NXIVM Cult Leader Sentenced To 42 Months In Prison

Joe Walsh
Forbes Staff
September 8, 2021


A New York federal judge sentenced Nancy Salzman — who helped lead NXIVM alongside founder Keith Raniere — to 3.5 years in prison on a racketeering charge Wednesday, the latest prison term for a high-ranking member of a purported self-help group that was as an exploitative sex cult.

KEY FACTS

Judge Nicholas Garaufis hit Salzman with 42 months of prison time and a $150,000 fine, and she agreed to forfeit cash and other assets, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn said in a Wednesday afternoon press release.

Salzman pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy in 2019, after prosecutors accused Salzman — also known as “Prefect” — of serving as NXIVM’s president, conspiring to commit identity theft and planning to surveil the group’s perceived opponents.

Federal prosecutors asked Garaufis to impose a sentence “on the high end” of 33 to 41 months, stating in a memo last month that Salzman “enabled Raniere to maintain his position as the leader of a criminal enterprise and gain access to his victims.”

Salzman’s attorneys asked for two years of home confinement, claiming she accepts responsibility for her actions but was exploited and controlled by Raniere.

TANGENT

Several other high-level NXIVM members have already been sentenced. Raniere was given 120 years in prison last October for racketeering, sex trafficking and other charges. Actress Alison Mack was sentenced to three years in prison in June, Clare Bronfman, heiress to the multibillion-dollar Seagram’s fortune, was given 81 months of prison time last year, and Salzman’s daughter Lauren was sentenced to five years of probation in July, dodging prison time after she cooperated with prosecutors.

KEY BACKGROUND

Raniere founded NXIVM in the 1990s, offering expensive self-help classes and executive coaching sessions to thousands of people. A former nurse, Salzman served as Raniere’s longtime business partner after meeting him in 1997. But Raniere and his associates were later accused of recruiting women into a secret cult-like organization within NXIVM called DOS, in which members — referred to as “slaves” — were coerced into having sex with Raniere, branded with Raniere’s initials and blackmailed if they threatened to leave. Federal authorities charged and arrested Raniere in March 2018, and several months later, other NXIVM insiders — including Mack, Salzman and Bronfman — also faced charges.

SURPRISING FACT

Forbes was among the first media outfits that raised questions about NXIVM in 2003 when it quoted Bronfman’s father — billionaire Edgar Bronfman Sr. — saying, “I think it’s a cult,” after his two daughters, Sara and Clare, became involved in the group.

FURTHER READING

When We Exposed Keith Raniere, The Leader Of The Nxivm ‘Sex Cult’ (Forbes)

From Heiress To Felon: How Clare Bronfman Wound Up In ‘Cult-Like’ Group Nxivm (Forbes)

FURTHER VIEWING

From Heiress To Felon: How Clare Bronfman Wound Up In NXIVM | Dark Capital (Forbes)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/09/08/nxivm-cult-leader-sentenced-to-42-months-in-prison/?sh=27d1110c1aa4