Nxivm supporter Clare Bronfman, 41, has been sentenced to 81 months in prison — significantly exceeding the federal guidelines of five years
A British-educated aspiring Olympic show jumper has been sentenced to more than six years in prison for her role in the Nxivm "sex cult".
Clare Bronfman, 41-year-old heiress to the Seagrams liqour fortune, was the first person to be sentenced in the case.
She wept as she pleaded guilty in April 2019 to charges of conspiracy to conceal and harbour an illegal alien for financial gain, and fraudulent use of identification.
Bronfman, whose fortune is estimated at $210 million (£163m), faced 30 months behind bars under federal sentencing guidelines, but Judge Nicholas Garaufis sentenced her to 81 months.
Four others, including the convicted "cult" leader Keith Raniere and former Smallville TV actress Allison Mack, who pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges, are still awaiting their fates.
Keith Raniere, the founder of Nxivm, faces more than 15 years in prison
On Wednesday the court in Brooklyn heard from nine women who were victims of the cult, which Raniere described as a self-help group, but which saw women forced to starve themselves, have sex with him and brand his initials on their hip. Bronfman financed the cult and recruited new members.
The survivors described her in court as a “dangerous megalomaniac” and “predator”.
“Did you ever consider they wanted your money? What would happen if you just stopped giving your money?” asked Susan Dones, who fled the upstate New York group.
“In my opinion, you’re a predator. Let that sink in.”
Kristin Keeffe, who worked with Bronfman for 11 years as a paralegal, also spoke, recalling how her one-time boss helped Raniere dodge child support payments for the son they share.
“I saw Clare mentally descend over several years into a dangerous megalomaniac,” said Keeffe, who fled with her son, Gaelyn, now 13, in 2014.
Raniere’s ex-girlfriend, Barbara Boucher, told Bronfman she had been duped by Raniere.
“Clare, do you realise they lied to you? You thought you were in the inner circle. You were six layers out,” she said.
“He used you. He pawned you. He made you feel special.”
Smallville actress Allison Mack, pictured in April 2018, is also awaiting sentencing
Bronfman was first introduced to Nxivm, which sells itself as a self-help and empowerment group, through her sister, Sara.
The sisters even managed to convince their father Edgar to join, and he initially praised the group. He rapidly grew disillusioned, however – reportedly when he learnt that Bronfman had lent the organisation $2 million.
In 2003 he told Forbes magazine that the organisation was “a cult” and he wished his daughters had never got involved.
“I think it’s a cult,” he said, adding that he was troubled about the “emotional and financial” investment in Nxivm by his daughters, to whom he hadn’t spoken in months.
Bronfman rose through the ranks, and in the summer of 2010 organised a seven-day celebration of Rainere’s 50th birthday. The retreat, held in upstate New York, cost up to $2,120 and was billed as “the prototype and blueprint for a new era of civilized humanity.”
Bronfman, the event coordinator, wrote that “the very purpose of VWeek is to get the chance to experience a civilized world… [and] craft for ourselves a more fulfilling, purposeful life.”
In November of the same year, Vanity Fair reported that as much as $150 million was taken out of the Bronfmans’ trusts and bank accounts and handed over to Nxivm.
Clare Bronfman is worth an estimated $200 million, having inherited the Seagrams liqor fortune
The sums included $66 million allegedly used to cover Raniere’s failed bets in the commodities market, $30 million to buy property in Los Angeles and around Albany, $11 million for a 22-seat private plane, and millions more to support a barrage of lawsuits across the country against Nxivm’s enemies.
Bronfman’s father died in December 2013, aged 84.
Her British mother Georgiana had divorced their father in 1983, and is now married to actor Nigel Havers.
On August 28 Bronfman wrote to the judge, and refused to disavow Raniere.
“Many people, including most of my own family, believe I should disavow Keith and Nxivm, and that I have not is hard for them to understand or accept,” Bronfman wrote.
“Nxivm and Keith greatly changed my life for the better. Most of my teenage years and early 20s, I was ashamed of who I was, constantly focused on my shortcomings and ridden with self-hate.
“Nxivm changed that. I learned a sense of who I am beyond my faults and the tools of how to transform things I didn’t like about myself into traits and behaviors I do. I started to embrace myself and turn outwardly to care for and help others.”
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