Lawrence Gray, a retired political science professor, attained international notoriety when wealthy friends, including the family of a deceased Georgetown socialite, accused him of stealing and then selling off their diamonds and other valuable jewelry.
Gray had maintained his innocence — that is, until Sept. 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.
Gray also faced charges of grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, both of which were dropped as part of the plea deal.
In exchange for his guilty plea and an initial payment of $15,000, prosecutors agreed to return Gray’s passport to him “for the sole purpose” of attending his daughter’s wedding in Italy in October “as well as the wedding reception” in November, according to the agreement. He is due back in court in New York Dec. 17.
Vreeland, 97, who 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. Frederick Vreeland and his wife told Rome police that Gray, during a 2016 visit to his home there, stole several pieces of jewelry, including a pair of silver, gold, and diamond Buccellati earrings, a silver, gold and diamond pendant broach and a diamond and ruby encrusted powder case. Vreeland later saw the items listed for sale on the web site of the New York-based Doyle Auctioneers and Appraisers.
“It’s appalling that a serial thief gets away with so little punishment,” Sandra Vreeland Zwollo, Vreeland’s wife, said in an email to The Washington Post. “I’m sure Larry continues to believe himself innocent and that this is only a formality in order to attend his daughter’s wedding in Italy.”
Zwollo said she and her husband are seeking a restraining order to prevent Gray from coming to their home when he is in Italy.
Gray, 80, who taught at John Cabot University in Rome until his 2011 retirement, said during a brief phone interview that he pleaded guilty to visit his children in Europe. “The only way I could get the passport back was to accept the plea,” he said.
Gray said he does not consider his guilty plea as an acknowledgment that he took anyone’s jewelry, even though he agreed to pay restitution. “I did not steal their items,” he said, declining to elaborate.
Pressed to explain why he agreed to pay restitution, he said, “I don’t want to comment on that now but I will at another time. I don’t think we should continue the conversation at this time.”
His attorney, Christopher Zampogna, said his client agreed to the plea because he is “80 years old and he didn’t want to drag it out. He didn’t want to fight anymore.”
Gray gained international attention when the son of the woman who he lived with in Georgetown, Jacqueline Quillen, alleged in a lawsuit after her 2020 death that he stole a trove of her jewelry, art and other finery. The missing items included a $17,000 diamond ring, a $10,000 Patek Philippe watch and $4,700 diamond earrings, according to the lawsuit.
Through his relationship with Quillen, a wine expert known for her Georgetown dinner parties, Gray became a frequent guest at the homes of her wealthy friends in Washington, as well as Manhattan, the Hamptons and Rhode Island.
The lawsuit inspired national headlines. Even Hollywood has shown interest, with Academy Award winning actor Jared Leto planning to produce and star in a film based on Gray, Deadline, a website that covers the entertainment industry, reported over the summer.
A year after the D.C. lawsuit was settled, a Manhattan grand jury indicted Gray on charges that he earned $45,000 selling seven pieces of jewelry, including a 19th century pocket watch, a Van Cleef & Arpels gold, ruby and diamond ring, and Verdura platinum, diamond and sapphire brooch.
Law enforcement authorities alleged that Gray consigned the jewels to Doyle auctioneers between 2016 and 2018.
The jewels remain missing, though law enforcement authorities are still investigating.
In a separate case still pending in Rhode Island, police charged Gray with stealing a $32,000 diamond and sapphire brooch from Nannette Herrick, when he and Quillen visited her home in Newport in 2016.
Gray has pleaded not guilty in that case.
Gray’s New York plea requires him to pay Herrick $22,500.
“It’s a pittance,” she said by telephone from Rhode Island. “It will cover my lawyer’s costs and doesn’t give me any satisfaction. I’m glad he got some form of punishment but it’s more like a slap on the wrist for what he has done to people.”
Elisabeth Porter, a retiree who moved from D.C. to Portland in 2020, said Quillen and Gray twice came to her home for dinner when she lived in Georgetown. During those visits, Porter said Gray stole pieces of jewelry that were of monetary and sentimental value to her, including a ruby ring that her husband had given her for her 50th birthday.
Gray is to pay Porter $8,250, according to his plea agreement.
“I never wanted money, I wanted the jewelry back most of all,” Porter said. “I’d like to see Larry Gray in jail. He is trash.”