Ex-Citi Exec Pleads Guilty in Drugging, Sexual Assault Case

A former Wall Street executive pleaded responsible on Tuesday to luring girls to New York so he might drug and sexually assault them, together with at his Central Park South condo. He additionally pleaded responsible to included receipt of kid pornography.

Edward Gene Smith, 50, pleaded responsible in Manhattan federal courtroom to 4 counts, together with distributing a managed substance with the intent to commit rape. He faces a most jail sentence of 80 years.

Smith, a Harvard graduate, was working as a managing director at Citi till across the time of his preliminary arrest in July 2024 on youngster pornography fees, courtroom paperwork present.

Previous to becoming a member of Citi in 2021, Smith was a managing director at BlackRock, in response to LinkedIn and courtroom data. Smith’s lawyer didn’t instantly remark when contacted by Enterprise Insider.

We moved to terminate Mr. Smith instantly upon studying about legislation enforcement’s preliminary investigation, properly earlier than the allegations of this wicked habits got here to gentle,” a Citi spokesperson stated. “We are going to proceed to cooperate with legislation enforcement as they search justice for the victims of those heinous crimes.”

A superseding indictment filed in December 2025 stated he met a girl they referred to as Sufferer-1 in 2020 over the web. He paid her to spend time with him, together with touring to Florida to interact in sexual exercise.

In 2023, in response to the indictment, Smith drugged her with out her consent and raped her in his Central Park South condo. Prosecutors say he recorded the assault whereas the sufferer was unconscious and later shared the video on an encrypted app.

“I do not get an opportunity to do that day-after-day, lol,” the feds stated Smith wrote of the encounter.

The indictment says Smith met a second girls over the web in 2019, when she was a university pupil, and paid her to relocate to New York Metropolis from the Midwest so they may spend extra time collectively.

After she moved, he managed her funds and social life and repeatedly drugged and raped her, the indictment stated.

Nicholas Biase, spokesman for the Manhattan US Legal professional’s Workplace, stated the feds‘ investigation into Smith is “ongoing.” Biase requested that individuals who might have been victimized by Smith or have data of his alleged crimes contact the FBI.

His sentencing is scheduled for Could 8.