Indian American Businessman Convicted For Sexual Assault, Strangulation

Sanjay Tripathy, an Indian American businessman who was charged with sexual and physical assault of a woman he met on a “sugar daddy” dating website, was convicted by New York’s Manhattan Supreme Court court on May 30, PTI reported. Tripathy is facing 25 years in prison for criminal sex act, sex abuse, assault, strangulation and unlawful imprisonment for an incident that occurred on June 15, 2016 at W hotel in Times Square in New York city.

The 48-year-old tech millionaire had gone out on date with the 38-year-old victim who he met through the website that pairs younger women with wealthier old men. According to what was heard in court, Tripathy asked the woman to accompany him to his room, where the date took a violent turn.

The woman told the court that Tripathy “punched her in the face some 20 times” and forced her to “perform oral sex on him.”

The extent of the violence inflicted on the woman was so much that Assistant District Attorney Kristen Baraiola told the court that the blood from the woman’s face “splattered the hotel room walls and bedspread.”

Baraiola added that “When the woman rejected his advances, the executive (Tripathy) allegedly beat her, resulting in her split lip, broken tooth, two black eyes and a bloody nose. She saw blood literally fly out of her face after being punched.”

Tripathy threatened to kill the woman, saying “you are going to die. I am going to kill you,” according to Baraiola. He also choked the woman.

The complainant said in her testimony that she managed to escape by saying that she had a six-year-old daughter at home waiting for her. She crossed the street from the hotel to a parked New York Police Department van, and informed the police that Tripathy tried to kill her.

Photos of the woman’s swollen, bruised face and neck; clumps of blood in her hair; and her two blackened eyes were submitted before the courtroom.

Tripathy’s lawyer, however, maintained that the encounter was a consensual rough sex and that the photos “showed a partial story, of what really happened inside of that hotel room.” Franklin Rothman, who was representing the businessman, also claimed that the woman accepted payment for the act.

Tripathy, a father of two, had described himself on the website as “a catch with $10 million in the bank.” As per an earlier New York Post report,  he is based in Morrisville, NC, and has a net worth of $10 million and an annual income of $1 million.

Tripathy will be sentenced for his crimes on July 18. Justice Erika Edwards directed that he has to be held without bail after his conviction.