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Posted: 28 Sep 2020 12:21 PM PDT

The Daily Beast

'Dangerous Megalomaniac': Seagram's Heiress Sentenced to 81 Months in NXIVM Sex Cult Case

For years, Seagram's liquor empire heiress Clare Bronfman dedicated her time—and millions—to NXIVM as its operations director and one of its largest donors, going to extreme lengths to protect the self-help group and its leader.But on Wednesday, the 41-year-old was sentenced to 81 months in prison for her role in the purported cult that branded women and manipulated them into master-slave relationships. She pleaded guilty a year ago to conspiracy to conceal and harbor illegal aliens for financial gain, and fraudulent use of identification.Prosecutors had asked the judge to give her a 60-month sentence, arguing that she had shown continued loyalty to NXIVM's founder Keith Raniere and made "obsessive" attempts to investigate and intimidate possible critics of NXIVM. NXIVM Cult Leader's Jailhouse Call to Disciples: 'The Judge Needs to Know He's Being Watched'However, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis believed she deserved additional time. He gave her almost seven years in prison and a $500,000 fine.Before the sentencing, nearly a dozen former members gave victim statements in court, detailing how Bronfman enabled Raniere and a purported self-help group that ruined their lives. Barbara Bouchey, a former high-ranking member who left in 2009, said Bronfman threatened her with civil and legal action, and she feared that "Clare's stalking of me is not over," according to the Times Union. Toni Natalie, Raniere's ex-girlfriend, told the judge that Bronfman "was a pivotal part in trying to destroy my life."Another former member, Susan Dones, said, "In my opinion you're a predator. You should feel shame, self loathing...I pray that you will take the claws of Keith Raniere out of you, and you will learn who Clare Bronfman really is."In a stunning move, Kristin Keeffe, who has a 13-year-old son with Raniere and worked for Bronfman in NXIVM's legal department for a decade, said she saw Bronfman "mentally descend over several years into a dangerous megalomaniac."Keeffe, who left the group in 2014, said Bronfman helped Raniere dodge child support payments, and reduced her salary and billed her rent for a NXIVM townhouse after Keeffe protested a legal attack on Bouchey."She was trying to psychologically break me," Keeffe said, noting that while she was struggling on a $13,000 annual salary, Bronfman "rode a $1 million horse, bought a 6,500 square foot mansion and flew in her $11 million private jet."> Here's some recap of what I heard during victim impact statements. Apologies for the wind and somewhat scattered info. You can expect a full, comprehensive report tonight on @WTEN pic.twitter.com/l4iTb84N3K> > — Giuliana Bruno (@GiulianaBrunoTV) September 30, 2020Bronfman was one of five women who was charged alongside Raniere in 2018, including alleged NXIVM co-founder Nancy Salzman and her daughter Lauren, a top lieutenant; Smallville actress and alleged second-in-command Allison Mack; and the group's bookkeeper, Kathy Russell. While all five pleaded guilty to racketeering charges, Salzman was the only one to testify against Raniere.As the first of NXIVM's inner circle to be sentenced in Brooklyn federal court, Bronfman's sentence marks another step in the unraveling of the once ultra-secretive "self-help" organization founded by Raniere in Albany, New York, over two decades ago.Raniere, 60, was convicted last June of seven offenses including sex trafficking for founding a criminal enterprise that allowed him to have sex with underage girls, force women he impregnated to have abortions, and command his "slaves" to illegally monitor his enemies. He is facing a life sentence.NXIVM began in 1998 and amassed an estimated 17,000 members, luring them in with $5,000 workshops that promised to give followers the skills to promote a path to "greater self-fulfillment." Prosecutors, however, say it was an illegal pyramid scheme, sucking in new recruits who were made to recruit others. It relied heavily on Bronfman's unlimited bank account, too.To prove her loyalty to NXIVM, Bronfman allegedly helped Raniere steal email passwords from "perceived enemies," laundered money to help a non-citizen enter the U.S. in the name of the program's success, and paid off debts the founder had racked up on a dead girlfriend's credit card."Bronfman spent millions of dollars of her inherited fortune on Raniere's endeavors. She pursued Raniere's accusers and critics by dispatching powerful teams of lawyers, private investigators, and public relations firms to attempt to discredit them and dredge up information that could be used to undermine their claims," a prosecutors' memo to Garaufis said earlier this month, claiming that even now "Bronfman continues to support Raniere."How NXIVM's Sex-Cult Sorority Started as an Anti-Trump GroupThe memo detailed how Bronfman provided millions to NXIVM and Raniere's various investment interests, including giving him $67 million because he "wished to invest in the commodities market… with no expectation that he would ever be in a position to pay her back (he didn't)."Investigators began to look into the organization in 2017 after former members came forward stating they were lured into a master-slave program named DOS under the guise of it being a secret women's empowerment group. In reality, they claimed, the women were forced to have sex with Raniere, blindly obey their "masters," and brand themselves with his initials near their crotch with a cautery pen—without anesthesia. Allegations of the sinister sorority, which allegedly began in 2015, were also exposed in a bombshell New York Times report.In addition to sending former members threatening letters to stop speaking out about NXIVM, the heiress hired a psychologist, private investigators, and a public relation firm to "rehabilitate the public image of DOS," but made no attempt to contact any of the women who had spoken out about their abuse, the sentencing memo said."The only reason for Bronfman and Raniere to send these letters to sex trafficking victims was to attempt to threaten and intimidate them, efforts which succeeded," the memo states.In her own sentencing memo filed last month, Bronfman claimed that she didn't know the disturbing details relating to DOS until after Raniere's arrest in 2018 and his subsequent trial in which women detailed the manipulation and fear they endured at the hands of Bronfman.In another letter to the court, she stressed that she "never meant to hurt anyone, however I have and for this I am deeply sorry." But despite her remorse, Bronfman said she wouldn't disavow Raniere because "NXIVM and Keith greatly changed my life for the better."On Tuesday, Bronfman's legal team also revealed in a letter to Garaufis that the Seagram's heiress has a "possibly serious liver ailment," thus putting her at "heightened health risk" amid the coronavirus pandemic. Although the letter didn't ask for her sentencing to be postponed, Bronfman has already asked for several delays due to the pandemic.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Move for jobs The The Advertiser and Sunday Mail Letters to the Editor September 28-October 4 | Adelaide Now - The Advertiser

Posted: 27 Sep 2020 06:40 PM PDT

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Move for jobs The The Advertiser and Sunday Mail Letters to the Editor September 28-October 4 | Adelaide Now The Advertiser