Edward Gene Smith, 50, a former managing director at Citigroup Inc., was sentenced Tuesday in Manhattan federal court to 30 years in prison for sex crimes. The charges included receiving child pornography and obstructing justice.
Prosecutors stated the crimes occurred over a 10-year period, from 2015 to 2024. Smith pleaded guilty to multiple offenses. His lawyers had argued that autism spectrum disorder was the primary driver of his actions, suggesting he did not understand that his relationships were non-consensual. However, prosecutors rejected this claim, calling it "inflammatory nonsense" and "an offensive smear to those in the autistic community."
According to the prosecution, Smith admitted to drugging a woman with the intent to rape her and to luring another woman to New York, where he drugged and sexually assaulted her. Prosecutors described Smith as using his position as a bank executive to lure victims and evade detection. He also reportedly obtained and maintained tens of thousands of files of child sexual abuse material.
Smith allegedly preyed on vulnerable young women from foreign countries or distant U.S. states by promising financial security. He would bring them to his New York residence, incapacitate them with drugs, and then sexually assault them. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton noted that Smith "torture[d] and punish[ed] his victims, and surreptitiously photograph[ed] them, while they were nude and unconscious."
Smith, who worked at Citigroup from 2021 until his arrest in 2024, wrote a letter to the judge expressing remorse and stating he had "long put his errors behind him." He also acknowledged past writings from his time at the Harvard Crimson in 1998, where he wrote about the trauma of being raped by someone known and trusted, stating, "The right to say no to sex is a human right, a basic right of control over one’s body."
Citigroup issued a statement indicating the company moved to terminate Smith immediately upon learning of law enforcement's initial investigation and cooperated with the investigation.