Accused rapist Ryan Hemphill built false persona of wealth, power

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

SHARE THIS —April 30, 2025, 6:03 AM EDTBy Matt Lavietes

In the years before prosecutors accused him of torturing and raping six women inside his midtown Manhattan apartment, Ryan Hemphill presented himself to the world as a success story.

Across his three personal websites and LinkedIn profile, Hemphill, 43, flashed a law degree, an MBA, ownership of a private equity firm, a nonprofit and a former role at the United Nations. On Thursday, New York prosecutors said he used that image of wealth and power "as both sword and shield" to prey on women, charging him with 116 counts of rape, strangulation, predatory sexual assault and bribery, among other charges.

"He told them that he had resources that made him untouchable, including purported deep connections in law enforcement and in organized crime," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at a news conference. "He impressed upon them that going to the authorities would be futile and that he would never be held accountable."

But upon closer examination, Hemphill's projected image of affluence and influence appears to crumble.

Driving his supposed success appears to be two companies he says he founded: New York City-based private equity firm Madison Park Capital Advisors, Inc. and online car auction site the MB Market, according to his LinkedIn.

On one of his personal websites, he boasts of clients including an international men's fashion label and "one of the largest residential real estate developers in the Midwest."

However, the LinkedIn profile and official website of Madison Park Capital Advisors lists its location as Seattle, Washington, not New York City. The firm's website does not list Hemphill as a founder or an employee. The "Madison Park Capital Advisors" listed on Hemphill's LinkedIn profile also links out to the Seattle firm.

One of the firm's principals, Chris Featherstone, said in an email that he does not know who Hemphill is.

"He is not related to us whatsoever," Featherstone said, before declining to comment further.

NBC News couldn't find records for another company under the name "Madison Park Capital Advisors" in New York or any other state. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission referred NBC News to its website, which did not list Hemphill or any companies associated with his name in a database for investment companies and registered investment advisers.

"When I saw the news report and it referred to the money and power, I certainly chuckled," said a person who's worked for Hemphill. "Either I was scammed or, otherwise, my sense is there's not a lot of money and certainly not a lot of power there."

The person, who spoke with NBC News on the condition of anonymity due to fear of being associated with the allegations against Hemphill, said Hemphill frequently complained about his finances.

Hemphill's attorney, Caroline Ng — a public defender of the Legal Aid Society — and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office declined to comment. Hemphill pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.

Hemphill's history with the other company he claims to have founded, the MB Market, is somewhat more verifiable.

A spokesperson for the MB Market said in a statement that Hemphill was an "early investor" in the auction site, which launched in 2020, but noted they "would not consider him to be an original founder."

"He is no longer affiliated with the company and hasn't been for quite some time," the spokesperson wrote. "He entered into a private agreement with the company that prohibits the company from commenting further."

On Jan. 31, 2024, Hemphill sued the founders of the MB Market for trying to sell the company without his prior knowledge that month, according to court records.

Hours after the sale of the company was announced, Hemphill sent threatening text messages to Ben Everest, one of the company's co-founders, according the MB Market's response to the suit. In the exchange, Hemphill insinuates that he knew the former head of the Federal Trade Commission and would use the connection to punish Everest and Blakley Leonard, the co-founder of the MB Market.

"I will spend every waking moment, and every g------ time I have to ensure that the rest of his life is nothing but suffering," Hemphill wrote about Leonard, according to the documents.

"The amount of fire I have to burn in response to this exceeds anything they could potentially anticipate," Hemphill wrote in another text, according to the documents. "I will do TIME to f--- them up. Praise be to GOD."

Everest and Leonard did not return multiple requests for comment. Hemphill, Everest and Leonard ended up settling, with Hemphill selling his share of the company, according to the documents.

In New York, prosecutors accuse Hemphill of similarly leveraging false connections to officials to intimidate women, including threatening he could get them arrested if they reported him to authorities.

"You prostitute," he texted one of the women on Dec. 22, according to prosecutors. "Did you not notice all the police business cards on my f------ coffee table? I know half the precinct, you f---.

A man who is familiar with the business operations of the MB Market — and spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fear of association with the accusations against Hemphill — said Hemphill "couldn't really answer any legal or business questions with any sort of certainty."

When they began working together, the man said he was suspicious of Hemphill and confronted him about his business dealings.

"I asked him point blank, 'have you ever done private equity?' And he admitted it to me and said, 'no,'" the man said.

NBC News confirmed with the New York State Unified Court System that Hemphill is a licensed attorney with a law degree from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. Hofstra confirmed Hemphill obtained his law degree there, in addition to obtaining his bachelor's degree in drama and MBA at the university.

Other aspects of his resume remain unverified. The other previous employers he lists on his LinkedIn profile declined to comment or could not be reached for comment.

Building a strong online profile could have been useful for Hemphill.

Officials said that between October 2024 and March, Hemphill met several of the six women he's accused of torturing and raping online, including on Seeking.com, SugarDaddy and SugarDaddyMeet, FetLife, and Craigslist.

He allegedly offered the women large sums of money in exchange for sex and companionship, but often did not pay them on agreed-upon amounts or paid them with fake money, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors allege Hemphill recorded the sex acts and torture, during which he allegedly punched, waterboarded, urinated on and used shock collars and cattle prods to harm the women. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said on Thursday that prosecutors believe "there may be more survivors," adding that "dozens, if not hundreds, of women are captured on that footage."

"The defendant told these survivors that he was untouchable," Bragg said. "The indictment makes clear that he was wrong."

Matt Lavietes

Matt Lavietes is a reporter for NBC News.

Adam Reiss contributed.