Former New York City real estate finance executive pleads guilty to drugging, raping teenager

NEW YORK — A former New York City real estate finance executive pleaded guilty Tuesday to drugging and raping a teenage girl for months.

Answering a judge’s questions, 56-year-old Michael Olson admitted to, among other things, giving cocaine to a minor, raping her and filming it.

Olson also admitted to soliciting other children.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office said Olson targeted teenage girls by offering them money and gifts on social media.

“He accepted the plea because he was guilty, as anybody else who pleads guilty,” defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said. “He’s miserable about what happened. He’s miserable about what he did, and he understands it’s wrong.”

Olson arrested after teenage girl overdosed in NYC hotel room

According to the district attorney’s office, in 2022, Olson responded to a 14-year-old girl’s Instagram post about clothes being too expensive. Investigators say he sent her a gift card, began to pay her to spend time with him, and then, over the course of six months, took her to hotel rooms in Queens and Manhattan and repeatedly raped her.

Investigators say Olson also took the teenager on trips to Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Miami, pretending she was his daughter when purchasing plane tickets.

In May 2023, the teenage girl began overdosing while in a Manhattan hotel room with Olson, the DA’s office says. EMTs responded to the scene and took the girl to a local hospital, where she recovered, investigators say. Olson was arrested.

During their investigation, authorities found four additional victims, who were all 15 years old or younger. Investigators say Olson created 18 pieces of child sexual abuse material of the victims.

Investigators say Olson continued to “engage in a course of conduct” against some of the victims even after he had been arraigned and was placed on electronic monitoring.

As part of his plea, Olson will be sentenced to 16 years behind bars. His next court date is in February.

contributed to this report.

Alice Gainer

Alice Gainer joined CBS News New York as a reporter and anchor in January 2013. She covers breaking, feature and general assignment stories.