120 YEARS FOR NXIVM SLAVE GURU
Brands victims as liars in defiant B'klyn sentencing
Nxivm leader Keith Raniere was slammed with 120 years behind bars Tuesday for running a twisted sex-slave cult where women were branded like cattle and forced to sleep with him.
The 60-year-old self-help sicko was handed the sentence in Brooklyn federal court after more than a dozen of his accusers spoke — including one who said she was just 15 when the “monster’’ took her virginity.
Raniere remained defiant until the end, insisting to the judge his victims were liars.
“They’re lying for a reason, and that reasons stems from me,’’ Raniere, dressed in prisonissued navy-blue scrubs and an orange shirt, told the court before his sentence was handed down.
“I do feel deep remorse, but I do not feel remorse for the crimes I didn’t commit.”
But Judge Nicholas Garaufis scoffed that the self-styled guru’s crimes were “cruel, perverse and extremely serious’’ as he ensured Raniere would remain in prison for life, and ordered him to pay a $1.75 million fine.
“To him, the brave victims . . . are liars,” Garaufis said in bringing down the gavel on the sextrafficker.
“Mr. Raniere remains unmoved . . . [He] has therefore failed to demonstrate remorse.’’
The judge was clearly moved during the hearing by statements from 15 people, mostly women, who recounted the horrific abuse they suffered at the cult leader’s hands.
Raniere had faced as few as 15 years on seven felony convictions including sex-trafficking, racketeering, child pornography and forced labor for the yearslong saga of sexual, physical and mental abuse involving scores of young women.
The shaggy-haired guru ran the Albany-based Nxivm, draining members of dough amid promises of promoting individual growth — all while grooming the women for his sexual pleasure, feds have said.
His reach proved far and wide — from disadvantaged towns in Mexico to Hollywood, luring actresses such as Allison Mack and Nicki Clyne, as well as Seagram’s booze heiress Clare Bronfman and India Oxenberg, the daughter of “Dynasty” star Catherine Oxenberg, into Nxivm’s ranks.
He then formed a secret master-slave “sorority” within Nxivm to carry out his illicit deeds, prosecutors said.
It was called DOS, or “Dominant Over Sub-Submissive.’’
Those who spoke against Raniere at the hearing included his first sex slave and a former DOS “master,’ ” who finally broke her silence to tell the judge that the cult leader took her virginity at age 15.
“It is difficult for me to utter his name so I will only refer to him as ‘he,’ ’’ said the woman, identified only as Camila, as she recounted how she met Raniere in her native Mexico at age 13.
She and her two older sisters were all allegedly impregnated by Raniere, then forced to get abortions.
Camila was branded on her body with Raniere’s initials, as were many other DOS members, who described being burned with a cauterizing pen with the mark above their genitals.
India Oxenberg, 29, wept as she told the judge that Raniere starved her to make her look like a 12-year-old and raped her.
She said that before he forced her to have sex with him, he would sometimes rub his hand over her branding.
It took a jury less than five hours to convict Raniere of all the counts against him at trial in June 2019 — but Garaufis said the verdict would have come even quicker had Camila taken the witness stand.
“Had she testified, it would have taken a jury 10 minutes to convict him,’’ the jurist said.
“She was groomed from the age of 13 to 15, then was seduced by Mr. Raniere for his sexual pleasure. That’s a fact.’’
When Raniere’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, tried to argue that his client’s intent was not to hurt anyone, the judge shot him down.
“But what do you think intent is when you’re a 13-year-old girl and a 43-year-old man?’’ the jurist said, referring to Camila and Raniere when they met. “I’m not going to tolerate what his intent was when he seduced a 15-year-old girl,’’ Garaufis said of Raniere. “It’s an insult.
“The branding of Camila was cruel to the point of inhumane. The harm he inflicted on her was incalculable.’’
Agnifilo tried again to defend his client, saying, “He was in love with some of these women . . . He doesn’t know how to let go.’’
But the judge just shot him down again — as Raniere’s victims made faces at each other in disbelief at the lawyer’s assertion.
Still, Raniere continues to have supporters.
Clyne, who is married to Mack and appeared on TV’s “Battlestar Galactica,’’ was among about 20 of Raniere’s devotees who showed up in court on Tuesday.
The group also included Marc Elliot, who claimed he overcame Tourette syndrome thanks to Nxivm.
“I think Keith is a good man who has helped the lives of thousands and thousands of people, and currently there is only one narrative in the media because another side has been completely silenced until only a couple of days ago,” Elliot said.
Bronfman and Mack have already pleaded guilty for their involvement in the group, with the heiress landing nearly seven years behind bars earlier this month.
Mack is still awaiting sentencing.
Raniere made a plea to the judge Tuesday to go easy on Mack.
“Allison should spend no time in prison,” Raniere said.