CIA veteran who drugged and sexually assaulted dozens of women sentenced to 30 years in prison

WASHINGTON — A longtime CIA officer who drugged, photographed and sexually assaulted more than two dozen women in positions around the world was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in federal prison after an emotional hearing in which victims described being duped by a man who seemed nice, educated and part of an agency “supposed to protect the world from evil.”

Brian Jeffrey Raymond, with a graying beard and an orange prison jumpsuit, sat dejectedly as he listened to his punishment for one of the most egregious cases of misconduct in CIA history, documented in his own library of more than 500 photos, some of which showed him straddling naked, unconscious victims.

“It’s safe to say he’s a sexual predator,” Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said as she imposed the full sentence sought by prosecutors. “You’ll have time to think about that.”

Prosecutors say the 48-year-old Raymond’s attacks began in 2006 and followed a career in Mexico, Peru and other countries that followed a similar pattern:

He lured women he met on Tinder and other dating apps to his government-rented apartment and drugged them, serving them wine and snacks. While they were unconscious, he spent hours posing for them naked before photographing and assaulting them, sometimes prying their eyelids open and putting his fingers in their mouths.

One by one, about a dozen of Raymond’s victims, identified only by their serial numbers in court, recounted how the longtime spy had upended their lives. Some said they learned what had happened only when the FBI showed them photos of the assault while they were unconscious.

“My body looks like a corpse on his bed,” one victim said of the photos. “Now I have nightmares about seeing myself dead.”

One described a nervous breakdown. Another spoke of a recurring trance that caused her to run red lights while driving. Many described how their self-confidence and trust in others were destroyed forever.

“I hope the consequences of his actions haunt him for the rest of his life,” said one woman, who, like others, stared at Raymond as she walked away from the podium.

Reading his statement, Raymond told the judge he had spent countless hours reflecting on his “fall.”

“It betrayed everything I stand for, and I know no apology will ever be enough,” he said. “There are no words to describe how sorry I am. That is not me, and yet that is who I have become.”

Raymond’s sentence comes amid a CIA sexual harassment settlement. The Associated Press reported last week that another veteran CIA officer faces state charges in Virginia for allegedly reaching under a female co-worker’s skirt and forcibly kissing her during a drunken office party.

Another former CIA employee — a trainee officer — is scheduled to face a grand jury next month on charges of assaulting a woman with a scarf in a stairwell at agency headquarters in Langley, Va. The case has emboldened about two dozen women to come forward to authorities and Congress with their own accounts of sexual assaults, unwanted touching and what they say is an effort by the CIA to silence them.

Yet the full scope of sexual misconduct at the CIA remains a secret in the name of national security, as evidenced by a recent 648-page internal report that found systemic shortcomings in the way the agency handled such complaints.

“The covert nature of the agency allowed it to cover up a lot of things,” said Liza Mundy, author of “Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA.” The male-dominated agency, she said, has long been a haven for egregious sexual abuse. “For decades, the men at the top had carte blanche.”

The CIA publicly condemned Raymond’s crimes and implemented sweeping reforms to ensure the safety of women, streamline application processing, and punish offenders more quickly.

“There is absolutely no excuse for Mr. Raymond’s reprehensible, abhorrent conduct,” the agency said Wednesday. “As this case demonstrates, we are committed to cooperating with law enforcement.”

But Raymond’s case remains shrouded in secrecy, nearly four years after his arrest. Even after Raymond pleaded guilty late last year, prosecutors were tight-lipped about the exact nature of his work and refused to release a full list of the countries where he assaulted women.

Still, they offered an ambiguous account of Raymond’s behavior, describing him as a “serial offender” whose attacks escalated over time and became “almost feverish” during his final CIA assignment in Mexico City, where he was discovered in 2020 while a naked woman screamed for help from the balcony of his apartment.

American officials searched Raymond’s electronic devices and began identifying the victims he mentioned by name and physical characteristics. All of them described experiencing some form of memory loss while with him.

One victim said Raymond seemed like a “perfect gentleman” when they met in Mexico in 2020, only mentioning that they kissed. Unbeknownst to the woman, after she lost consciousness, he filmed 35 videos and took close-up photos of her breasts and genitals.

“The defendant’s manipulation often caused the women to blame themselves for blackouts, feel ashamed, and apologize to the defendant,” prosecutors wrote in court papers. “He was more than willing to gaslight the women, often suggesting that the women had been drinking too much and that, despite their instincts, nothing had happened.”

Raymond, a San Diego native and former White House intern who speaks fluent Spanish and Mandarin, ultimately pleaded guilty to four of 25 federal charges, including sexual harassment, coercion and transporting obscene material. As part of his sentence, a judge ordered him to pay $10,000 to each of the 28 victims.

Raymond’s lawyers had asked for a lighter sentence, saying his “quasi-military” work at the CIA in the years after 9/11 fostered an emotional callousness and “objectification of other people” that allowed him to abuse women for years.

“While working tirelessly at his government job, he ignored his own need for help and over time began to isolate himself, disconnect from human feelings and become emotionally numb,” defense attorney Howard Katzoff wrote in court papers.

“He was an invaluable government employee, but it took its toll on him and sent him down a dark path.”

___

Goodman reported from Miami. Contact AP’s global investigative team at [email protected].