Edward Gene Smith pleaded guilty to sexual assault, receipt of child pornography and obstruction of justice offenses
Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Edward Gene Smith, a former bank executive, sexual assault, receipt of child pornography and obstruction of justice offenses
- Prosecutors revealed Smith drugged and abused women — some as young as 17 — and shared explicit content online
- Smith’s defense cited his autism diagnosis as a factor in his conduct, an argument prosecutors called offensive and irrelevant
A man has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release after pleading guilty to sexual assault and other offenses.
Edward Gene Smith, 50, was a bank executive in New York City, a former managing director at BlackRock and a Harvard University graduate. He worked as a managing director at Citigroup Inc. from 2021 until his arrest in 2024, which came after a search of his residence revealed possession of child sex abuse material, according to CNN.
“Edward Gene Smith is a sexual predator and a serial rapist,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton in a July 28 media release. “He spent years hiding behind wealth, education, and status while he committed egregious sexual crimes.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, between 2015 and 2024, Smith drugged or attempted to drug multiple women – some as young as 17 – that he met online, whom he convinced to join him in New York City from other locations. He would then physically or sexually abuse them in his apartment on Central Park South or elsewhere. Smith would sometimes photograph or take videos of them without their knowledge or consent.
In some cases, he also posted several of the photos and videos to online platforms meant to showcase the sexual exploitation of unconscious women or websites advertising prostitution services, per the release.
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Clayton also established that after a search warrant was obtained and authorities discovered “thousands of files of child sexual abuse material” on his devices in August 2024, Smith “obstructed the investigation by compelling a victim he had drugged and raped to sign a false letter of support,” offering thousands of dollars for her false claim. He also solicited other individuals to provide endorsements on false documents.
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Smith pleaded guilty to sexual assault, receipt of child pornography and obstruction of justice offenses. According to CNN, in a presentencing submission, his defense cited Smith’s autism spectrum disorder as the “primary driver” of his actions, claiming that he had been “devastated to learn that his understanding of his relationships with the women he thought of as his girlfriends was wrong and that they experienced their encounters with him as non-consensual sexual abuse and even rape.”
The justification, CNN reported, was dismissed by prosecutors as “inflammatory nonsense” and “an offensive smear to those in the autistic community”.
Smith had been eligible to receive a maximum sentence of 80 years in prison upon conviction, and prosecutors agreed to not ask for more than 30 years as part of Smith’s plea deal, according to Bloomberg.
CNN reported that in a letter written to the judge, Smith claimed that he had reconnected with his family and now regrets his misdeeds. “The man I used to be embarrasses me. I don’t want to be him ever again,” he reportedly wrote.
Smith’s sentencing occurred on Tuesday, July 28 — seven months after his guilty plea and admission to intentionally drugging two women for sex, as well as both buying and selling sexually explicit images of minors, per Bloomberg.
“He is now where he belongs, in prison,” Clayton said of Smith’s incarceration. “Every New York family is safer with the defendant off the streets.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
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