"Con Man" Professor Tied to Newport Jewelry Theft Pleads Guilty to Fraud in NY
GoLocalProv News Team and Josh Fenton
"Con Man" Professor Tied to Newport Jewelry Theft Pleads Guilty to Fraud in NY
The storyline has everything needed to be a multi-part series on Netflix.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAt the center of the story is a social-climbing retired political science professor who lived in the Georgetown section of Washington, DC, and taught at John Cabot University in Rome. One report has him with ties to the CIA. He was a Fulbright Scholar and received his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University.
His name is Lawrence Gray.
In Rhode Island, he has been charged with stealing tens of thousands of dollars of jewelry and selling it at one of America’s premier auction houses.
Last week in New York, in a separate case, Gray pled guilty to fraud and agreed to pay some restitution for stealing jewelry and other antiquities worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
And there is so much more.
The Washington Post reported, “Gray had maintained his innocence — that is, until September 24 when he pleaded guilty in New York to fraud and agreed to pay $55,850 in restitution to four people, including former U.S. ambassador Frederick Vreeland, who claimed he stole their jewels."
Vreeland, who is now 97 and resides in Rome, is a former CIA officer and ambassador to Morocco whose mother, Diana Vreeland, was the legendary editor of Vogue in the 1960s.
Gray and Quillen
Gray leveraged a relationship with Georgetown socialite Jacqueline Quillen. Gray rode Quillen’s relationships and her generosity into the best parties and social events held by some of the East Coast’s more “elite” families.
She had raised three sons - Barton, Parker, and Whitney. Each has been successful in business.
When she died in 2020, her son Parker, a hedge fund manager with a specialty in short selling, had great suspicions of Gray, both during his mother's relationship and after her death. Things went missing. A civil suit was filed against Gray and ultimately settled.
In an interview with GoLocal, Parker Quillen voiced frustration with efforts in Washington, DC, to draw attention to Gray's alleged criminal activities.
The allegations relate to the very fraud Gray has now pled to and others that have gone uncharged.
“It’s ironic that Gray’s conviction in [New York] was technically not for theft, but for the derivative crime of fraud associated with selling stolen items. Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC, had substantial evidence of his actual ongoing theft in its jurisdiction but chose not to intervene—go figure,” said Parker Quillen.
One of the people who has been tracking Gray and his alleged crimes is Rob Zachariasiewicz — the former DEA agent and global security expert.
He might be best known for leading the effort to capture Viktor Bout, an international arms trafficker who was later traded for the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner.
When Bout was arrested, the indictment charged Bout with four separate terrorism offenses:
Count one: conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals,
Count two: conspiracy to kill U.S. officers or employees,
Count three: conspiracy to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile, and
Count four: conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization
Zachariasiewicz was brought into the case against Gray by the Quillen family. In an interview with GoLocal, he described Gray bluntly: “Gray is an unbelievable con man, and he tried to con me—he is world-class.”
“He is charming, intellectual, worldly, and the last person you would expect,” said Zachariasiewicz.
When asked how much Gray stole, Zachariasiewicz said, “It is seven figures—from everything I know.”
Steve Croft, the long-time 60 Minutes correspondent, wrote a feature for Air Mail in 2022, outlining many of Gray's alleged crimes in Washington, New York, and beyond.
In May of 2016, Nannette and George Herrick hosted a wedding at their Newport home, and among their guests were Quillen and Gray.
By now, Gray was fully retired from teaching in Rome and lived with Quillen in Georgetown.
According to Newport Police Documents and court records, “On 6/8/16, Nannette Herrick hosted a wedding reception at her residence. During the reception, Herrick had been wearing a brooch valued at $32,000. After the reception, [Herrick] placed the brooch in the drawer of a table. When Herrick returned to the drawer two days later, the brooch was missing.”
“On 5/17/21, Herrick came to the Police Station with new information about her one-of-a-kind brooch. A family friend had located the brooch on the Doyle Auction House website. In August of 2016, Lawrence Gray had consigned the brooch to Doyle's. The brooch sold in October of 2016. Gray received $19,871.25 for the sale of the brooch. Gray had been a frequent customer of Doyle from 2015-2020, consigning approximately 25 jewelry and art items during that time,” according to the documents.
It is unknown how many of the items Gray sold at Doyle he rightfully owned.
“Doyle Auction House was served with a subpoena regarding Lawrence Gray and produced 155 pages worth of documentation including signed consignment agreements, settlement statements, notifications, receipts, and contract schedules. Gray was a guest at Herrick’s residence during the wedding reception. There are photographs of Gray present at Herrick’s residence at that date. Gray had also signed a wedding guest book while at the reception. Gray’s signature matches the signature on the consignment agreement with Doyle for the brooch,” according to the police documents.
“The sale information for the brooch, including an image, can still be accessed through Doyle’s website. The image of the brooch appears to match exactly the brooch Herrick was wearing at the reception, and on her provided insurance appraisal. I contacted Verdura Fine Jewelry who confirmed that the brooch had been made for Herrick’s father in 1970. There are similar open cases and ongoing law enforcement investigations in other jurisdictions, including the District of Columbia and Virginia, involving Lawrence Gray as the suspect,” stated the report.
A warrant for Gray’s arrest was issued in October 2021. He was later arrested and charged with felony larceny of something greater than $10,000.
Gray was released on $10,000 bond. Efforts to reach Gray via one of his attorneys was unsuccessful.
For the past three years, the case has had dozens of pre-trial hearings.
The next pre-trial hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday, October 8.
As the New York fraud case is concluding, Gray's Rhode Island case is up next.