New Yorker created a cult that required women to be slaves

Jury jury in New York 19 June recognized the infamous leader of the cult, where women were turned into "slaves" with brainwashed, guilty of all charges.

Фото: Depositphotos

The trial of Keith Ranier, a co-founder of the NXIVM group in New York, lasted several weeks, but it took the jury only a few hours to find him guilty, writes NBC New York.

Ranier was convicted on all seven counts, which included racketeering, conspiracy to racketeering, conspiracy to compel people to work, conspiracy to fraud using electronic means of communication, sex trafficking, trafficking in women and attempted sexual assault. Now he faces life imprisonment.

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Raniere—known to the group as “Vanguard”—presided over a barbaric system in which women were told the best way to succeed was to become a “slave” under the care of “masters.” Women were required to have sex with him and perform domestic duties in the homes of their “masters,” and to keep the existence and activities of the group secret or face public humiliation.

Lawyer Ranier insisted that all his contacts with women occurred by prior mutual consent.

During the trial, amazing data about the activities of the NXIVM group and its founder surfaced.

Loren Saltzman, a former member of the NXIVM group, who pleaded guilty and collaborated with the investigation, said that Ranier showed himself to be a coward during his arrest last year in Mexico on human trafficking charges, but he was brave and ruthless when he had dealing with a follower who could not adhere to the perverse ethical code of the group.

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42-year-old Salzman was recruited along with other people and was held in a bedroom for two years, despite the fact that she handed over notes asking for her to be released.

According to Salzman, Ranier, frightened by the news that the group he created is under investigation, fled to Mexico, forcing her and several other people to go with him. The man hoped that he would restore the group there. When Mexican law enforcement officers knocked on the door of his villa in Puerta Vallarta, members of the group tried to resist them, while Ranier himself was hiding in a closet.

Salzman also detailed how Raniere treated his followers, a Mexican family with three daughters. According to the prosecution, he sexually exploited all three girls, the youngest was then 15 years old.

The accusations against Ranierre were shocking, but the matter became even more scandalous when the actress, known for her role in the Superman movie, was involved in the NXIVM. In the end, she pleaded guilty to extortion and conspiracy.

According to the prosecutor's office, actress Allison Mack acted as a host in the group, luring unsuspecting women into a group led by a man who called himself a guru, helping the stars in self-improvement.

35-year-old Mack starred in the TV series Smallville, and after it ended in 2011, she played minor roles. Admitting her involvement in the group, she cried.

“I believed Keith Raniere's intentions were to help people. And I turned out to be wrong. I know I can be better and will be better,” the actress said.

She faces 20 years in prison on every single charge and will be sentenced in September.

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But the Hollywood actress is far from the only one who turned out to be connected with NXIVM. The heir to the Seagram alcoholic corporation pleaded guilty to charges in two cases of sex trafficking related to NXIVM.

Claire Bronfman, 39-year-old daughter of Seagram's late philanthropist and CEO Edgar Bronfman, brought a tearful apology to the court, admitting that she sheltered and hid the woman she illegally brought into the country to use her unpaid work for the NXIVM group.

She also admitted that she used a dead woman's ID card and credit card to help NXIVM avoid paying taxes.

Bronfman told the judge that through NXIVM she wanted to help people, but eventually she disgraced her family.

Under a plea bargain agreement, Bronfman agreed to pay 6 millions of dollars. She faces up to 27 months of imprisonment, the verdict will be announced 25 July.

Ranyer and NXIVM have been criticized for years, starting at least from 2012, when the Times Union published a series of articles exploring the organization that claimed it was very much like a cult.

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