Criminal Law
NXIVM Founder Sentenced to 120 Years in Prison
Keith Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison at a Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday for running NXIVM, a self-help organization prosecutors labeled a “criminal enterprise” exploited by Raniere for power, profit and sex.
To followers, he was known as Vanguard, but prosecutors cast Raniere as a con artist who did “immeasurable damage” to victims over 15 years of crime and exploitation. They had asked he receive a life sentence.
“You have done irreparable harm to peoples psyches, to their self-esteem, their belief in themselves and their experience of sanity and well being,” filmmaker Mark Vicente, a former member of NXIVM turned whistleblower, said in an impact statement delivered at Raniere’s sentencing.
