Larry Ray’s alleged victim told police she was not trafficked

Larry Ray and Claudia Drury

Seeking to downplay damaging testimony that her client forced a young college student into prostitution, Sarah Lawrence accused the leader of a “cult” Larry Ray’s defense attorney for the alleged victim about what she once told the police. Claudia Drurywho gave a brutal five-day testimony against Ray, admitted Friday that she initially denied being trafficked after police arrested her for prostitution.

“You told the police you were not trafficked,” Ray’s federal defender Marne Lenox asked during cross-checking.

“Yes,” Drury replied.

“Defining life in many wonderful ways”

Over the course of two days of cross-examination, Lenox attempts to reframe the sex trade against Ray like her client, as a journey to awaken the eroticism of his accuser. Referring to prostitution, Drury wrote in an April 20, 2016 message: “I find it life-affirming in many ways, wonderful. I love what I do and I feel that I am doing something good for myself and my clients”. Later in the same message, Drury wrote: “Sex is amazing.”

This is part of the message Claudia Drury wrote on April 20, 2016, according to testimony and a government exhibit.

Those remarks stand in stark contrast to Drury’s nasty testimony about being forced to work seven days a week, serving up to five men a day, for four years to transfer more than $2.5 million to Ray, her tormentor is charged. That testimony was limited to Thursday to what prosecutors called “Dury’s.”long night of torture. In October 2018, Drury said, Ray and his alleged accomplices Isabella Pollok entered her room at the Gregory Hotel around 8:00 p.m. In the seven hours to the next climax, Ray ordered her to strip naked, tied her to a chair, strangled her with a bag, tied her with leash, and poured water over her head. , she speaks.

Pollok allegedly taped the ordeal, in an audio recording that was played to the jury and released to the public.

Ray now faces 17 counts of fraud, sex trafficking, forced labor, money laundering, extortion and other counts. The amount of sex trafficking depends entirely on Drury’s testimony and the evidence to support it. Ray’s defense of that number has involved attacking Drury’s credibility — and turning her four years in the world’s oldest profession into a rosy hue over the course of two days. .

“Multiple Sclerosis. Drury, at the time, you believed you were doing sex work that a man attracts a woman for prostitution just as much as a human does?” Lenox said ask on Thursday.

“That’s right,” she replied.

“And you believed it or you saw prostitution as life-affirming in many ways, didn’t you?” defense attorney continued.

“At that time,” Drury replied emphatically.

“I gave it to Larry”

When given the opportunity to respond briefly under the prosecution’s diversion the next day, Drury added that those experiences looked quite different in hindsight. For example, Ray’s defense attorneys mentioned the positive sex environment at Sarah Lawrence College, which has an annual Drunk Week featuring a 24-hour pornography marathon.

“Do you aspire to be a prostitute because of a poster for Sarah Lawrence College’s Drunk Week?” Assistant US Attorney Danielle Sassoon request.

“No,” Drury replied.

Ray’s defense attempted to undermine Drury’s testimony about her experiences with BDSM — short for slavery, domination, sadism, and masochism — by treating it as part of her investigation. destroy her sexuality. The defendant was not present, his attorneys noted, when Drury engaged in so-called “collision games,” when a man hit her with an object that felt like a pipe while she toppled another.

However, prosecutors noted that the experience was not her first.

“Who first exposed you to BDSM?” Sassoon asked.

“Larry,” Drury replied, referring to her earlier testimony involving Ray, Pollok, a third person, and a giant dildo.

Ray was present at every step of her journey to the climax of the sexual experience, prosecutor questions and witness answers suggested.

“Who told you sexual inhibitions are a barrier to personal growth?” Sassoon asked.

“Larry,” Drury replied.

“Who says you have to give a married power tool seller?” prosecutors need.

“Larry,” she said again.

According to prosecutors, this was part of a grooming process that Ray used on many Sarah Lawrence students. Ray allegedly coerced them into confessing to the crime by convincing them that they had poisoned him and his family, damaged his property, or colluded with his enemies. Earlier in the trial, former student Sarah Lawrence Santos Rosario testified that he also believed those accusations against him and paid Ray the hundreds of thousands of dollars he believed he owed.

Like Rosario, Drury testified that she believed Ray’s accusations against her, and although she made millions of dollars from prostitution, she said she gained nothing. .

“What did you do with the money?” Sassoon asked.

“I gave it to Larry,” she replied.

“It took a serious toll on my life”

During Drury’s 5 days of testimony, she testified painful and poignant personal stories under her real name. She heard and described an audio recording that prosecutors described as a recording of her torture. Although she remained mostly calm the entire time, Drury’s pained expression was evident on her face as she tilted her head up and down as she listened to the tape. She added on Friday that it was equally difficult to read her diary, which has been entered into evidence and made public.

“Did you find it difficult to read that diary entry at the public hearing?” Sassoon asked.

“Very,” Drury affirmed.

“Why?” pressed by prosecutors.

“Because it’s humiliating,” she replied.

She said that particular exhibit had no evidence because it was something she kept.

“What happened to your journals this time around?” asked the prosecutor.

“Larry took them,” replied Drury, who testified at length about Ray’s alleged blackmail.

Ray’s alleged victims are Santos Rosario, Dan Levin and Claudia Drury (pictured via DOJ)

Explaining why she denied being trafficked to the police, Drury said it could affect her ability to make money, but she described the horrific experiences on the job. She said a John strangled her from behind and took her away. Another would watch porn for hours and let her perform oral sex, and another would smoke a cigarette.

For her note praising prostitution, Drury testified that it was her experience from early childhood and that prostitution provided more positive reinforcement than she was drawn to by Ray. drag.

“I only have two things: someone who poisons people and someone who has sex with people for money,” says Drury, describing her world during her time with Ray. “It’s been a much better part of my life, even though it’s terrible.”

Drury says she doesn’t subscribe to that opinion now.

“It has severely damaged my life and my ability to think, to interact with people, to believe in good things in the world,” she said. “I am in debt that I have no way of paying back. My credit score is very low. I really can’t keep a job, a normal job. I had to live with and try to reconcile with being a prostitute for many years and all the experiences I had. Not to mention publicity.”

With Ray’s defense attorneys attacking Drury’s credibility, prosecutors called multiple witnesses to back up her account. One, her old client Randy Levinson, endorsed under a waiver that Drury repeatedly needed loans. Levinson said that Drury, who testified that Ray regularly threatened her with jail, asked him for money about 35 times and mentioned legal trouble.

“I better help her win the case, and I don’t want to see her go to jail,” he recalls thinking.

The accused “Lieutenant” Isabella Pollok of Larry Ray has been charged separately and will be on trial later this year. (Photo via DOJ)

Prosecutors have also introduced fragments of Pollok’s text messages showing a plan to take money from Drury. The government called an expert witness to place Ray, Pollok and Drury’s cell phones in the vicinity of the Gregory Hotel on the day Drury was allegedly tortured.

(Photo from the Justice Department)

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