to murder them? I mean, if you break someone's oven or you scratch someone's pan, you find out the price on Williams and Oma, all clad, set, stainless steel, tri-ply, $1,800, right? But what about attempted murder? There's no price for life. Larry said money. That's the starting point. A whole lot of fucking money.
Starting point is 00:44:37 Larry convinces Claudia to start sex work because that's the only way she can afford to pay him back quickly for emotional distress and fake medical bills. Wait, was Claudia the person that we talked about from the first episode? The website? Yes. It was Claudia. Claudia. And Claudia is one of the original roommates? Yes. Okay.
Starting point is 00:44:58 Wow. She's actually the one that called Larry a weird bald man with her friend Raven, and then she believed she had schizophrenia. Larry made her believe she had schizophrenia. Claudia had been accepted into Colombia for a PhD program but Larry forces her to drop that and start making advertisement on sex work websites. Fix the language here. Use better keywords and phrases. What are you doing? You have to mention the handcuffs and the crops and the leash and collar. Do you even think? And what the hell is this picture? It's just a white tank top. It looks trashy. It's horrible. Change it. This is why you're throwing yourself in with the cheap girls. Your prices need to be higher and you need to look into breast augmentations. They're not good.
Starting point is 00:45:36 Larry would tell Claudia specific acts that she would need to do in order to keep men coming back for more and then she could raise the prices on them. He made her fixated on losing weight and her exercise. The more weight she lost, the more unhappy about the way that she looked. Larry was calling her oompa loompa that she could get so much more for her services if she just lost weight. Geez, how hard is that? Claudia's first client ever as a sex worker is about to arrive. She obviously is nervous, but this is what she needs to do for Larry. She swings open the hotel door and her whole body tenses. I'm sorry do I know
Starting point is 00:46:10 you? She knows this guy. This guy would come into this sex club that Claudia was forced to work at to make money for Larry. A BDSM club where the workers would engage with customers and have consensual parties. This man was a regular. He had been known as one of the creeps. He would never participate. He would just watch on the side, which is fine. But just his whole energy. Every time he came in, all the girls would alert security because even just his presence was off-putting. Claudia's standing at the door of the hotel room. She knows this man and she knows that this man knows her from the club. But he pushes into the tight hotel room. Nope, never seen you before. Eventually, the two have intimate relations
Starting point is 00:46:49 and he's holding her, pressing her down so forcefully that she cannot move, and he keeps asking her, demanding her, tell me, tell me you love me. Claudia can't move and she doesn't want to say it because I mean, it's weird if she says it, is he gonna freak out and stalk her? I don't know she decides to just be honest I'm sorry I don't I can't say that because I don't I don't even know you
Starting point is 00:47:12 but he keeps repeating over and over tell me tell me you love me tell me this was Claudia's first experience with sex work she got paid $700 for her first session it was traumatic but $700 is a lot of money. Claudia had this whole plan. She was gonna keep $500 to help pay for her bills and other life necessities and then even just funnel back into work, right? She's gonna need to spend money on hotel rooms every day to meet more clients. She would need to purchase outfits to wear, body care, and maintenance costs. Her plan is to keep $500,
Starting point is 00:47:44 reinvest into the business, and give the remaining $200 to Larry. So it's gonna take a while to pay him, but at least she's making progress. I mean, this is a sign that she can do it. She can pay him back for trying to kill him. She shows up and hands $200 over. How much was the session?
Starting point is 00:47:59 700, wasn't it? Yeah. He blows up in her face. How can you dare even think about keeping any money at all after you poisoned me and my entire fucking family? He holds her down and forcibly takes the rest of the $700 from her. He would keep every single penny that she would make from each client and that would be the pattern for the next few years. Claudia would keep almost nothing of the money she made from sex work. In fact, over the course of two years, she made Larry over $2.5 million.
Starting point is 00:48:28 And she kept none of it. One thing she would say about her time as a sex worker was, at least with the clients, I knew that if I asked them to stop, they would stop. I did not think that Larry would stop if I asked. Claudia's life starts rapidly deteriorating so Claudia is no longer living with Larry. She's living in hotel rooms non-stop paying him for all this sex work. Felicia is regressing into a child being forced into diapers just being smacked around all day. Isabella is physically and sexually being abused and
Starting point is 00:49:00 mentally and emotionally but on surface level it doesn't seem as bad because she is the favored one Now Claudia's life starts rapidly deteriorating every single day. She has to deal with multiple clients that They're never really great positive experiences One client choked her from behind and kept telling her that he had a gun and she needed to hand over all the money she had. He proceeded to rob her after engaging in intimate relations. Another client she had to see him often just because he paid her well and Larry was becoming increasingly more demanding about money. Claudia said it was
Starting point is 00:49:37 the worst. Each time he would come in super high on drugs, all he wanted to do is watch explicit videos and force her to perform orally on her knees for 6 hours. 6 hours. It got to the point where she would have to beg him and negotiate with him to even be able to use the restroom. She absolutely hated seeing him, but she had to. Another client was always smoking crack during their sessions, but the most traumatic incident,
Starting point is 00:50:01 the one that likely was a big scar for Claudia, she walked into a hotel room to meet with a client and there was a one-year-old child on the bed. The man, the father, kept begging her to come into the bathroom so they can do a quickie. Claudia was terrified and disgusted. She starts walking away and he's just throwing more money at her. 700, 500, let's do 800, I'll pay you 900, it'll be quick, hurry! Claudia ran out of there. Claudia said,
Starting point is 00:50:25 I could feel the warmth fade from my heart. I was scared I would become the cruel, God-forsaken person Larry wanted me to be. I felt myself growing colder every day. With each lie I told, every time I was forced to prostitute myself, every moment with every client, I felt myself getting more and more numb. I believe Larry wanted to watch me break apart the pieces of myself and give them away Step by step growing closer to becoming whatever awful kind of human being he was he wanted to watch me give myself away completely I knew I was fragmenting. I knew my heart was breaking. I knew the light inside of me was growing dimmer every day I knew eventually I would get extinguished
Starting point is 00:51:02 Claudia just had this tiny little suitcase. That's it. That was her whole life. She just moved this suitcase around from hotel to hotel and she would meet with clients seven days a week. She had no connection with her friends, her family, not a single positive human interaction throughout the day. The only interaction she had were with clients and Larry and Isabella when they come to pick up the money. The physical violence had always been pretty bad. Felicia said there would be weeks that he would beat her face so hard that she would have to lay down with ice on her face in order for the bruises to start going down. But it was about to get a whole lot worse. Claudia's going through a range of
Starting point is 00:51:36 emotions, moving back and forth between the stages of trauma. I mean the only time she would feel a little bit better is on the off chance she would meet a client that was kind of nice. They would talk to her. They would buy her little presents. And sometimes they would talk to her about things that don't involve adult activities, just life. And when Claudia would find clients like that,
Starting point is 00:51:57 her spirits would lift a tiny little bit. She said it was the only positive social interaction in my life at the time. And by that point, she's got nobody else. And that's it, that's the highlight, her nice clients. But Larry has this way of sniffing out happiness and wanting to extinguish it. He would force her to betray her nice clients
Starting point is 00:52:17 when he found out that she had any. He would force Claudia, text him right now, tell them you're gonna call all their family members, their wives, their children, and put pictures of them online unless they send you money, blackmail them, threaten, tell them you're gonna call all their family members, their wives, their children, and put pictures of them online unless they send you money, blackmail them, threaten to expose what you're doing. The only people that were ever nice to Claudia, she would have to hurt them. Even they would find her disgusting and vile after her threats. It was just another reminder
Starting point is 00:52:38 for her that she cannot get close to anybody that she doesn't want to hurt. Not that she is getting close to anyone. I mean, none of our clients even knew her real name. Most of her backstory were just stories that she told lies. She had no real human connection. But there was one client that Claudia could not let go of. His name is Stuart and Larry is almost staring at Claudia, looking amused. What? Do you have feelings for him or something? Stuart? Claudia freezes because she knows that she wrote about it in her journal. She would journal, meaning Larry could have easily seen it. Did he read it? Did she mention it before? Was it that obvious? If she denies it right now, but he has proof, or he's read the journal, it's not gonna be good for her. Claudia staring at Larry, I mean, a little bit. Now why would you do that?
Starting point is 00:53:23 staring at Larry, I mean, a little bit. Now why would you do that? Larry's calm, very alarmingly calm, and then his mood starts morphing, shifting. It goes from eerily calm to annoyed to just full blown physical violence. Larry would start screaming at her, are you trying to hurt my family? Are you trying to hurt me, aren't you?
Starting point is 00:53:38 Take off your clothes. What? Larry would force Claudia to strip naked, and for the next seven hours, he ties her to a chair. I'm gonna waterboard you, is that what you want? Her hands are tied behind the chair backing, her legs are tied to the chair legs. She's completely nude. He starts suffocating her with a pillow, but it's taking too much time. He grabs the leash and collar that she has in the room. It's for the clients, if they want to explore.
Starting point is 00:54:01 And he puts it around her neck, starts choking her until the point that she passes out multiple times in the span of seven hours. But it's not humiliating or degrading enough for Larry. He drags Claudia up off the chair, throws her into the bathroom, and shoves her head in the toilet water. He grabs her and throws her back on the chair,
Starting point is 00:54:21 and he gets one of those drugstore plastic bags from Dwayne Reid and every time Claudia breathes, he would put the plastic bag over her head and the plastic bag would stick to her mouth and then get stuck and she can't get it out of her mouth, it starts sticking to her eyes and her nose He would only stop once she was close to passing out He would take it off of her and then do it again and again and again and the whole time he's taunting her. Don't be a faker you're such a liar the bag isn't even sealed you're being over dramatic you're such a fucking B-list actress is
Starting point is 00:54:50 that what you want to be huh? Claudia is in and out of consciousness for hours at this point and to make her snap out of it Larry pours cold water all over her and sticks her right in front of the hotel AC. She feels like her whole body is vibrating, shaking, trembling. She feels like her whole body is vibrating, shaking, trembling. She can feel herself about to pass out again and he's just on the side watching with Isabella. Oh, stop it Claudia, you're such a little faker.
Starting point is 00:55:13 The water isn't even cold, it's room temperature. Claudia said, I was suffering, I was suffocating, I was terrified, I was trembling, like I couldn't breathe, but you want to, you wanna breathe a lot and it just makes it so much worse It was terrifying After eight hours of torture where Larry and Isabella took a break in the middle to eat burgers and fries from a diner nearby Larry and Isabella would just walk out of the hotel room as if nothing had happened
Starting point is 00:55:36 Claudia would be left shivering on the floor Traumatized and even then she did not turn in Larry because he had all those videos of her he had And even then she did not turn in Larry because he had all those videos of her he had confessional videos where she confesses to felonies where she's having intimate relations with married men she's just quietly sobbing cleaning up the hotel room and She knew she needed to get to sleep because the next day should be back to work She would have to see three to seven clients every single day for two years. Claudia would later say, I was so scared the only way I could even feel a measure of safety was having money in my hand.
Starting point is 00:56:12 Because if she has money, if she has something Larry wants, then he'd keep her alive, right? The day after torturing Claudia, Larry took Isabella shopping and they spent almost $1,000. Larry and Isabella and Talia, the daughter, would actually spend quite a bit of money during the time Claudia was forced to engage in sex work. They were constantly shopping at Bergdorf's, which is a high-end luxury department store, buying Canada goose jackets, which can easily be around $1,500 each. Just a few of their receipts show that they would spend over $7,000 at Bergdorf's at any given time, just dropping thousands of dollars at once
Starting point is 00:56:45 they would spend $5,000 at a staycation in a luxury hotel in Manhattan and $3,000 of that was just the nicest champagne from room service wow meanwhile, Claudia is developing and this is a huge ED content warning here, but During this time Claudia becomes bulimic which naturally according to Larry was her trying to sabotage his business She would try to tell him that the stress of the occupation was only making it worse. She's getting worse at her job She said she was becoming catonic She was becoming almost comatose with her clients whenever a client was on top of her
Starting point is 00:57:23 She would just go blank and just start mouthing off, get off of me, get off of me, get off of me. When they looked at her, she would have to force her face to turn robotic so that she could animate expressions that they wanted. She wasn't asking for much, she just wanted half a day off a week to talk to a therapist so that she could fix it, get better, repair the damage that it's doing to her body mentally and physically, which technically would be good for work, right? Claudia's trying to tell Larry, I mean obviously I'm not complaining, but my stomach acid has gotten so bad that it's eaten away at my teeth and that's not good for business and my fillings have fallen out and I need to get those fixed, because that's not good for business, right?
Starting point is 00:57:56 And just the past few months I've had seven, SEVEN severe tooth infections? Remember, so just like half a day to fix it? Larry's staring at her. It's not that bad, honestly. There are others who throw up their entire stomach contents, like part of their intestines would come out because of how hard they're vomiting. Is that happening to you? No? Okay then, it's not that bad. See, that's the thing with you, always complaining. Claudia would go back to her hotel room before her next client was due to arrive. Larry's telling her it's not that bad but she could feel it killing her. I mean she would walk into her hotel closet, pull
Starting point is 00:58:35 out a towel that she had left behind, drag it out into the middle of the room and the towel was folded so she would unwrap it and inside was just a giant pile of leftover snacks and candy and she would stare at it and inside was just a giant pile of leftover snacks and candy and she would stare at it because it's the only way to cope but she knows it's killing her she would binge and then throw it up before the client comes she would do this almost in between every single client just to try and cope but by the end of the night she would just be so utterly exhausted and she just knew that she had to start all over again tomorrow because her life is
Starting point is 00:59:08 quite literally on the line. also that Larry Rae can make millions of dollars and buy cashmere sweaters from Loro Piana. meanwhile the group start taunting Claudia behind her back. even Talia participates in all this by the way. I don't know to what extent she knows about what Larry is having Claudia do. I imagine she knows quite a bit. There are text messages of them giggling about how they can buy a gift for Claudia. The gift in question is a link to a giant tortilla burrito blanket from Amazon. Because she has an eating.
Starting point is 00:59:42 Isabella would text Talia. Maybe get her something cheese related just to be sentimental? They laugh and even suggest a chocolate factory oompa loompa costume. Meanwhile, back at the house, Felicia is getting pretty bad. She has fully regressed into an almost childlike state, unable to take care of herself just going through waves of emotions. She would try to wear her sweatshirts from Columbia and Harvard to remember who she was Before she was indebted to this madman and to remember how independent and powerful and intelligent she was but he would taunt her and rip them up and
Starting point is 01:00:17 When he picks up on the fact that Felicia was wearing them for emotional support He would force her to put on her graduation cap and gown, walk around the house while he degraded her, insulting at her, laughing at her. It made Felicia feel, quote, completely humiliated, degraded, debased, like I was nothing, nothing, like I wasn't even someone, just worthless. Larry would force Felicia to look at Isabella
Starting point is 01:00:41 while he compared them. You saw the videos of Felicia in part one. She said that she was becoming unkept. She wasn't taking care of herself. She just didn't even have the capacity for hygiene or trying to look attractive at that point. But Isabella took care of herself and would wear a lot of sexy clothing outside when she went out with Larry. He would tell Felicia, why can't you be more like Isabella? Look at her. Felicia would instinctively touch the scar on the top of her lip.
Starting point is 01:01:07 And early in their relationship, he had kicked her laptop into her face because she was talking too much. The impact left this scar that he always cruelly pointed out, telling her, this is why you'll never be pretty to me. And it would always stick with Felicia. All across Canada is one thing. Working together on a team with some pretty big personalities is another.
Starting point is 01:01:47 It's a new season of Canada's Ultimate Challenge. And sparks are going to fly. New episode Sundays. Watch free on CBC Gem. Spring is here, and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a WellGroom Lawn delivered, but you can for your sunny days, delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost?
Starting point is 01:02:05 Well, you can't get a WellGroom Lawn delivered, but you can get a Chicken Parmesan delivered. A Cabana? That's a no. But a Banana? That's a yes. A nice tan? Sorry, nope.
Starting point is 01:02:13 But a box fan? Happily yes. A day of sunshine? No. A box of fine wines? Yes. Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats.
Starting point is 01:02:23 Order now. Alcohol in select markets. Product availability may vary by Regency app for details. An email blast is what kickstarts the investigation into Larry Ray's cult. A massive email is sent out to a lot of the students at Sarah Lawrence with a link to Claudia's escort website. She lists her prices, her services, but also uploaded a full confessional video where she admits to poisoning Talia Rae and Lawrence Rae. And in the video, you can clearly tell she's being forced to do this. She's under duress. The former roommates from Slahn and Woods 9, the ones that never joined the cult, Gabe,
Starting point is 01:03:02 Max, Juliana, and Raven, they're all plotting ways to get Claudia out of this. This is like 10 years later. They're all grown up, graduated college, they've all moved on with their lives. The email was sent 10 years later? Yes. And they still got it? They still got it.
Starting point is 01:03:16 But who sent the email? Through Claudia's Gmail, it was probably Larry. Oh, to humiliate her. Claudia, yes. But you ended up saving her? Yes. Wow. Maybe they would pretend to book a session with her, drag her out of the hotel.
Starting point is 01:03:30 No that's dangerous because what if Larry's there, he's going to recognize them. Or maybe they just call her? But what if she's with Larry at the time and it gets her in even more trouble and then he does something dangerous to her? So they land on reaching out to the Department of Homeland Security, getting in contact with detectives specializing in sex trafficking, and they do that. They're telling the detectives how it happened, how it all started. They're bringing it all the way back to sophomore year.
Starting point is 01:03:51 Larry moves in after being jailed for a 9-11 conspiracy. Bush hates him. Long story short, Gorbachev makes an appearance on the story. Oh, they would watch Cosmos on the couch. I think at one point they were squatting in the upper east Side in this like Asian man who wears suits and has a long Ponytail's house. I don't know. He brainwashed all of them into basically being his sexual slaves When they're done the detectives are staring at them and they can almost see one's lip twitch Because even as they're saying it out loud it sounds unbelievable
Starting point is 01:04:24 The detectives do not say a single thing. I mean Because they're saying it out loud, it sounds unbelievable. The detectives do not say a single thing. I mean, they just basically get laughed out of there. No way. They didn't believe them. No. Wow. They're back to square one.
Starting point is 01:04:37 Either they can try and find a less skeptical detective or they can try something else. So they decide to reach out to a former classmate of theirs, Ezra, who happens to be an investigative journalist. Ezra and James Walsh of New York Magazine would start working on the piece for Larry Ray. The article would go live April 2019. This is the first time any news of the cult was exposed to the general public. Nobody knew about it. I mean, there were rumors around Sarah Lawrence that like something weird was happening with Talia's dad, but they were
Starting point is 01:05:06 rumors. They're college rumors. This is the first time it becomes very real, very serious. Daniel would see it and realize that his friends did not get out soon after him. It went on for almost six years after he left. Yelizia would see it from a shelter for those without homes and realize her sister Felicia was still in the cult. Santos would see it from a shelter for those without homes and realize her sister Felicia was still in the cult. Santos would see it from a shelter for people without homes, but he would defend Larry publicly online. Santos wrote, Larry has only ever offered his friendship, attention and care to me. He fed us, never skimping on the quality or healthiness of meals.
Starting point is 01:05:39 He offered a listening ear, always making himself available to us no matter the time. He encouraged us to enhance and educate ourselves, constantly suggesting that we read all kinds of books ranging from philosophy to science. Without a doubt, I owe whatever independence, clarity, and emotional imbalance and resilience I have to Larry and the time I spent with him. It wasn't until Santos was brought into the FBI office, where he's still sitting there defending Larry, the agent tells him, we believe you. Of course we do.
Starting point is 01:06:07 Larry is a good man. But do you mind if we just play you a very quick clip? The investigator presses play and it's an audio clip from years ago between Larry and Santos. It's Larry threatening to pulverize Santos with a hammer. His voice is menacing and aggressive. I swear to God I'm going to pulverize you and throw you out the window. I would put this hammer through your skull. Santos just says, yeah yeah yeah no I understand. I will kill you and
Starting point is 01:06:32 I will break all your bones and your whole body. I swear I will. Santos is sitting there listening to this clip where he just sounds so scared and in that moment it clicks for him. That is not normal. That's what he just realized? And he looks at the agents. Holy cow. I was in a freaking cult. But Isabella, Claudia, and Felicia are still in deep when the article goes live.
Starting point is 01:06:59 I mean I guess technically Claudia reads the article and she believes every single word that's in there. She wants out, but what is the article going to do for her? Is it going to protect her from every single word that's in there. She wants out but what is the article gonna do for her? Is it gonna protect her from Larry? Then Claudia's phone rings. It's Stuart. She hasn't heard from him in a really long time. They had to stop seeing each other because Larry I'm sorry. I haven't been in touch Claudia, but I read an article and I want to help you leave No way. I have a hotel for you in Philadelphia. Go there now No way. I have a hotel for you in Philadelphia. Go there now.
Starting point is 01:07:32 Claudia buys the first train ticket she can to leave New York City and head to Philly. The whole ride there Claudia is looking over her shoulder. She doesn't know if she's scared of Larry, the FBI, the CIA, the Gambino crime family coming after her, Bernie Carrick. She doesn't know. For the past 10 years, she's been told all these different stories. She doesn't even know what to believe anymore, who the bad guy is. When she finally arrives in Philadelphia, she turns off her phone. The only people that have contact with her for a little while are doctors, therapists, Stuart and the attorneys that Stuart helped pay for to go up against Larry Ray. But she's still getting bombarded with text messages from Larry and one of them reads, you said you would never run and hide and I have no understanding as to why you are doing so now. In my experience, the truth has always been important
Starting point is 01:08:08 to you and proper regard for the truth has always helped you. You asked me to promise to never abandon you and I have not. Claudia does not respond. Soon after she gets a text message from Isabella. The message reads, you poisoned me and your history of hurting innocent people has finally come back to you. Your actions are not evil. They are vile. You are vile. You poisoned me and your history of hurting innocent people has finally come back to you. Your actions are not evil, they are vile. You are vile. You poisoned five innocent people but claim you are the victim? That it was you who experienced violence
Starting point is 01:08:31 at the hand of any one of the people that you victimized? The sheer length and overindulgence and languid hyperbole of that article reads like one of your conference papers. Isabella is accusing her of working with a journalist. And it makes it clear that you were the perpetrator behind the New York magazine article. You will be the same in prison as you are now, a fat lonely nobody who lives to serve the needs of others. You are not evil Claudia, you are a criminal.
Starting point is 01:08:58 I know that all your victims will breathe a sigh of relief when you are put right where you belong. The next time I see you, you will be in a jumpsuit. You and you alone. And now all Larry has are Isabella and Felicia. Talia has already started her new life as a paralegal in a different state. April 2018. Talia the daughter? Yeah, she's just a paralegal. She's just living her best life. Getting tens of thousands of dollars. Well, okay. I don't want to say she's living her best life because she was brainwashed and she was a kid but I think at the time she was living a better life than Felicia or Claudia yeah
Starting point is 01:09:34 she's making tens of thousands of dollars we're wired to her from Claudia's work wait she's so she's taking the money from? She's taking, yeah, Larry would give her a lot of money Wow So that's why I'm saying a lot of netizens debate when is the line for Tali and Isabella to become perpetrators That's not a decision I think I can make but it is definitely discourse that I've seen out there Also side note the thing with cults though a lot of cult experts do say that There's almost no cult where the victims don't become perpetrators at one point April 2018, they move into a man named Scott Muller's house in New Jersey, just like they did with Lee Chen
Starting point is 01:10:13 It was supposed to be for a week, but they end up staying for three years before Larry is arrested in that house They start doing yard work at Scott's house too, by the way, and they just got full-size bulldozers ripping up the carpet I mean the whole thing is an absolute mess. The property looked insane. A friend of Scott said, what started out as them planting 20 trees a year later there was like a 20 by 10 foot deep hole in the backyard. All the trees are gone. All the grass is torn up. Some of the trees were planted, but not many. And Scott had to rent commercial grade equipment to do this. The running joke was they better be burying bodies in the backyard They had a dump truck and excavator a backhoe external generator concrete mixer
Starting point is 01:10:51 And then you would show up and Isabella is on the backhoe just naked but naked doing construction work So naturally a lot of middle-aged guys start showing up They said those girls Isabella and Felicia they did whatever Larry wanted Larry would sit there and say things like do you guys need anything? Can Isabella help you with anything? February 11th 2020 Larry is arrested on nine counts of extortion conspiracy forced labor sex trafficking and money laundering Isabella and Felicia were in the house with him when the FBI came The FBI confiscated about 12 terabytes of data from the house. A lot of them were videos, pictures, and written letters by the cult members. After Larry was taken
Starting point is 01:11:30 into custody, the two of them, Isabella and Felicia, they stay in the house determined to fix things, to get Larry out, to get the truth out there. Isabella would say, if Lawrence are here in front of me right now, I would tell him how sorry I am that he's going through this and that he's being put through this and that it right now, I would tell him how sorry I am that he's going through this and that he's being put through this and that it's not fucking fair and tell him that no matter what happens or doesn't happen, in no way am I straying from the truth because I know what happened and I know that he didn't do those things he's being accused of. When I think about Lawrence, I mean, my heart is breaking.
Starting point is 01:12:01 He's in prison innocently. It feels like a Twilight Zone, really. Isabella has zero contact with her mom, her former friends and family. She just has Larry. And she says, Larry is someone I trust completely in all different contexts, personally, sexually, just in whatever context you can think of, I trust him. And I care for him very deeply.
Starting point is 01:12:22 Which is alarming because Larry would tell people that Felicia was his common law wife and Isabella was basically like his daughter. He said he quote, assumed guardianship over her. Felicia was on the same page as Isabella when he was arrested. She argued that the padlock on their fridge even in this house is so that strangers can't come in and put poison in their food. She also stated, I haven't worked as a practicing doctor since 2012 because I was poisoned. I'm sure they're gonna try and blame Larry
Starting point is 01:12:49 and for me not practicing, but really he was always my support system. People go to the house to interview them and it's abysmal, the house is horrendous. And she says, oh yeah, the grass was taken up multiple times because we didn't put it down correctly Isabella and I worked with Larry like work through the day work through the night into the morning and he would take it all back again The grass if it wasn't done correctly, but he just always had this can-do attitude. That's why the Marine Corps called on him routinely
Starting point is 01:13:18 That's also why NATO called on him routinely or like that's like Gorbachev That's why they were so close. They work together so well because Larry's like, okay, you need something done I'll figure it out. He was always very encouraging had it not been for Larry my husband. I don't know where I'd be I love him very much. He is the best no matter what people say. I don't care. They don't know him I do they say Larry Ray brainwashed me or whatever it is They say like they asked my parents and I'm like I haven't spoken to them in years like so many many years and for good reason they participated in poisoning me my parents they participated in hurting me in hurting me and my family which is this is my family I'm a victim of poisoning and of Claudia and Santos and Yelizia and Bernie Carrick and my parents
Starting point is 01:14:04 that's who I'm a victim of I'm not a of Lawrence. I'm prepared to do everything I can to make sure that the right thing happens here. I will not stop until everyone knows the truth and justice is served. Pseudologia Fantastica, that is what the defense claimed Larry was diagnosed with. Otherwise known as pathological lying. That's what they claim Larry has, along with narcissistic personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder. The whole trial was a mess.
Starting point is 01:14:33 Larry would claim that all of this was happening because he too was a victim, his grandfather assaulted him as a child, his grandma would beat him with a cat o' nine tails, which is like a whip with nine knotted cords at the end, mainly used to flog people. Larry claims that sometimes whenever he did something that angered his grandma, anything at all, she would grab him by the collar and kick him out of the house and make him sleep on the porch. They said his poisoning fixation, conspiracy, is rooted in the fact that Larry's mom would sneak laxatives into muffins and cupcakes, remember? So he's not being paranoid for no reason. This is what they're arguing in court.
Starting point is 01:15:08 To which prosecutors would argue, his abuse that he claims he suffered through bears a striking resemblance to the conduct underlying the offenses he now stands convicted of. His whole defense is just all over the place. They try to argue that the New York Magazine article, the one that kickstarted the investigation, is messed up because the title is Stolen Kids of Sarah Lawrence, but they argue the alleged victims weren't even kids, they were adults. Also, the defense argues,
Starting point is 01:15:32 for the past several years, the press has villainized Mr. Ray. The cascade of unflattering photographs and stories demonizing Mr. Ray has begun before his arrest and has continued long after this trial ended. He also argues that Felicia was doing everything, harming herself, recording these videos with strangers, willingly ruining her life to compete with Isabella for Larry's love. At one part
Starting point is 01:15:53 the defense has the audacity to say, and I quote, this isn't a crime, it's not sexual abuse, it's not forced labor. When the prosecution was puzzled and bamboozled on why Larry continued to live with his alleged poisoners that he was accusing of trying to murder him, why would he have dinners with them? Why would he live under the same roof as them? You know? That doesn't make sense. That doesn't fall under a reasonable line of logic, does it? The defense argued, you know that saying? Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer?
Starting point is 01:16:24 As for the poisoning, there was no conclusive evidence to suggest that any of them were poisoned. But there were pages upon pages of evidence that Larry sex trafficked Claudia and made millions of dollars off of her. None of that was used for medical expenses related to poisoning. None of it was used to purchase medicine
Starting point is 01:16:39 or medical equipment or find specialists for poisoning. Most of it was spent on living expenses, food, fancy hotels, fancy restaurants, and a lot of shopping. Larry would bring Isabella to eat at the nicest places, buy the nicest clothing. He also received $300,000 from the Rosario parents and another $40,000 from Santos personally. There is a Hulu documentary called Stolen Youth and it's really fascinating because while they're filming they interview Felicia. The first time they go to see her she's in the weird New Jersey house with the giant holes everywhere and she's
Starting point is 01:17:11 explaining oh Larry loves loves me Larry's the love of my life and we're pulling up the grass because Larry is such a dedicated man that's why NATO loves him and the next time they interview her a few weeks later she's slowly questioning what's real and what's a lie. Then the next time they interview her a few weeks later, she's slowly questioning what's real and what's a lie. Then the next time they see her, she's going to therapy and realizes that Larry has fully brainwashed her. Felicia would state, I would say that I regressed. I became more childlike to deal with what was going on around me. Little by little, Larry had taken over my mind and I didn't even know how he did it. He made me feel like there were truly people after me, people were coming to hurt me and
Starting point is 01:17:46 that people had hurt me in the past. She said, some parts are complete blanks. I mean, some of the video clips I see, I don't even remember those things happening to me. It's admirable, I mean very fascinating how Felicia is putting together the pieces of her life because she was gaslit to a huge degree and when she first got out it was very hard for her to distinguish what was Larry's lie and what is reality and being an intelligent medical student she created this system she has a stack of files each one are labeled with the year each one she has written down all the
Starting point is 01:18:17 facts that she knows are true from that year so she's rebuilding her memory yes trying to distinguish between what's a lie, what's a fact. Wow. That's been helping her realize that he brainwashed her into believing so many things that aren't true. She said with Larry, it was always the same pattern. He would throw her on the ground, leave her there to rot, and then he would be the one to pick her up later. Or her hair. Hair is a big thing for Dominican women, Felicia said. With Larry, I was so out of it. My hair was a ball, like a bird's nest. He watched me grow this knot and then did nothing. And then he was like, okay, now I will rescue you. And he combed
Starting point is 01:18:55 out all the knots himself. He would say things like, see how I take care of you? I spent a whole week taking those knots out of your hair. That's how much I love you. Felicia is now free from Larry land. That's what she calls it. But her school loans were defaulted on. Her credit is ruined. Getting her life back on track even with those impressive degrees is gonna be huge challenge. Even just going to public restrooms gives her panic attacks because Larry would force her to have intimate relations in public restrooms with strangers. But Isabella would not get away. Daniel said observing Isabella's dynamic
Starting point is 01:19:28 in the group with Larry, there was a clear blurring between father and daughter, boyfriend and girlfriend. I mean, Isabella was so desperate to be Larry's person. She would constantly ask Larry about what they were, and if they can make it official, she would ask him, when can we finally tell people about our relationship? We don't have one, so there's nothing to tell.
Starting point is 01:19:47 There'd be times where even receiving Larry's love, she seems so thankful, Larry would tell her, Isabella, I love you. I cared a great deal about you. Yeah? Yeah, I'm proud of you, Isabella, you did good. And because she refuses to testify against Lawrence Ray, she becomes charged as a co-conspirator.
Starting point is 01:20:06 It does appear that the fact that her voice can be heard or she's holding the camera when a lot of the abusive incidents take place, it seems like that also played a huge factor to which Isabella initially stated, I'm faced with the decision to either cooperate with the prosecution's efforts, which is based on these completely false allegations, or risk being charged along with Lawrence as a co-conspirator and risk myself up to life in prison if convicted. She chose not to testify against Lawrence. Meanwhile Larry's out here doing the absolute most during the trial. If there is a testimony or video clip of the victims that he doesn't like, doesn't like the way it presents him, he fakes a
Starting point is 01:20:40 seizure, he was ushered out of the courthouse twice on a stretcher with an oxygen mask on with his tongue hanging out an assistant professor of Neurology at Cornell wrote to the judge after an evaluation of Larry's state and they wrote I believe that Larry's behaviors Or at least some of them may be a result of malingering. What is malingering? falsifying or exaggerating a condition for personal gain What is malingering? Falsifying or exaggerating a condition for personal gain? Lying. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:21:09 There is one name that will not be brought up during trial, but it is the only member of the cult that would lose their lives, due in part because of Larry Ray. Ebon was Talia's ex-boyfriend and practically an adopted member of the family. When he started dating Talia in high school, Larry immediately took him under his wing. Larry was not the protective dad over his honey girl. He was actually the cool dad,
Starting point is 01:21:30 and he would call Iban son, son, son this, son that. At some point, it starts feeling like Iban is more dedicated to Larry than he is Talia. So much so that even after the two break up, Iban is always around, following Larry around like this little lost chick. To Iban, Larry is a father figure, and he would listen to whatever Larry told him to do. That's why he drops out of college, joins the Marines on the advice of Larry.
Starting point is 01:21:53 I mean, it almost kills him. He is instantly deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He did two tours. Right when he gets there, most of his friends would die in front of him. He gets back home with severe PTSD. He's very open about it, which in a way helps him heal. He was accepted into Columbia University, where he helped conduct studies on PTSD for combat veterans.
Starting point is 01:22:15 He was actually really good at articulating feelings that veterans have and putting it into words. He would write in blogs. While veterans may have the benefit of returning to a sea of goodwill, like the stores goodwill because they're for the veterans, many times were left without a paddle or bearing and in dire need of both. He was finding his own recovery by helping other veterans. Fellow veterans said, oh, Iban, he's the type who will see your need for a shirt before you even recognize it. Then he'll take off his own shirt and insist that you take it.
Starting point is 01:22:49 And then both of his parents died. One after the other. And the only person there was freshly out of prison, Larry Ray, to help pick up the pieces of Iban. So remember how Larry shows up with Oh, three people? Yeah, it's Larry, the Asian man Lee Chun and a marine, it's Iban
Starting point is 01:23:13 And then where did he go? From that point, Iban is just Larry's bodyguard military escort if you will Iban slept on the floor most of the time He was hanging around Larry He was described as a faithful servant, but it didn't matter. He would get punched in the face. If he fell asleep when Larry didn't want him to, he would wake up Iban by sticking a spatula on his chest,
Starting point is 01:23:32 a cold spatula, and scream, Time to die! Iban has severe PTSD. Oh my gosh. So Iban was there for the whole 10 years? Yeah, most of them. Oh my gosh. And once Iban would start panicking, Larry would laugh.
Starting point is 01:23:47 I'm kidding, let's make some eggs. When Larry was arrested, Iban fully believed this was part of the government's conspiracy against Larry. Iban himself believed he had been poisoned. The stress of believing he had been poisoned, the PTSD, the situation of him being completely shut off from any other veterans or anyone that can help him because of Larry, all of that takes a massive toll. One of Iban's close friends, William, said the night that Larry was arrested, I mean, he was so happy because Iban was no longer going to be under his control, but he was
Starting point is 01:24:16 so concerned. The level of devotion Iban had to Larry was inexplainable. It was Larry's world and Iban was just happy to be living in it. And now with Larry gone, Iban was missing his whole purpose. His friend said he just sits around waiting to be told what to do. May 2020, like two months, February, March, April, May, a few months after Larry is arrested, Iban attempts self-exit by harm. But when that doesn't work, he leaves his house and walks onto the highway and lays down on the pavement until he was hit by a car.
Starting point is 01:24:54 Williams said, personally, I blame Larry for his death. Yeah, of course. The prosecutors argued this wasn't just about money. They said, Larry extracted millions of dollars in extortion and sex trafficking proceeds, but the money was never enough. And at times it was besides the point. The defendant displayed an insatiable desire to make his victims pay in both body and spirit. Claudia said, it was as if he was experimenting on our very souls like lab mice.
Starting point is 01:25:24 His evil withered us. It ate our spirits. January 20, 2023, 63-year-old Larry was sentenced to 60 years in prison, essentially a life sentence for someone his age. Bernie Carrick, his arch-nemesis, came out and said, He has victimized everyone he's ever been in contact with. It's completely bizarre, and hopefully this will be the end of his reign of terror so to speak and they'll put him away for life because he doesn't deserve to be in society. During his sentencing Larry shared a statement he said, in all this horrible things people
Starting point is 01:25:56 are saying about me I just wish they knew what good I have done in my life for this country and I'm going to get recognition for that. Isabella would plead guilty to one count of money laundering. Felicia said, and Felicia is the subject in most of the videos where Isabella is the one holding the camera, When I first met Izzy, she had a very well-formed moral compass. As time went on with Larry, it wasn't goodness anymore. Her true North Star became Larry. He could say the sky was red, the sky is purple, it wouldn't matter. If matter if he said it was true. It was as if God himself had said it She wanted to be a psychiatrist a child psychiatrist no less, you know, she wanted to help people
Starting point is 01:26:33 I would hear her be like I can't do this anymore. I can't live like this anymore and she would get so sad They would have these fights. They would argue then Larry would talk her through it and they would just go back to how they were That's what's so scary because someone who is truly a good person lost their own sense of self, their own sense of right and wrong, that just speaks to how evil Larry is, that he was able to fully destroy someone. Felicia was asked if she wanted Isabella to go to jail, and she said, I don't want her to go, because she's going to use being in jail and being prosecuted as a reason to be angry as a shield And she's not gonna actually confront the real situation
Starting point is 01:27:09 But if she doesn't go she has to live with what she did on her own I pray that she starts to care about herself enough to honor herself and honor the truth of what happened to her and to the rest of us Isabella would be sentenced to four and a half years in federal prison as a co-conspirator which has been a really big topic of conversation. Where is the line between victim and perpetrator? Because it's clear Isabella would not have done any of this had it not been for Larry Ray. The prosecutors even stated themselves that there were a ton of videos of Isabella engaging in quote degrading sex acts at Mr. Ray's direction. There are
Starting point is 01:27:43 videos of Larry grabbing Isabella, fistfuls of her hair and shaking her head back and forth in anger. He's straight up beating her in other clips. She was cut off from her entire family. She would sometimes call her dad to ask for money, but that was it. I mean, just... She was acting fully under Larry's behalf. But nevertheless, prosecutors passionately went after Isabella, stating in front of the jurors,
Starting point is 01:28:10 you did not need to retrieve the intimate toy that was used to torture Daniel. You did not need to accompany Felicia and ensure that she engaged in intimate acts with strangers. You did not need to execute those orders. You could have stepped away. You did not need to collect every cent from Claudia or participate in her torture.
Starting point is 01:28:25 One that is uncommented, America is such a backward place where victimizing the victim is still the thing to do. I don't know how this man manipulated these people, but he did, and he had a very powerful psychological hold on them, and I just cannot fathom how people can see Isabella as anything other than a victim who needs psychological counseling and help not to be placed in prison. Claudia wrote a letter to the judge stating, what I want is to see Isabella heal, process, move on and live a good, happy life.
Starting point is 01:28:51 I do not blame her for any of this, any of what happened or even the things she said and did to me. And it's crazy because Isabella said, at times I think about the future. If we get through this, Talia, Larry, and me watching TV and Talia with her kids and I'm with mine, things like that. You know, that's the what if. Things like that make me feel better. Like while she was in prison? Before her guilty plea.
Starting point is 01:29:19 Since her guilty plea, she has publicly condemned Larry Ray for his actions. But I don't know if she means it. Claudia has reunited with her friends and family and has remained pretty private since. In 2021, Daniel published an incredibly devastating memoir called Slalom Woods Nine, which was an invaluable resource for this case. Yelitsiya graduated from Columbia. She is pursuing her career in the arts. Santos started a new job. Felicia is working as a management consultant and plans to return to medicine one day. Isabella and Larry are in jail, which leaves us with one person left. Talia Ray, Larry's daughter.
Starting point is 01:29:56 She is another person that a lot of people have mixed feelings about. Because there are videos of her laughing at what's happening to her friends. She was under Larry Ray's influence the longest since she was his child, but there's evidence that she was profiting off of Claudia's sex work, spending tens of thousands of dollars on luxury goods, she introduced her friends to her father, but again this is after years and years of her father getting in her mind turning her against her own mom. Prosecutors do refer to her as a co-conspirator, though she was never formally charged. But someone close to Talia states, she was his soldier.
Starting point is 01:30:28 Talia is a really loving person, and she is the biggest victim of all. Last she was heard of publicly, there were reports that she was working at a bookstore in North Carolina and is active in the state Democratic Party. What are your thoughts on Talia and Isabella? There is an audio clip of Talia when she's very young. She sounds maybe 6 and Larry asks her, Remember what I always say to you? What?
Starting point is 01:30:51 Remember what I always say to you? The truth always wins. That's right. I just hope Talia knows the truth now. Felicia hadn't seen her family in over 5 years and even when she gets out of the cult, she's terrified to reach out to them. I mean, their family's so broken after this, but she does. She reaches out to her mom first and then Santos and then she shows up at Yelitia's door and she knocks. Hi, it's me, Fel.
Starting point is 01:31:20 There's this brief silence before Yelia says I'm sorry I can't open the door I miss you and they're both just standing on the opposite side of the door I love you and I miss you too Felicia I miss you a lot you letia I'm here for you yeah um yeah I know but I know we can't talk we can't really talk but I'm really happy. I
Starting point is 01:31:49 Love you so much Alicja, and I'm happy to hear your voice. I've been dreaming about you every night I get it if you want to talk to your lawyers first and ask them if we can talk I Don't think it's a good idea Felicia Sorry, not right now Okay, I just love you so much, and I'm so sorry And they just both start sobbing through the door, apologizing and telling each other that they love each other. And then the next time Felicia and Santos would come, and Yelizia would finally look through the peephole, and she said when she saw both of her siblings together, all of
Starting point is 01:32:21 those nerves of, is this going to be okay? Is this going gonna be triggering? they were gone. she said, they love me and i love them. that's the most important thing. and now it's like, i know who i am, i have my people, now let's go forward. and that is the story of the sarah laurence cult. what are your thoughts? I can't believe this was happening just with such... I mean when you think of cults you think of they get a isolated place in they want to you know be in the rural areas they make like a station if you will. This is just happening in Manhattan. Exactly. With college students
Starting point is 01:33:06 from Harvard, Columbia, Sarah Lawrence. What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments. Please stay safe and I will see you guys in the next one. Bye.

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