Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos: Getty Images/Shutterstock/SDNY Contents Who’s Larry Ray? | What is he charged with? | What’s happening with Isabella Pollok? | What’s going on inside Larry Ray’s head? | Larry Ray, accused of being a con man and a cult leader who came to dominate the lives of a group of students at Sarah Lawrence College, will stand trial in federal court in lower Manhattan this month.
The Larry Ray case has only gotten more complicated in the nearly three years since New York broke the story. Here, a guide to the essential characters, the most astonishing details , and the likely strategies to be pursued in court.Who is Larry Ray? Born Lawrence Grecco in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Larry Ray has long been described by people who know him as chameleonic. In the 1980s, he traded stocks on Wall Street despite not having a college degree.
After pleading guilty to securities fraud in 2003, Ray’s life unraveled. He and his wife divorced and fought over custody of their two children; he was incarcerated, paroled, and incarcerated again.How did Larry Ray come to Sarah Lawrence? In 2010, days after he was let out of New Jersey’s Northern State Prison, he began sleeping on his daughter’s dorm-room couch.
Another key witness will likely be Daniel Barban Levin, who fell under Ray’s influence in his sophomore year at Sarah Lawrence and who says Ray abused him physically and mentally. He lived with the group in the Upper East Side apartment on and off for around three years. In September, Crown published his memoir, billing the book as “a stunning firsthand account of the creation of a modern cult and the costs paid by its young victims.
A year ago, Pollok’s attorney requested a psychological evaluation to see if she was fit for trial. She was, the evaluation said, but the attorney withdrew from the case. Pollok now has a public defender and a separate trial date in July. In the meantime, she’s free on $100,000 bail and has been working at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island.Who are the prosecutors? The lead assistant U.S. Attorney is Danielle Sassoon, 36.
“Everything else” 👇🏾 (more than just for bagels 🥯)