Keith Raniere, leader of Nxivm sex cult, faces life sentence
Keith Raniere, once idolized by his followers as a genius, was convicted Tuesday, after prosecutors presented evidence that he had a harem of sexual “slaves” kept in line with blackmail.
It was Sept. 18, 2005, a victim said, in her statement. She was 15, and he was 46. He insisted, she said, that they both recognize the date as their anniversary.
The relationship lasted 12 years, Camila said, with Raniere repeatedly summoning her, sexually abusing her and taking nude pictures of her. She said she attempted suicide once.
“He wanted me to believe that my only value came from how he felt about me,” said Camila, who was the first victim speak at Raniere’s sentencing hearing. “It has taken a long time to process the trauma he caused.”
Raniere had promised a path to happiness, seducing successful and wealthy people including those who felt they lacked a higher purpose in life. His company offered self-empowerment workshops that were taken by Hollywood celebrities and business leaders.
But underneath the surface, Mr. Raniere was a puppet master controlling a cultlike criminal enterprise, prosecutors revealed at his trial last year. Some women in Nxivm were forced to have sex with Mr. Raniere, and even branded with his initials in a secret ceremony.
Now, Raniere, 60, is being sentenced in federal court in Brooklyn for his participation in sex trafficking and other crimes.
His conviction last year capped a stunning downfall for a man who was once idolized by his followers, but has since been exposed as a fraudster who exploited Nxivm’s adherents for money, sex and power.
Former Nxivm members said Raniere and his inner circle preyed on insecure people who hoped that immersing themselves in expensive self-help classes would unlock the key to fulfillment. Even highly educated people became trapped inside Mr. Raniere’s system, which he sold as the only way to overcome their fears, shaming anyone who tried to quit.
At Mr. Raniere’s trial, prosecutors lifted the veil on a sordid side to Nxivm (pronounced NEX-ee-um). A primary focus was a secretive women-only group inside the organization. During a videotaped initiation ceremony, the women laid naked on a table, saying, “Master, please brand me,” as a cauterizing pen seared their skin without anesthesia.
Some of those women testified that they thought they were joining a women’s empowerment group, only to discover that they were directed to have sex with Mr. Raniere.
Camila said on Tuesday that Mr. Raniere had “damaged me in so many ways,” and that she had to have an abortion “at his direction.”
The women, referred to as “slaves,” needed permission to eat and were regularly required to hand over collateral like sexually explicit videos, which they constantly feared would be released. Prosecutors called it extortion.
A jury convicted Mr. Raniere last summer after a six-week trial. Prosecutors charged him with racketeering, applying a statute that had been used to dismantle the Mafia families in New York. Besides sex trafficking, the jury found him guilty of crimes that included child pornography, forced labor, identity theft and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors have said in court papers that Mr. Raniere deserves a life sentence, a punishment that is typically reserved for cases involving deaths or murders.
— New York Times: Top Stories
