48.5 F
New York
Thursday, March 28, 2024

NXIVM Co-Founder Nancy Salzman Gets 31/2 Years in Jail; Claims Raniere Controlled Her

Related Articles

-Advertisement-

Must read

Edited by: TJVNews.com

The bizarre Nxivm sex cult that is often linked to Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman is once again dominating the headlines. Nancy Salzman, a co-founder of the crazed cult, was sentenced on Wednesday to three and half years in prison for her unwavering support of sex cult leader Keith Raniere, as was reported by the NY Post.

Salzman, 67, was assigned to protect Raniere by viciously targeting his critics and enemies, the paper reported. Defense lawyers and others who watched this case were surprised that the former nurse got 42 months in the slammer as she cooperated with authorities and served as a facilitator of confessions from other prominent members of the group.

Showing up to federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday wearing black slacks and a white blouse, apologized for her role in the group in which prosecutors say some women were brainwashed, branded like animals and coerced into becoming sex slaves for Raniere, according to an AP report.

The Post reported that Salzman told the court that she was also victimized by Raniere and that she felt that she did not deserve to be imprisoned.

U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis rejected Salzman’s plea. He said: “You were Mr. Raniere’s second-in-command and shared his power. “You enabled and facilitated Mr. Raniere’s heinous crimes. In your 20 years at Nxivm, the door was always open but you never left.”

Moreover, Garaufis ordered that Salzman pay a $150,000 fine. AP reported that Salzman agreed to forfeit more than $500,000 in cash, several properties and a Steinway grand piano.

Salzman will not begin her prison term until January. AP reported that her attorneys have said that she has been caring for her mother, who is ill.

While in court, Salzman said that she fell under Raniere’s spell when they started working together 20 years ago and that she started rationalizing and overlooking the wrongdoing she saw around her. She offered an apology to everyone she’s hurt.

“I don’t know that I can ever forgive myself,” she said, according to the AP report.

Salzman, known within the Albany-based group as “Prefect,” pleaded guilty in March 2019 to charges of racketeering conspiracy that involved conspiracy to commit identity theft and conspiracy to obstruct justice. She was one of the first in the group’s leadership to plead guilty to criminal charges, according to the AP report.

At that time, a tearful Salzman said she got mixed up with Raniere, a self-professed spiritual leader, because she wanted to help people improve their lives but that she ended up losing her way by helping spy on perceived enemies who sought to expose the group as a cross between a pyramid scheme and a cult.

At Salzman’s sentencing, Garaufis said she had positioned herself alongside Raniere “atop the NXIVM pyramid” and “left trauma and destruction” in her wake, as was reported by AP.

“In her misguided loyalty and blind allegiance to Keith Raniere, the defendant engaged in a racketeering conspiracy designed to intimidate NXIVM’s detractors and that inflicted harm on NXIVM’s members,” Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said in a statement after Salzman’s sentencing.

balance of natureDonate

Latest article

- Advertisement -