An S&M-loving lawyer who dodged a sex assault rap 10 years ago was slapped with sick new charges Thursday, alleging he raped and tortured a half-dozen women in his Manhattan pad, prosecutors said.
Ryan Hemphill, 43, who was found not guilty of choking and assaulting his then-girlfriend at knifepoint during an over-the-top romp in 2015, allegedly used cattle prods, shock collars and waterboarding to subdue new victims during “multi-hour ordeals,” according to a 116-count indictment.
“He wielded his law degree and money as both sword and shield, coercing and silencing survivors,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told reporters. “The defendant told these survivors he was untouchable. The indictment makes clear that he was wrong.”
Prosecutors said Hemphill claimed he had NYPD and organized crime ties to scare the women into submission, and hired prostitutes for the sick romps, later stiffing them or paying them with fake money.
“The defendant inflicted enormous suffering and trauma on these six women, raping them repeatedly and torturing them for hours simply because he enjoyed their pain and fear,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Mirah Curzur told Judge Ann Scherzer in court.
“And then he threatened and intimated them to make sure they never came forward,” Curzur said.
The prosecutors said Hemphill forced the women to videotape themselves consenting to the sick abuse, and maintained records of the encounters and “kept them as trophies.”
Prosecutors said Hemphill also threatened his victims by claiming he had mob and cop connections.
“You prostitute,” he allegedly wrote to one woman on Dec. 22. “Did you not notice all the police business cards on my f–king coffee table? I know half the precinct, you f–k.”
In another text allegedly sent on Nov. 30 he warned another woman, “I’m leaving here in five minutes.
“If you’re not here I’m gonna f–king unleash federal hell on you,” the text said. “You’re gonna wish you were f–king dead.”
Hemphill, the son of a prominent neurologist, admitted during his 2015 trial that he liked rough sex, and often acted out sick S&M fantasies with hookers and other women — including role-playing as a TSA agent searching his partner’s cavities.
Former beau Christina Leos, who met the lawyer on eHarmony, said the pair enjoyed rough sex, but she claimed that Hemphill went too far when he allegedly put a 10-inch Bowie knife to her throat during a frightening encounter inside his Murray Hill apartment in 2013.
“I thought I was going to die,” she told the jury.
But the panel deliberated for just a day and a half before finding Hemphill not guilty on all charges.
“This was an overcharged case to begin with and the District Attorney’s office had little to no evidence,” Hemphill said after the he was acquitted. “It should have never gotten to his far.”
But Manhattan prosecutors maintain Hemphill’s alleged fetishes didn’t end then.
Following an investigation by the DAs office he was arrested March 1, with cops allegedly finding high-capacity ammunition, surveillance cameras, videos of dozens of women, and a stash of drugs including heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and fentanyl.
According to the arraignment unsealed Thursday, Hemphill is now charged with predatory sex assault and a slew of other charges, with prosecutors claiming it’s just “the tip of the iceberg.”
There could be dozens — if not hundreds — of other victims, they said.
“The details in this case are beyond disturbing — a sustained, calculated campaign of violence and cruelty that targeted vulnerable women,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement.
“This kind of predatory abuse has no place in our city and will be met with the full force of the law.”
Hemphill was ordered held without bail pending a return court appearance.
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