NEW YORK (US) – After being convicted for sex trafficking and other crimes, Keith Raniere, who founded the cult NXIVM which kept women as slaves on a starvation diet after branding them with his initials and forcing them to have sex with him, was awarded 120 years in prison.
The verdict was read out by US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn after a hearing during which 15 former NXIVM members lashed out against Raniere, 60. The judge said “no words can adequately express the lasting pain” he caused his victims.
Garaufis also imposed a fine of $1.75 million on the cult founder.
“I do believe strongly that I’m innocent of these crimes,” Raniere said before being sentenced, adding that some of the victims’ statements were false. He said he was sorry for the pain he caused them.
“It is our sincere hope that today’s sentence does deliver some measure of justice to those victims,” said Acting US Attorney Seth DuCharme, whose office prosecuted the case. “Keith Raniere will not be able to victimise people anymore.”
Federal prosecutors were seeking life imprisonment for Raniere for crimes he committed as the head of NXIVM, a purported self-help group based near Albany, New York.
Raniere’s attorney Marc Agnifilo asked for just 20 years imprisonment, arguing that his client did not mean to hurt anyone. He said the sentence should also consider Raniere’s “perspective”, which was rebuked by the judge.
“We’re not sentencing him based on a perspective,” the judge said. “We’re sentencing him based on his behaviour.”
The women, who were made to bear the brunt of his perversions, described his devastating impact on their lives.
One of the women who testified, identified in court only as Camila, recollected a 12-year sexual relationship with Raniere, which began when she was just 15 and he was 45.
“He screwed with my mind for so long that trying to find the strength and clarity to tell my story has been a slow and painful journey,” she said in court.
Her sister Daniela, too, testified in court about her relationship with the cult leader, calling him “pathetic” and said he “deserves no mercy.”
Their brother Adrian and mother Adriana were also members of the cult. He lamented how his father and eldest sister were loyal followers of Raniere.
“Before being part of NXIVM, my family was close,” Adrian said. “He destroyed my family.”
Actress India Oxenberg, who was also a former member of the cult, told Raniere at the hearing: “You stole seven years of my life that I’ll never get back.”
Raniere was convicted in June 2019 over charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and possession of child pornography in the form of photos of 15-year-old Camila, among a series of other crimes, after extensive testimony from former NXIVM members.
Prosecutors said Raniere formed a sort of secret cabal within NXIVM called DOS, where female “slaves” handed over nude photos and other compromising materials that could be used for blackmail in case they tried to leave the cult.
More than 50 people wrote to Garaufis seeking leniency for the cult leader and they include Camila’s and Daniela’s father, Hector. Many said NXIVM sessions, which could cost thousands of dollars, had bettered their lives.
“I find Hector’s letter in support of the man who abused his own daughters a disgrace,” Garaufis said.
Several associates of NXIVM have pleaded guilty to criminal charges.
The list includes Seagram liquor czarina Clare Bronfman, actress Allison Mack, former NXIVM President Nancy Salzman and her daughter Lauren Salzman, who became a star prosecution witness.
Bronfman was charged with helping bankroll NXIVM, and was sentenced in September to more than six years in jail.