A former Wall Street executive pleaded guilty on Tuesday to luring women to New York so he could drug and sexually assault them, including at his Central Park South apartment. He also pleaded guilty to included receipt of child pornography.
Edward Gene Smith, 50, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to four counts, including distributing a controlled substance with the intent to commit rape. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 80 years.
Smith, a Harvard graduate, was working as a managing director at Citi until around the time of his initial arrest in July 2024 on child pornography charges, court documents show.
Prior to joining Citi in 2021, Smith was a managing director at BlackRock, according to LinkedIn and court records. Smith’s attorney did not immediately comment when contacted by Business Insider.
“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,” a Citi spokesperson said. “We will continue to cooperate with law enforcement as they seek justice for the victims of these heinous crimes.”
A superseding indictment filed in December 2025 said he met a woman they called Victim-1 in 2020 over the internet. He paid her to spend time with him, including traveling to Florida to engage in sexual activity.
In 2023, according to the indictment, Smith drugged her without her consent and raped her in his Central Park South apartment. Prosecutors say he recorded the assault while the victim was unconscious and later shared the video on an encrypted app.
“I don’t get a chance to do this every day, lol,” the feds said Smith wrote of the encounter.
The indictment says Smith met a second women over the internet in 2019, when she was a college student, and paid her to relocate to New York City from the Midwest so they could spend more time together.
After she moved, he controlled her finances and social life and repeatedly drugged and raped her, the indictment said.
Nicholas Biase, spokesman for the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office, said the feds’ investigation into Smith is “ongoing.” Biase asked that people who may have been victimized by Smith or have knowledge of his alleged crimes contact the FBI.
His sentencing is scheduled for May 8.
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline (1-800-656-4673) or visit its website to receive confidential support.
