On Tuesday, NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere, 60, was sentenced to 120 years behind bars, but Raniere still stated, “I do believe I am innocent of the charges. … It is true I am not remorseful of the crimes I do not believe I committed at all,” as NBC News reported. “Raniere, 60, had been facing a maximum sentence of life in prison after being convicted of sex trafficking of children, conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit forced labor in June 2019,” the Daily Mail explained.
Fifteen of Raniere’s victims gave statements at the hearing before the sentence.
Judge Nicholas Garaufis stated that Raniere was “ruthless and unyielding” in crimes that were “particularly egregious,” adding that his actions were “cruel, perverse and extremely serious. Despite everything that has happened and despite the countless victims who have given voice to their great pain, Mr. Raniere remains unmoved. Indeed, he maintains his innocence. To him, the brave victims who have spoken out about the abuse suffered at his hands — including those who spoke today — are liars,” CNN reported.
“After the victims’ statements, Mr. Raniere’s lawyer, Mr. Agnifilo, argued that his client never intended to hurt any women, saying he was in love with them and simply had trouble dealing with breakups. In a stunning moment, Judge Garaufis interrupted Mr. Agnifilo in the middle of his speech, yelling, “No!” Garaufis added, “It’s an insult to the intelligence of anyone who listens,” according to The New York Times.
Prosecutors wrote that since his conviction in 2019, Raniere remained “unrepentant” with “no empathy for his victims … In his communications with his supporters, Raniere repeatedly attempts to cast himself as a victim of persecution and harassment from the government and from unknown enemies.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme said, “When justice catches up to you, as it did today, it is severe. Keith Raniere will not be able to victimize people anymore after today’s sentence and we’re very grateful for that.”
Raniere founded NXIVM in 1998; over the next 19 years, 17,000 people were recruited. A sub-sect named DOS included women as his sexual slaves and under his strict control. The indictment against Raniere stated:
DOS operates as a pyramid with levels of “slaves” headed by “masters.” Slaves are expected to recruit slaves of their own (thus becoming masters themselves), who in tum owe service not only to their own masters but also to masters above them in the DOS pyramid. Raniere alone forms the top of the pyramid as the highest master. Other than Raniere, all participants in DOS are women. Raniere’s status as head of the pyramid was concealed from all newly recruited slaves, other than those directly under Raniere.
One victim, now an adult, whom Raniere was convicted of sexually exploiting when she was 15, issued a statement saying, “I will only call him ‘he.’ He doesn’t deserve anything more than that.” She detailed how she met Raniere at the age of 13, and how he groomed her by asking her sexually explicit questions “escalating in detail over time,” CNN noted.
India Oxenberg, a DOS “slave,” stated she was “instructed” to seduce Raniere and branded with Raniere’s initials, adding, “I was branded with a cauterizing pen. This extremely painful procedure lasted for over 30 minutes and took months to heal. I may have to live the rest of my life with Keith Raniere’s initials seared to my flesh. I am not sure how I will ever be able to fully put this behind me.”
She continued, “I was totally frozen, leaving my body so (that) I didn’t have to be with you when you would rub your fingers across my brand without me knowing it was your monogram you gazed and smiled at.”
Another victim wrote, “I became unreachable to my parents, my brother, my friends until I had nobody to worry about me. He knew the things that mattered most to me and what I feared and used that against me.”
Raniere wrote a February email saying that his prosecution was a “political, envy-driven, money-powered lie to destroy a community and keep me either incarcerated for life or otherwise ‘disposed of.’” He told a supporter that Garaufis “needs to know he’s being watched.”
In April 2019, TV star Allison Mack pled guilty to charges concerning her involvement with NXIVM. Mack pled guilty to manipulating women into becoming sex slaves for Raniere.