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NEW YORK — In a verdict marking the resounding fall of the man known as “Vanguard,” a federal jury in Brooklyn on Wednesday took less than five hours to convict NXIVM leader Keith Raniere on all counts.
Raniere, 58, faces up to life in prison after his conviction on racketeering and other federal charges. The jury found the government had proven all the underlying acts in the racketeering charge, including identity theft, obstruction of justice, wire and visa fraud, forced labor, human trafficking, sex trafficking, money laundering, child exploitation and possession of child pornography.
Raniere’s conviction on the sex-trafficking charge carries a mandatory minimum 15-year prison term. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 25.
The verdict was announced in court just after 2:45 p.m. on the first day of deliberations. Raniere looked at the jury foreman as the verdict was delivered, but showed no emotion. Raniere has remained in custody without bond since he was arrested in Mexico in March 2018.
One of his attorneys later said that after he told his client that the swift verdict indicated he would be convicted on many of the charges, Raniere said, “That’s not justice.”
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Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and witnesses at the trial painted Raniere — a longtime Halfmoon resident who grew up in Rockland County and relocated to the Capital Region after attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy — as an emotionally cruel man who preyed on underage girls and demanded women in NXIVM’s inner circle remain rail-thin.
Outside the courthouse after the verdict was read, U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue elaborated, saying the trial “revealed that Raniere, who portrayed himself as a savant and a genius, was in fact, a master manipulator, a con man and the crime boss of a cult-like organization involved in sex trafficking, child pornography, extortion, compelled abortions, branding, degradation and humiliation.
“His crimes, and the crimes of his co-conspirators, ruined marriages, careers, fortunes and lives,” Donoghue said. “The evidence proved that Raniere was truly a modern-day Svengali.
Several people who have for years identified themselves as Raniere’s victims, and their loved ones, addressed the media, as well.
“I’m so grateful. Justice is finally here. I’m so damn grateful,” said Catherine Oxenberg, the former star of the “Dynasty” television series whose daughter, India, spent years in NXIVM and had been lured into the “master/slave” sex group that Raniere created and which led to his undoing.
Oxenberg was in tears, telling reporters she was “speechless” about the verdict. The actress and author, who wrote a book about her struggle to rescue her daughter from the cult-like organization, said she believes her daughter will eventually recover from the emotional and physical scars, including having Raniere’s initials branded into her pelvic area.
“She’s not broken,” Oxenberg said.
“The good guys won today,” said Toni Natalie, one of Raniere’s many ex-girlfriends who said she had endured years of harassment by him and his followers after she left the organization.
Raniere’s attorneys Marc Agnifilo and the Capital Region’s Paul DerOhannesian said they plan to appeal the verdict.
Even so, Agnifilo said outside the courthouse that he hoped “the verdict brings peace and closure.” He called Raniere “a complicated guy.”
DerOhannesian said Raniere was a man of principles and conviction, and said the government’s pursuit of him and other members of NXIVM’s leadership raised issues that should concern the public.
Agnifilo said the defense team met with Raniere after the jury announced it had reached a verdict on the first day it went behind closed doors to deliberate. “We said, ‘There’s a verdict — that’s not good news.'”
Agnifilo said a just sentence would be one that gives Raniere a glimmer of hope that he would be able to walk out of prison a free man.
Over the course of six weeks of testimony, the government argued that Raniere clandestinely ran a “master/slave” club in which he was the “Grand Master” and the only male member. Raniere’s involvement in the group — known as The Vow and later Dominus Obsequious Sororium, Latin for “Lord/Master of the Obedient Female Companions — was kept a secret even within NXIVM, prosecutors said.
Several female witnesses testified that they were lured into DOS under the guise that it was a women’s empowerment sorority. Instead, membership required them to provide “collateral” in the form of explicit photos and damaging information about themselves or their family members.
In secret ceremonies, a person using a cauterizing pen branded the women with Raniere’s initials.
Raniere directed his followers, including NXIVM president Nancy Salzman, known as “Prefect,” to obtain what he believed were the bank records of NXIVM’s “enemies,” including a cult expert, several politicians, lawyers and journalists (a few at the Times Union were targeted). More than $515,000 in cash was found in Salzman’s basement last year, which was adorned with photos of Raniere.
The money, which had been stored as Raniere’s get-away fund, according to the government, is being seized along with multiple Capital Region properties.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Moira Penza, Tanya Hajjar and Mark Lesko laid out Raniere’s acts, many of them committed in Knox Woods, a quiet townhouse development in Halfmoon that was home to more than two dozen senior NXIVM members. NXIVM’s business offices are on New Karner Road in Colonie.
Testimony showed Raniere had sexual relationships with more than 20 women in NXIVM, including three sisters he impregnated, leading to four abortions
One of the sisters was 15 when she began having sex with Raniere, according to testimony and evidence. Raniere groomed that girl’s older sister for sex and, after she showed interest in another man, ordered her to be confined to a room on Wilton Court in Halfmoon for nearly two years.
Raniere’s defense, led by Agnifilo, argued that while the NXIVM leader’s lifestyle and actions might be “repulsive,” the women who involved themselves with him were engaged in consensual activities. Agnifilo tried to convince the jury that some of the women in the “master/slave” group might have benefited from the experience.
Wednesday morning began with a defense motion asking the judge for permission to return witness Lauren Salzman, a former senior member and the daughter of Nancy Salzman, to the stand to respond to issues raised in the prosecution’s Tuesday rebuttal following Agnifilo’s closing argument. That request was rejected.
Raniere was arrested in March 2018 at a luxury Mexican resort, where he had fled in the aftermath of revelations that he had created DOS, whose members included TV actress Allison Mack.
Lauren Salzman testified that Raniere hid in a closet as officers stormed their Puerta Vallerta villa.
Raniere was the only defendant to stand trial after his five co-defendants — Nancy and Lauren Salzman, Mack, Seagram’s heiress and NXIVM operations director Clare Bronfman, and NXIVM bookkeeper Kathy Russell — pleaded guilty to federal felony charges in March and April.