Veteran CIA officer who drugged and sexually assaulted dozens of women gets 30 years in prison

WASHINGTON — A CIA agent who drugged, photographed and sexually abused more than two dozen women in job postings around the world for years was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in federal prison after an emotional hearing in which victims told of being deceived by a man who seemed kind, well-educated and part of an agency “supposed to protect the world from evil.”

Brian Jeffrey Raymondwith a graying beard and orange prison jumpsuit, sat dejectedly as he learned his sentence for one of the most egregious cases of misconduct in CIA history, documented in his private library of more than 500 images that in some cases showed him sitting on and fondling his naked, unconscious victims.

“We can safely say he is a sexual predator,” U.S. Senior Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said as she imposed the full sentence prosecutors had sought. “You will have a period of time to reflect on this.”

Prosecutors say the attacks by Raymond, 48, date back to 2006 and took place in Mexico, Peru and other countries, all of which followed a similar pattern:

He lured women he met on Tinder and other dating apps to his government-rented apartment, drugged them while serving them wine and snacks. Once they were unconscious, he would pose with their naked bodies for hours before photographing and assaulting them. Sometimes he would open their eyelids and stick his fingers in their mouths.

One by one, about a dozen of Raymond’s victims, identified in court only by numbers, told how the longtime spy turned their lives upside down. Some said they only learned what had happened after the FBI showed them photos of them being attacked unconscious.

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

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

“I hope he is haunted by the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life,” said one of the women, who, like others, stared at Raymond as they walked away from the stage.

Raymond read a statement, telling the judge that he has spent countless hours pondering his “downward spiral.”

“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 who I am and yet it is who I have become.”

Raymond’s conviction comes amid a reckoning over sexual misconduct at the CIA. The Associated Press reported Last week, another veteran CIA agent was indicted in Virginia for grabbing a colleague’s skirt and forcibly kissing her during a drunken office party.

Yet another former CIA employee — an officer in training — will face a jury trial next month on charges that he attacked a woman with a scarf in a stairwell at the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia. That case emboldened some two dozen women coming to authorities and Congress with stories of sexual abuse, unwanted touching, and what they see as CIA attempts to silence them.

And yet, the full extent of sexual misconduct at the CIA remains a classified secret in the name of national security. A recent 648-page internal CIA report found systemic deficiencies in the agency’s handling of such complaints.

“The secretive nature of the agency’s operations allowed it to hide 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 misconduct. “For decades, men at the top had free rein.”

The CIA has publicly condemned Raymond’s crimes and implemented sweeping reforms to protect women, streamline claims, and more quickly punish offenders.

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

But a veil of secrecy still hangs over the Raymond case, nearly four years after his arrest. Even after Raymond pleaded guilty Late last year, prosecutors remained mum about the precise nature of his work, refusing to release a full list of countries where he has assaulted women.

Still, they offered an uninhibited account of Raymond’s behavior, describing him as a “serial criminal” whose attacks escalated over time and became “almost frantic” during his last CIA posting in Mexico City, where he was discovered in 2020 after a naked woman screamed for help from his apartment balcony.

U.S. officials searched Raymond’s electronic devices and began identifying the victims he had listed, using their names and physical characteristics. They all reported experiencing some form of memory loss during their time with him.

One victim said Raymond seemed like a “perfect gentleman” when they met in Mexico in 2020, and all they remembered was kissing. Unbeknownst to the woman, he took 35 videos and close-up photos of her breasts and genitals after she passed out.

“Defendant’s manipulation often resulted in women blaming themselves for their loss of consciousness, feeling ashamed and apologizing to Defendant,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing. “He was more than willing to manipulate the women, often by suggesting that the women had drunk too much and that, despite their instincts to the contrary, nothing had happened.”

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

Raymond’s lawyers had asked for leniency, arguing that his “quasi-military” work at the CIA in the years after 9/11 had become a breeding ground for emotional callousness and “objectification of other people” that allowed him to prey on 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 a court document.

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

___

Goodman reported from Miami. Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org.