A New York financier accused of raping a 14-year-old girl looks drastically different after spending a year behind bars.
Michael Olson appeared in court a year ago clean-shaven, with a short haircut and a youthful appearance, but on Tuesday he looked very different after spending a year in prison.
The 55-year-old financier looked disheveled with a long, unkempt gray beard and his once-short-cropped hair now falling in waves to his neck. He looked twice his age as he appeared in Manhattan court.
And Olsen will take no comfort from the trial, as his insanity plea was rejected after two doctors became suspicious of his claims.
Olson will now be transferred from the psychiatric hold where he was being held back to Rikers Island while he undergoes another evaluation.
The alleged rapist had previously pleaded guilty by pleading insanity.
Assistant District Attorney John Fuller read in court a letter Olson wrote to his family detailing his plans to defraud the justice system.
Just a year ago, Michael Olson appeared in court with a clean-shaven face, a short haircut and a youthful appearance, but on Tuesday he had undergone a dramatic change after spending a year in prison
The 55-year-old financier looked disheveled with a long, untrimmed gray beard and his once-close-cropped hair now flowing in waves down his neck as he looked twice his age during a court hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“I’ve never explained what I’m doing here. What the plan is. Right now I’m offered 15 years. But if I can take a psychiatric route, it could be much shorter. Maybe six years,” he wrote to his family.
He told his family that his first step in February was to “stop calling” because he was afraid that District Attorney Alvin Briggs was monitoring all his phone calls and “could use the conversations against me if I sounded too normal.”
His second step was to make sure he looked insane on his mental health evaluation so he could be sent to a psychiatric facility instead of Rikers. However, he told his family he could be “sent back to Rikers.” [at] “If I act too normal.”
“So I’ve studied it quite a bit and have a plan to stay there, but there’s no guarantee,” he wrote. “The upside, if the plan works, is that after six years the charges against me would be dropped. Then I would have no criminal record.”
Olson told his family that, in addition to having no criminal record upon his release, his reason for being declared insane was that a psychiatric institution would be “safer” than Rikers or prison.
He said he believed it was “worth the big picture” to sacrifice his phone conversations with his family and only write down the important details. He believed the system was only “following” his letter, not reading its contents.
Olson will take no comfort from the lawsuit that overturned his insanity appeal after two doctors found his claims suspect. Now Olson will be moved back to Rikers Island from the mental health facility where he has been while he undergoes a new evaluation.
The alleged rapist had previously pleaded guilty by reason of insanity. Assistant District Attorney John Fuller also read a letter Olson had written to his family in court, in which Olson detailed his plans to cheat the justice system
“I’ve never explained what I’m doing here. What the plan is. Right now I’m offered 15 years. But if I can take a psychiatric route, it could be much shorter. Maybe six years,” he wrote to his family.
“It did require sacrifices to not have to call, and believe me, it’s been tough,” he wrote. “I would never have thought of doing something like that, but the difference in time and not having a record is too big to ignore.”
Olson is accused of specifically targeting young Asian girls on Instagram, specifically targeting people who post about not having money for clothes or who are hurting themselves.
He is charged with a series of crimes against a child who was found with him in a Midtown Manhattan hotel room in May 2023 after overdosing on ketamine, cocaine and Xanax. Olson was present but told police the drugs were “gifts.”
According to police, Olson had a screenshot of the New York City public school calendar saved on his phone.
“The advantage, if the plan works, is that after six years the charges against me would be dropped. So I would have no criminal record,” he wrote in the letter
There was also data on the pick-up and drop-off of children from elementary and middle schools in New York.
Prosecutors said he kept a spreadsheet detailing what drugs he gave to young girls and who he messaged.
The girl he was found with at the hotel had also traveled with him to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Miami.
Prosecutors say he posed as his daughter during the trips to avoid suspicion.
In May, emergency workers were called to a hotel room where the child had overdosed.
This was how police first came into contact with Olson, who was also in the room.