NXIVM sex cult co-founder sentenced to 3.5 years in jail, ordered to pay $150K fine – National

A former nurse, co-founder and former executive of the hit group NXIVM, where prosecutors say women were brainwashed, branded as animals and forced into sex, was arrested Wednesday. sentenced to 42 months in prison but will not be locked up until January.

Nancy Salzman, former president and co-founder of NXIVM, also had to pay a $150,000 fine, said U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis. She agreed to lose more than $500,000 in cash, some property, and a Steinway grand piano.

Mr. Garaufis said Salzman had to go to prison on January 19. Her lawyers said she cared for her ailing mother.

Speaking in Brooklyn federal court, Salzman, 67, said she was bewitched by NXIVM leader Keith Raniere when they started working together 20 years ago and she began to rationalize and ignore the problems. misbehavior she sees around her. She offered an apology to everyone she hurt.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself,” she said.

Salzman, known to the Albany-based group as “The Prefect,” pleaded guilty in March 2019 to charges of conspiracy to commit fraud involving conspiracy to steal identity and conspiracy to obstruct the public. physical. She was one of the first on the group’s leadership to plead guilty to criminal charges.

At the time, a tearful Salzman said she was confused with Raniere, a self-improvement guru and self-proclaimed spiritual leader, because she wanted to help people improve their lives. them but in the end she lost her way when she helped track down the perceived enemy. who sought to expose the group as a cross between a pyramid scheme and a cult.

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At Salzman’s sentencing, Garaufis said she positioned herself with Raniere “at the top of the pyramid of NXIVM” and “left trauma and devastation” when she awoke.

“Because of her false loyalty and blind loyalty to Keith Raniere, the defendant participated in a fraudulent conspiracy designed to intimidate NXIVM detracts and cause harm to members. of NXIVM,” Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said in a statement after Salzman’s sentencing.

Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison last October for turning several women into sex slaves with his initials and sexually abusing a 15-year-old child. The group has attracted millionaires, including Seagram’s liquor heir Clare Bronfman, and Hollywood actors, including “Smallville’s” Allison Mack on TV.

Bronfman was sentenced a year ago to nearly seven years in prison. Mack was sentenced to three years in prison in June. Salzman’s daughter, Lauren Salzman, was sentenced to five years of probation in July and ordered to perform 300 hours of community service for her role in the group.

Nancy Salzman’s crimes involved stealing the identities of group critics and breaking into their email accounts between 2003 and 2008, prosecutors said. She was also charged with conspiring to record a doctor video showing her teaching NXIVM lessons before the recordings were turned over to plaintiffs in a New Jersey lawsuit against the group.

An NXIVM biography of Salzman posted on the internet says she was a consultant to New York State and large corporations “until she met Keith Raniere and discovered an approach to personal development that brings powerful and lasting results.”