Nxivm Leader Keith Raniere Found Guilty on All Counts in Sex Cult Trial

By Emily Saul and Lia Eustachewich
New York Post
June 19, 2019

https://nypost.com/2019/06/19/jurors-reach-verdict-in-nxivm-sex-cult-leader-keith-ranieres-trial/

Nxivm founder Keith Raniere has been found guilty on all counts for running the upstate sex cult in which women were branded like cattle and forced to have sex with him.

Jurors in Brooklyn federal court reached the verdict Wednesday after less than five hours of deliberations — convicting him of racketeering, a charge that could put him away for life, and other counts.

Raniere mumbled under his breath as the foreperson read aloud the guilty verdicts on all seven counts against him but otherwise showed no emotion. He did not shake his attorneys’ hands before being handcuffed and led out of the courtroom.

Meanwhile, Catherine Oxenberg, the “Dynasty” star whose daughter India Oxenberg was one of Raniere’s sex slaves, sobbed throughout the entire proceeding from the back row of the courtroom.

The seven-week trial included testimony from some of Raniere’s sex slaves, who recalled in dramatic detail the self-styled guru’s twisted teachings.

Within Nxivm, Raniere ran a secret society called DOS, in which slaves were tasked with recruiting slaves of their own. The women were starved, branded with Raniere’s initials and forced to sleep with him or perform other sex acts, according to testimony.

Raniere was also accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl named Camila prior to forming DOS, which stood for Dominant Over Submissive.

He was also convicted of six other counts: racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, attempted sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy.

Other members of Nxivm were charged alongside Raniere and have all pleaded guilty. They include Nxivm president Nancy Salzman, her daughter Lauren Salzman,“Smallville” actress Allison Mack and Seagram liquor heiress Claire Bronfman, who bankrolled the group for years.

Raniere — who was known to his slaves as “Grandmaster” and “Vanguard” — did not testify.

He will be sentenced Sept. 25.

“Over the last seven weeks, this trial has revealed that Raniere, who portrayed himself as a savant and a genius, was in fact a massive manipulator, a con man and the crime boss of a cult-like organization involving sex trafficking, child pornography, extortion-compelled abortions, branding, degradation and humiliation,” Brooklyn US Attorney Richard Donoghue told reporters outside the courthouse. “The evidence proved that Raniere was truly a modern-day Svengali.”