A private equity executive turned his New York City apartment into a torture chamber of “grotesque sexual violence,” Manhattan prosecutors said Thursday. Ryan Hemphill is accused of raping six women over five months in a depraved rampage in which he allegedly punched, waterboarded and shocked victims with a cattle prod and kept recordings of the assaults as trophies.
Hemphill, who remains jailed after his arrest last month, pleaded not guilty to a 116-count indictment charging him with predatory sexual assault and other crimes dating to last October. The 43-year-old, who is also a lawyer, threatened to have victims arrested or disappeared in a bid to keep them silent, prosecutors said.
“The defendant told these survivors that he was untouchable,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. “The indictment makes clear that he was wrong.”
Hemphill sat quietly in a khaki jail suit, his cuffed hands clutching a cross behind his back, as a prosecutor described his alleged crimes in gruesome detail.
If convicted, Hemphill could spend the rest of his life in prison. He was previously acquitted in 2015 of choking and holding a knife to his ex-girlfriend’s throat after testifying that he enjoyed strangling her during sex.
“We have reason to believe these six victims are only the tip of the iceberg,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Mirah Curzer told Judge Ann E. Scherzer.
Hemphill’s apartment, near the Empire State Building, was outfitted with numerous surveillance cameras, and investigators have recovered images showing dozens, if not hundreds, of other women, many of them naked and blindfolded, Curzer said.
Investigators also found hundreds of bullets and high-capacity magazines, and a large amount of drugs, including heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and fentanyl, prosecutors said.
In a news release, prosecutors posted images of other items they said were recovered from his apartment, including a cattle prod, handcuffs and fake cash. They also posted threatening text messages that Hemphill allegedly sent to victims.
Read more
Also some background sourced at Perplexity
Ryan Hemphill has publicly stated that after graduating from Hofstra University with a JD/MBA in 2013, he worked at a national civil litigation law firm in New York City. During his time there, he helped expand the firm’s national attorney network and worked closely with executive partners. However, the specific name of this law firm has not been disclosed in available sources5.
No other law firms have been confirmed as part of Hemphill’s employment history. His LinkedIn profile and public claims highlight his founding of Madison Park Capital Advisors, a boutique advisory/private equity firm, but investigations show discrepancies about this firm’s location and his association with it27. Other previous employers listed on his LinkedIn profile either declined to comment or could not be reached2.
In summary, aside from the unnamed national civil litigation firm in New York where he worked early in his career, there is no verified information about other law firms Ryan Hemphill has worked for.
