The leader of the NXIVM cult, Keith Raniere has finally been sentenced. The U.S. Attorney's Office has just made the ruling public knowledge.
The NXIVM Cult
The NXIVM cult promised growth and personal development a great personal and financial expense much like Scientology with similar expensive course loads and strange practices. NXIVM also recruited celebrities like Smallville actress Allison Mack who eventually rose to the top of NXIVM.
Leader Keith Raniere a.k.a. "The Vanguard" operated a highly manipulative and abusive system where the women were controlled in literal "slave" and "master" relationships, even branding themselves (unbeknownst to the women) with Keith and Allison's initials. Allison and many other high profile celebrities and wealthy characters were used to recruit and groom sexual partners for Keith including underage girls.
The recruits would be forced to hand over damning "collateral" like nude photographs or personal information which would be used to prevent the recruits from leaving the cult out of fear of blackmail. Countless of the victims including Dynasty actress Catherin Oxenberg's daughter India, were either in a Stockholm syndrome-like state or afraid their "collateral" would be sent to friends and family if they did not participate in sexual acts with Rainier.
He and the fake self-help group NXIVM were able to raise a lot of money from their victims or higher-ups like Clare Bronfman, the heir to the Seagram's liquor fortune, to intimidate cult defectors into keeping their silence. Mack personally campaigned for NXIVM and recruited girls for the group. Both Keith and Mack were arrested in 2018 along with a few other high members of the cult.
Mack was charged with sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, and even being involved in immigration scams. In 2019 she plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy and racketeering and was set to be sentenced in September.
Allison's sentencing was postponed to give the court enough time to conduct pre-sentencing investigations." While in court the Smallville actress claimed she, "Believed Keith Raniere's intentions were to help people and I was wrong." She also cried and apologized to the women she damaged, including the many women who were branded in her own home and under her supervision.
NXIVM Cult Leader Keith Raniere Sentenced To 120 Years
Now, Keith himself has finally been sentenced, earning a whopping 120 years behind bars for sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography, sex trafficking, attempted sex trafficking, identity theft of 5 different people, trafficking for labor and services, forced labor, forced labor conspiracy, conspiracy to alter records, racketeering, and wire fraud conspiracy. The jury took a mere five hours to convict Keith.
Dynasty actress and mother of victim India Oxenberg, Catherine, told People, "Keith can no longer use his power, privilege, and access to unlimited wealth to silence and abuse his victims. He has been held accountable for his crimes. I am so grateful to the court, the many branches of government who helped to take him down... The world is a safer place with Keith Raniere behind bars for the next 120 years."
HBO has just released an original documentary The Vow that deep dives into the terrifying cult and even interviews Keith Raniere before he received his heavy sentence. See the trailer for The Vow here:
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