Keith Raniere Branded Women, Had Them As Sex Slaves And Tortured Them. He Got 120 Years In Prison. It’s Not Enough

In 1963, Martin Luther King JR wrote a letter that read, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. The quote is as relevant today as it was back then. Even more, if you ask me. Today I woke up to the news of a “self-help guru” Keith Raniere being sentenced to prison for 120 years for masterminding a sex cult and forcing women into becoming his sex slaves. I was shaken. The thing is though, justice is not only about putting a criminal behind bars. It’s more about the feeling of satisfaction and relief of knowing that a man as monstrous as Keith Raniere is being held accountable and punished appropriately for his vicious crimes. However, after reading about him I felt like 120 years is also very less. 

Disgraced self-help guru, Keith Raniere is the founder of NXIVM. On paper, this organization is a multi-level marketing company but in reality, it’s nothing more than a cult. Raniere, the charismatic leader of NXIVM, has a following that includes millionaires and Hollywood starlets. Followers signed up for $5,000 invite-only self-help courses. And some were sexually and financially exploited. They were also made to follow a restrictive diet and call Raniere, Vanguard.  On Tuesday, he was sentenced to 120 years in prison, by a New York judge, for turning some of his adherents into sex slaves. 

Within NXIVM, Keith Raniere started a faction called DOS. It was a pyramid-structure where the women were “slaves” and he was the “grand-master” who sat on top. These “slaves” were not only coerced into having sex with Raniere but they were also pressured into handing over sensitive and compromising documents and photos of themselves. Some of these women were also branded, like cattle, with the initials of Keith Raniere. This is horrifying.

More than a dozen victims read impact statements in court at Keith Raniere’s sentencing, including one victim who was 15 when Raniere began having sex with her.

“He used my innocence to do whatever he wanted with me—not just sexually but also psychologically,” she said. pic.twitter.com/JptjV9Md3Q

— Sonia Moghe (@soniamoghe) October 27, 2020

US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis gave this sentence in a federal court in Brooklyn. This came after a lengthy trial featuring statements by victims of a sex-trafficking conspiracy that resulted in Keith Raniere’s conviction in July of last year. He was convicted and found guilty of all seven charges that were brought up against him. The charges included racketeering, sex trafficking, extortion, criminal conspiracy and the sexual exploitation of a 15-year-old girl. A few reports also talk about another woman who Raniere confined to a room for two years. 

According to various reports, Keith Raniere showed no remorse for his actions. His lawyers told the judge before the sentencing that he was not sorry for his, “for his conduct or his choices”. Raniere said, “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.” Isn’t this typical? A man who is accused of sexually assaulting women and keeping them as sex slaves doesn’t believe he has done anything wrong. What else is new? 

Prosecutors said Keith Raniere, led NXIVM by inducing shame and guilt to influence and control his co-conspirators to help him recruit and groom sexual partners for him. These “sexual partners” were then kept as sex slaves. Along with Raniere, five other people were also convicted and they have all pleaded guilty. 

American actress, Allison Mack (best known for her role on Smallville) has confessed to two counts of racketeering. The heiress of the Canadian drinks empire Seagram, Clare Bronfman was sentenced last month after she too, pleaded guilty. She, reportedly, got 6 years in prison for using more than $100 million of her $2.6 billion estimated net worth to fund the group. It’s kind of ironic, don’t you think? A woman funding a cult that holds other women as sex slaves for a man. 

Prosecutors were seeking life in prison, while Keith Raniere’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, was asking for 15 years. He got 120 https://t.co/fgHuOr3sp4 pic.twitter.com/kGx5vhIHrr

— Variety (@Variety) October 27, 2020

All this is extremely horrifying and worrying. One man, Raniere, orchestrated an entire criminal enterprise with sex slaves who had his initials branded into him. It all seems like a plot of a thriller fiction novel. However, we know by experience that cults like NXIVM exist all around the world. A similar example in our country would be of the now-infamous “godman” Gurmeet Ram Rahim or even the Bikram Yoga scandal. 

After reading all this, I was very curious. I dug around further and came across an article that talked about the harrowing testimonies from the “sex slaves” under Keith Raniere. 

A 32-year-old British woman claimed that they were forced to hand over compromising photos and documents as “collateral” after which she was given “sexual assignments”. She said in court that she felt “so much shame” and that Raniere would take photos of her that “mostly featured her vagina”. This woman also revealed in court that these “sex slaves” were made to wear dog collars as a way of proving their commitment to their master, Keith Raniere. 

Another woman, who is the daughter of NXIVM co-founder Nancy Salzman, claims that she was one of Raniere “first-line slaves”. She said that when those women didn’t meet his expectations, they were forced to take cold showers, stand barefoot in the snow, or withstand physical abuse in locked cages. This woman also revealed that she was one of the women who were branded with Keith Raniere’s initials. 

Also Read: #MeToo Accused Harvey Weinstein Convicted Of Third Degree Rape Charges. This Is A Huge Leap Forward For The #MeToo Movement

Keith Raniere, the leader of a company called Nxivm that prosecutors have described as a sex cult, faces life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced later today. At his sentencing hearing, 15 victims described how Raniere abused them. https://t.co/j0QZ2nBmft

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 27, 2020

According to this article, one of the most emotional testimonies came from the woman who was confined to a room for 2 years. She said that in 2006 she was regularly made to perform oral sex on Raniere. However, she infuriated him by kissing another NXIVM member. Claiming that he threw her across the room and left her there she said in court that, “He said things like I wasn’t pure anymore.” She was left in that room for two years. It was this woman’s younger sister with whom Keith Raniere had a sexual relationship when she was just 15-years-old. 

This is barbaric and beyond anyone’s imagination. 120 years feels like it’s not enough for this man. Making women wear dog collars, branding his initials on them, confining them in rooms for years and forcing a 15-year-old girl into sex. It’s giving me goosebumps just by thinking about it. He treated women as disposables and stripped them of any kind of respect and confidence that they had. And remember, these are three of the testimonies. 

To say that I am glad Keith Raniere is behind bars for the rest of his miserable life is an understatement. We can only hope that no other organization follows in the footsteps of NXIVM.

https://thehauterfly.com/lifestyle/chilling-details-about-the-rape-of-jessica-mann-emerge-in-the-harvey-weinstein-trial-and-it-will-make-your-skin-crawl/