Nxivma founder Keith Raniere, the leader of the controversial New York-based self-help group, was found guilty Wednesday of federal charges of human trafficking for sexual exploitation and racketeering, according to John Marzulli, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office.
Raniere has pleaded not guilty to all seven charges he faced. His conviction came after in April his first lieutenant in the group, ex Smallville actress Allison Mack, for conspiracy and racketeering charges. Mack will be sentenced in September.
Prosecutors described Nxivm as a sexual pyramid scheme involving sex slaves, with Raniere at the top. The group has long touted itself as a group that empowers people and helps them manage emotional trauma, but prosecutors said it has a darker side built on coercion and manipulation.
CNN reports that U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said that “Raniere, who presented himself as an expert and a genius, was actually a great manipulator, fraudster and criminal boss of a cult-like organization involved in sex trafficking, child pornography, extortion, forced abortion, branding, degradation and humiliation.”
Investigators said Raniere, who was known to his followers as “Vanguard”, occupied the top of a pyramid called DOS, with a series of female “slaves”, each of whom could become the “master” of the slaves below her.
One former devotee described Nxivm as a “cult” and the group has come under scrutiny from both the police and the press after coming under fire for criticism. Dynasty actress Catherine Oxenberg, whose daughter India joined in 2011 (India has since left the group.)
Matt Baron/BEI/REX/Shutterstock How Smallville’s Allison Mack allegedly recruited unwitting women into a sexual ‘pyramid scheme’
The criminal complaint against Raniere, obtained by PEOPLE, describes how authorities believe the women at DOS were forced to hand over “collateral” — identified as potentially damaging personal information or material, such as nude photos, that could later be used to blackmail them.
The women victimized by Mack and Raniere believed their “collateral” would be released if they did not engage in sexual activity with the Nxivma leader, prosecutors said.
• Want to keep up with the latest crime reports? Click here to get the latest crime news, follow up on ongoing trials and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
Authorities said Mack forced DOS slaves, including a woman identified as Jane Doe 1, to have sex with Raniere and that Mack “prepared DOS slaves to have sex with Raniere by demanding [them] following extremely restrictive diets and not removing their pubic hair (in accordance with Raniere’s sexual preferences) and requiring them to remain celibate and not masturbate.”
Catherine Oxenberg has spoken out after the founder of the Daughters’ Self-Help Group was accused of sexual slavery
According to arguments presented by prosecutors in court documents, Mack allegedly required the group’s slaves to participate in “readiness” exercises that required them to respond to their masters at any time of the night. Mack’s female slaves were also allegedly “severely sleep-deprived and emaciated to the point where they stopped menstruating.”
Mack “received a financial benefit [in] a form of continued status and participation in DOS, as well as financial opportunities from Raniere,” according to court documents filed by prosecutors.
Raniere was arrested in March 2018 in Mexico.
The woman says SmallvilleAllison Mack tried to recruit her into an alleged sex group with ‘creepy’ emails
Before the trial, Raniere asked that the charges against him be dismissed. In the filing, his lawyers described Nxivm as a “wonderful humanitarian organization” that is “dedicated to achieving peace on a global scale.”
The filing added, “If there was a polar opposite of an organized crime family, Nxivm would be it.”
The petition further claims that “Nxivma members have worked to end violence in Mexico, introduced tools useful for people with difficult conditions such as Tourette syndrome, pioneered multilingual schools for young children, who would become proficient in multiple languages and later multicultural adults and have developed approaches that help people lead happier, more productive and enriched lives.”
Raniere’s lawyers were not immediately available for comment and it was unclear if they planned to appeal the ruling.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education