Ryan Hemphill
Introduction
Ryan Hemphill, a 44-year-old New York attorney already jailed on Rikers Island under a 116-count indictment for the alleged torture and sexual assault of six women in his Midtown Manhattan apartment, was indicted again in October 2026 after a seventh woman came forward to report that he had raped and tortured her for seven hours in the spring of 2024 . Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the new 41-count indictment β including nine counts of predatory sexual assault β charging Hemphill with repeatedly, violently raping the woman over seven hours after she met him on the SugarDaddy dating site . The case has become one of the most sprawling sexual-violence prosecutions in recent Manhattan history: prosecutors say videos found in his apartment captured dozens of women, and the DA’s office openly urged additional survivors to come forward .
Background Information
Hemphill, the son of a prominent neurologist, presented himself as a wealthy private-equity executive and attorney, meeting women on sugar-dating and fetish websites β Seeking.com, SugarDaddy, SugarDaddyMeet, FetLife and Craigslist β with offers of large sums of money in exchange for sex and companionship . After his arrest, that veneer cracked: the private-equity firm he claimed to have founded told NBC News it had never heard of him, and the network’s reporting concluded that parts of his resume and purported prestige appeared to be inflated . He was no stranger to courtrooms β in 2013 he was found not guilty of choking and assaulting his then-girlfriend during what the New York Post described as a knifepoint encounter .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Charges, not convictions. Hemphill has been indicted twice β 116 counts in April 2025, 41 more in October 2026 β and has pleaded not guilty to both. Every act described below is an allegation from prosecutors’ court filings and statements on the record; nothing has been tested at trial, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The one adjudicated episode on this page β his 2013 acquittal β is a acquittal, not a conviction.
According to the Manhattan DA’s office, beginning on October 3, 2024, Hemphill subjected six women to multiple-hour ordeals of physical and sexual violence inside his Midtown apartment: prosecutors allege he raped victims orally, anally and vaginally, often under threat of torture, drugged or tricked them into ingesting controlled substances that left them unconscious or impaired, tied them up with handcuffs and restraints, and in one incident left a woman shackled to his bed for an extended period while she begged to be released . The office alleges he tortured victims with electricity β a cattle prod meant for livestock and a shock collar fastened around some women’s necks, including during rapes β threatened them with guns and knives, urinated on them, and psychologically tormented them by persuading women to confide their past sexual traumas and then deliberately reenacting those acts, all recorded on surveillance cameras throughout the apartment .
The seventh woman’s account, unveiled in October 2026, preceded the rest: she arrived at his apartment in the spring of 2024 expecting money in exchange for sex after meeting him on SugarDaddy, but prosecutors said Hemphill “was planning something else entirely” . Over seven hours, Assistant District Attorney Mirah Curzer told the court, he threatened her with a knife, tied her to his bed, burned her with a hot object, forced an electric shock collar onto her neck, and repeatedly held her head under water in his bathtub β pulling her up just before she lost consciousness, then submerging her again and again . Prosecutors say he forced her to record a video stating she wanted to be raped β a tactic used on multiple victims β and that the video itself shows the coercion: “The victim is clearly terrified and [he is] actively abusing her while she speaks,” Curzer said . He allegedly kept the coerced recordings as trophies, used them to convince women it would be pointless to come forward, threatened victims over text with claims of mob and police connections, paid some women with counterfeit cash or stiffed them entirely, and in one instance drew up a contract offering a woman $2,000 to drop a police complaint .
Hemphill was arrested on March 1, 2025, after investigators executing a search warrant found a cattle prod, high-capacity magazines and hundreds of bullets, large quantities of drugs including heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and fentanyl, and surveillance electronics holding videos of dozens of women . The seventh survivor reported to the DA’s office only after seeing news coverage of the first indictment .
Public Reaction and Consequences
District Attorney Bragg called the conduct alleged in the new indictment “absolutely horrific” and said he was “grateful for this survivor’s bravery in coming forward, despite the defendant’s alleged attempts to convince her that a coerced, videoed statement would make him impossible to prosecute” . At the 2025 arraignment, Bragg framed the first indictment the same way: “The defendant told these survivors that he was untouchable,” he said. “The indictment makes clear that he was wrong,” adding that “dozens, if not hundreds, of women are captured on that footage” . NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, announcing the first charges, described “a sustained, calculated campaign of violence and cruelty that targeted vulnerable women” . Hemphill, by contrast, appeared unfazed: entering court on the new charges wearing rosary beads, he chipperly told a Post photographer, “nice to see you again” .
Current Status
Hemphill pleaded not guilty to the fresh 41-count indictment charging rape, predatory sexual assault and related offenses, and remains jailed on Rikers Island pending trial on the combined 157 counts . He has been held in jail continuously since his March 1, 2025 arrest, and the judge at his 2025 arraignment ordered him to remain there . The cases are unadjudicated: no trial has occurred and no counts have been proven. The Manhattan DA’s Human Trafficking Unit and Special Victims Division are handling both prosecutions, and the office’s public message to additional survivors β “we are here to help, no matter the circumstances” β remains open, leaving open the possibility of more complainants . This page will be updated as the prosecutions proceed.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Once presented as a connected, wealthy Manhattan attorney, Hemphill now faces one of the largest sexual-assault indictments in the city’s recent history, his claimed private-equity career exposed as inflated by NBC News reporting and his law license a footnote to a Rikers cell . The escalation from six accusing women to seven within eighteen months β with the newest survivor citing the news coverage itself as her reason for coming forward β has turned the prosecution into a rolling accounting of his alleged conduct, and each new count extends the prison exposure he faces if convicted at trial .
Sources
- New York Post, “Sick S&M-obsessed lawyer Ryan Hemphill, 44, tortured latest victim for 7 hours: prosecutors,” October 6, 2026 β source
- Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, “D.A. Bragg Announces New Charges Against Attorney Ryan Hemphill For Predatory Sexual Assault Of 7th Woman,” October 6, 2026 β source
- Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, “D.A. Bragg Announces 116-Count Indictment Of Ryan Hemphill Predatory Sexual Assault Of Six Women In Midtown Apartment,” April 24, 2025 β source
- NBC News, “Attorney charged with beating, raping women in his New York City apartment,” April 30, 2025 β source