NXIVM sex cult co-founder sentenced to 42 months in prison
The co-founder and former president of the NXIVM sex cult has been sentenced to 42 months in prison.
Nancy Salzman acted as the ‘right hand’ of Keith Raniere, who is currently serving a 120 year sentence for crimes including sex trafficking after his victims said they had been kept as ‘sex slaves’ by the cult leader.
She was found guilty for her role as an ‘enabler’ of the grooming and abuse of women by its leader.
Salzman was convicted in 2019 of racketeering conspiracy, after a court heard how she worked to obstruct and investigate ‘perceived critics and enemies’ of NXIVM. Over the course of more than a decade Salzman led attempts to ‘intimidate NXIVM’s detractors’ out of ‘misguided loyalty and blind allegiance to Raniere,’ Acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Jacquelyn Kasulis said following the sentencing.
In addition to prison time, Nancy Salzman, 67, was ordered by U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis to pay a $150,000 fine for racketeering conspiracy, including conspiracy to commit identity theft and obstruct justice. The Clifton Park, N.Y., resident will also forfeit more than $500,000 in cash, as well as real estate and a Steinway grand piano.
The sentencing comes just over two months after actor Allison Mack was sentenced to three years in prison for her role in grooming women for the cult, which marketed itself as a self help group for wealthy and successful women.
Salzman expressed regret over her role in the cult in a sentencing hearing on Wednesday, September 8, saying she was ‘horrified and ashamed’, and described Raniere as a ‘narcissistic sociopath,’ the New York Daily News reports,
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