Married Citibank exec who drugged and raped young women and stashed 9,000 child porn images in his luxury NYC apartment is sentenced for depraved decade-long rampage

By EMMA JAMES IN MANHATTAN, NEW YORK Published: 18:18, 28 July 2026 | Updated: 18:29, 28 July 2026 A married ex-Wall Street executive has been sentenced to 30 years after pleading guilty to drugging and raping multiple women in his upscale Manhattan apartment, keeping chilling planning notes to document his decade-long predatory rampage.  Edward Gene Smith, 50, admitted to attacking his victims at his luxury apartment opposite Central Park, as well as amassing a stash of more than 9,000 child sexual abuse images, as part of his twisted spree. Prosecutors say the Harvard educated bigwig, who was most recently a Citigroup managing director, hid ‘behind the façade of a well-educated bank executive’ to prey on and lure in his young victims. Smith, who has multiple stepchildren, also kept chilling spreadsheets and planning notes on just how many drugs to administer - and would then record some of the assaults to share with online groups who took pleasure in drugging their partners, according court documents.  'Edward Gene Smith is a sexual predator and a serial rapist,' US Attorney Jay Clayton said. 'He spent years hiding behind wealth, education, and status while he committed egregious sexual crimes.  'He drugged and raped women, documenting his crimes with extensive notes planning how he would torture and punish his victims, and surreptitiously photographing them, while they were nude and unconscious.'  Smith's reign of terror came crashing down in late 2024 when he was arrested on a six-count indictment for drugging and assaulting various women.  He ended up pleading guilty to only four counts: drugging a victim with intent to rape her, enticing another victim to travel to New York for sex, receiving child pornography, and obstruction of justice. Former Citigroup managing director Edward Gene Smith, 50, pleaded guilty to drugging and raping multiple women in his upscale Manhattan apartment In one incident, he admitted to luring a victim to his luxury apartment at Central Park South in April 2023 where he laced her drink with the sedative Klonopin and then raped her while she was unconscious.  He recorded the attack and then shared the footage with an online group dedicated to sharing clips of incapacitated or unconscious women in sexually exploitative positions.  The moneyman also copped to repeatedly drugging and sexually assaulting a college student who he had convinced to relocate to New York City.  Once she arrived, Smith spent months controlling her finances and social life, as well as threatening her to ensure she complied with his demands, court filings show.  But prosecutors say his crimes were even more widespread - and that he allegedly confessed to preying on other victims too.  Smith allegedly paid one victim $2,500 to spend two nights with him back in 2015. Years later, he drew up a chilling spreadsheet titled 'girl retrospective' that laid out a fresh plot to allegedly drug her all over again, according to court papers. 'Alcohol and drink kit: DRUGS!! 4 capsules full of dissolved k [Klonopin] 2mg,' his notes allegedly read, followed by a reminder to 'ask about other porn work she's done.'  In the fall of 2021, he allegedly targeted a 17-year-old victim on Seeking.com, telling her 'I want you to stay a virgin until you come up' as he waited for her to turn 18.  Smith married his wife, Heather, in 2012. He is a stepfather to several of her children. The couple have a shared home in South Carolina The Harvard educated bigwig, who was most recently a Citigroup managing director, hid ‘behind the façade of a well-educated bank executive’ to prey on and lure in his young victims to his apartment opposite Central Park (pictured above)  When she eventually arrived in New York, he spiked her Long Island Iced Tea and then sexually assaulted her, prosecutors alleged.  Unbeknownst to the teen, Smith had allegedly posted her photos and contact information on a website advertising prostitution services.  Then, in a chilling escalation, the predatory banker allegedly drove her to a Manhattan apartment where she was forced to have sex with a man in his 50s - before Smith pocketed the cash himself, the court documents state.  Smith is also said to have allegedly encouraged her to recruit her own underage sister and friends for sexual encounters with him.  In addition, FBI investigators found Smith had collected more than 9,000 unique files of child sexual abuse material dating back to 2012 that had been organized across multiple devices. Ahead of his sentencing, Smith sensationally tried to blame his crimes on his autism diagnosis – arguing it left him unable to properly perceive the emotional impact of his actions on his victims.  Prosecutors, however, blasted the excuse as 'an offensive smear to those in the autistic community.’  'He is a sexual predator, a serial rapist, an avid CSAM collector, and someone who has demonstrated no respect for the humanity of anyone else’, prosecutors wrote in a submission to the court. ‘Society needs protection from him. His victims deserve justice.’ Investigators uncovered a note stored on his phone listing out packing items for a trip with one of his victims, including 'klon'- a reference to the sedative Klonopin After his home was raided by the FBI, Smith paid a woman more than $2,500 to sign a fabricated letter (pictured above) attempting to clear his name. He also later texted her: 'Please delete these messages from your chat!’ In one incident, he admitted to luring a victim to his luxury apartment at Central Park South in April 2023 where he laced her drink with the sedative Klonopin and then raped her while she was unconscious Ahead of his sentencing, several victims said Smith's predatory behavior had left them with lasting trauma as they begged the judge to impose the harshest punishment.  'Knowing that there may still be images or videos of me somewhere - circulating, stored, or shared without my knowledge - is a never-ending source of anguish,’ one victim said.  'Edward Smith didn’t just commit a crime; he stole my life. When he targeted me as a minor, drugged me, and raped me, he didn’t just hurt me, he shattered my sense of reality,' another added.  'I have spent years in therapy trying to survive the wreckage he left behind. His behavior was atrocious, predatory, and calculated. I have had to fight for every inch of my recovery, while he has faced no consequences for the trauma that still haunts my daily life.'  Smith, who studied particle physics on a full scholarship at Harvard, built a two-decade career in high finance, working his way through Oliver Wyman, State Street, Santander and BlackRock. He landed at Citigroup in 2021 as a managing director, earning a $400,000 base salary with a $1 million target bonus.  A Citi spokesperson said Smith was fired as soon as the bank learned of the initial probe in 2024.  'We moved to terminate Mr Smith immediately upon learning about law enforcement’s initial investigation, well before the allegations of this depraved behavior came to light,' the spokesperson said.  'We cooperated with law enforcement as they sought justice for the victims of these heinous crimes.' In his private life, Smith and his wife Heather tied the knot back in 2012.   In pre-sentencing memos, his attorneys had begged for leniency on the basis that his wife, who has several children from a prior relationship, was planning to file for divorce once the court proceedings are over.  The couple had been spending large amounts of time apart ever since Heather relocated from New York in 2018 to help care for a grandchild with cerebral palsy.  The government has moved to seize and force the sale of the couple's shared home in South Carolina to help pay restitution to his victims.