Your support helps us to tell the story
Federal prosecutors believe disgraced CIA officer and serial predator Brian Jeffrey Raymond is simply too dangerous to be allowed back into society in the next 30 years, arguing that a sentence exceeding the standard term is the only way to properly punish “such an extraordinary case of wanton abuse.”
“He was someone I trusted, in view of his position,” one of Raymond’s targets said in a sealed victim impact statement which was partially revealed for the first time in a sentencing memo quietly filed by the US government late last month.
Another victim said the veteran CIA man “appeared kind and educated and… worked for an agency that is supposed to protect the world from evil,” according to the memo, which says Raymond falsely tried to paint at least one of his victims as psychologically unstable. At one point in the case, he floated the notion that he couldn’t have done everything he was accused of because he suffers from erectile dysfunction.
Under the court’s usual guidelines, taking into consideration Raymond’s lack of criminal history and other mitigating factors, the recommended sentencing range would be 235 months to 293 months, or 19.5 years to 24.4 years, the sentencing memo states.
Yet, in this instance, “the applicable guideline range does not appropriately capture the defendant’s conduct and an upward variance is warranted,” the memo says. “Only a sentence of 30 years properly addresses the defendant’s relentless victimization of women.”
Raymond, 48, pleaded guilty last November to drugging and sexually assaulting 28 women in five countries over a 14-year-period, memorializing his crimes by taking hundreds of photographs and videos of himself assaulting them while they were blacked out. He will also be required to pay the victims $10,000 each, according to the memo. Raymond met most of his victims on dating apps, according to prosecutors. One victim, however, was a woman prosecutors said Raymond had known for more than 20 years.
Raymond was most recently stationed in Mexico City, where he worked out of the US Embassy, under diplomatic cover. His sickening spree first came to the attention of authorities in the fall of 2020 when local police responded to reports of a “naked, hysterical woman desperately screaming for help” from the balcony of an apartment leased by the US government. Raymond, who insisted to police the encounter had been consensual, quickly claimed diplomatic immunity and returned to the states. He was arrested October 9, 2020, outside a gym in Southern California, where he had been living with his parents after abruptly quitting the CIA.
When Raymond is eventually let out of prison, he will be on supervised release for the rest of his natural life, according to the sentencing memo — which further exposes the sickeningly casual way the intelligence operative objectified his prey.
In March 2020, Raymond texted a friend identified as “Witness-1” in the sentencing memo, “Bad start to the Colombian date. She [planned] to come by Uber but said she had a problem with Uber so had to drive her own car. Grrrr. That means she probably will drink very little. Not ideal.”
In May 2020, the memo says Raymond texted Witness-1, “so last night was a success. She was decent enough looks wise. About what I was expecting and at 26 was still f***able. But after 30, who knows. But she was cool and we had a nice time so it worked out. TBD if I will see her again.”
And after the incident with the naked, hysterical woman on Raymond’s balcony, he suggested to others that she was mentally unwell “and could not be believed,” the sentencing memo states. On May 31, 2020, it says Raymond texted Witness-1, “[I]t was totally consensual… we started to have sex but there will be no evidence of forced entry.”
“[I]t will be her word against mine and there will be evidence of sex but no bruises or violence,” Raymond messages, according to the memo.
Under questioning by law enforcement a few days later, Raymond said that he “hope[s] she’s okay mentally.”
“[M]aybe she takes medication and the wine triggered a reaction,” Raymond suggested, the memo states.
Attorney Howard Katzoff, who suddenly and inexplicably took over from Raymond’s previous defense counsel last November in what Katzoff described in court filings as “somewhat unusual circumstances,” did not respond on Tuesday to The Independent’s request for comment. The circumstances under which the switch occurred remain unclear.
A CIA spokesperson told The Daily Beast at the time of Raymond’s arrest, “CIA condemns in the strongest terms the crimes committed by former Agency officer Brian Jeffrey Raymond.” A source close to the case said the spy agency took internal action after the accusations against Raymond, and that he resigned immediately.
Raymond’s sentencing is scheduled to take place in Washington, DC, federal court on September 18 and 19, before US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
