Keith Raniere, the leader of the sex cult Nxivm, got sentenced to 120 years in prison. The reason for this is because he led a twisted sex-slave cult, in which he branded women like cattle and forced them to sleep with him.
He was 60 years old, and he called himself a Gandhi for the wayward. But he was caught, and we all got to see his true colors. He was a perverted master manipulator. When arrested and during the trial, he was telling the judge that the people who accused him of all of the nasty things were lying.
But the Brooklyn federal Judge, Nicholas Garaufis, surely did not believe him. The judge said that he would remain in prison for the rest of his life.
To Keith, the brave victims who stood up and spoke up were seen as liars. Keith was so heartless, he remained unmoved and failed to show remorse.
Keith was, in addition to the prison sentence, charged with a 1.75 million dollar fine.
Keith got the 120-year sentence after that 15 persons, mostly female, told the judge all about the horrible things Keith had done to them and so many others.
Keith was accused of many things, including child pornography, sex-trafficking, physical and mental abuse involving very young women, and forced labor.
The poorly groomed supposed self-help guru was the leader of the Albany-based group Nxivm, were managed to use many women for his own sexual purposes. This was said by the feds;
His cult was very well known
His cult was very popular, from Mexico to Hollywood. Can you imagine how many people he mistreated? Because of this cult being well known so far and wide, he even managed to lure actresses, such as Allison Mack and Nicki Clyne. Other well-known people that he lured into the cult were Seagram's booze heiress Clare Bronfman and India Oxenberg, the daughter of TV's Catherine Oxenberg.
One of the people who broke their silence about Keith was his first sex slave and a former DOS "master" only known as Camila. She said to the judge that Keith took her virginity at the age of 15. And she first met him when she was only 13.
Camila and her two older sisters got impregnated by Keith, and then they were forced to get abortions afterwards.
Many of the cult members were branded with Raniere's initials. They have been burned with a cauterizing pen to mark an area above their genitals.
India Oxenberg, another victim of Keith's cruel doings
India Oxenberg, another one of Keith's victims, wept as she told her story to the judge. She said that Keith starved her to make her look like a 12-year-old – and then he raped her.
Keith would rub his hand over her branding, before he forced her to have sex with him.
It was a very fast trial
Keith's trial went by very fast. It took less than 5 hours for the jury to convict him. But the judge claimed that if Camila had taken the witness stand, it would have gone by a lot faster than it did.
When these victims spoke up, Raniere's lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, claimed that it was never his client's intention to hurt anyone. But the judge wouldn't accept that explanation and asked the lawyer what he thinks about the intent when you are a 43-year-old man planning to have a relationship with a 13-year-old girl. He said that explanation was an insult.
The branding on Camila was almost inhumane, the judge said. The harm inflicted on her was impossible to ignore.
Raniere's lawyer tried again to defend him, but the judge wouldn't have it. According to his lawyer, he was in love with some of these women and did not know how to let go. Raniere's victims looked at each other in disbelief.
Even after all of this, Raniere still had a ton of supporters.
