Posted on 10/27/2020 3:26:16 PM PDT by BenLurkin
"I can still hear his voice in my head," the woman in her early 30s told the Brooklyn courtroom Tuesday, her voice shaking.
"He robbed me of my youth,'' the woman, Camila, told the court, according to the New York Post. "He used my innocence to do whatever he wanted with me."
At the end of Tuesday's sentencing hearing, in which victims of NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere recounted their stories in sometimes painful detail, the 60-year-old Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison.
Camila was one of 15 victims scheduled to testify against Raniere on Tuesday, part of an attempt by federal prosecutors to secure a life sentence for the defendant. He has been in prison since jurors found him guilty last year of sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, human trafficking and multiple counts of racketeering.
Victims painted a picture of a charismatic self-help guru who lured followers with promises that he would help them take control of their lives. But once ensconced in his orbit, many of the women were indoctrinated by Raniere, who pressured them to have sex with him, and even branded his initials on their skin with a cauterizing pen.
"He screwed with my mind for so long," said Camila, the first of several victims to speak during the victim-impact section that preceded Raniere's sentencing in federal court, the New York Post reported. She was 15 years old and a virgin when Raniere raped her, she said, according to the Post. Camila said her sexual relationship with Raniere lasted 12 years.
The abuse went beyond the physical. She said the cult leader, then in his mid-40s, manipulated her psychologically, to the point where she isolated herself from friends and family, so she could be his, alone. The Daily Beast reported she told the court she decided to speak up as a way of getting her voice back and "coming to terms with the trauma and the abuse."
Former NXIVM member India Oxenberg told the court Raniere was a sexual predator who forced her to lose so much weight that she stopped menstruating. According to The Independent, she lamented that she "may have to spend the rest of my life with Keith Raniere's initials seared into me."
Defense attorneys argued that Raniere is innocent and blamed his conviction on a "media campaign" that led to an unfair trial. Multiple documentaries have been produced about NXIVM (pronounced "Nex-ee-um"), which some have also likened to a pyramid scheme. His attorneys had asked U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis for a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
NXIVM was publicly advertised as a professional development company that offered seminars attended by an estimated 18,000 people since the 1990s. It offered intensive therapy courses lasting several days and claimed to help people overcome major trauma by "integrating" those experiences into their lives.
But the group also demanded loyalty to Raniere, who was known to followers as the guru named "Vanguard," believed by some of them to be an "evolved" being.
Prosecutors said Raniere had created a secret group within NXIVM, called DOS — an acronym for "Dominus Obsequious Sororium," which translates to "Master Over Slave Women." The women were expected to turn over incriminating photos that could be used against them if they ever tried to leave.
One of Raniere's co-conspirators, 41-year-old heiress Clare Bronfman, was sentenced this month to nearly seven years in prison for fraud and forced labor as one of the executives of NXIVM.
Allison Mack must be filling her pants hearing this sentence.
SPJNK.
I was thinking the same thing. She was the head of DOS under Raniere.
Why Chloe, why?
Just like anybody who ever got a tattoo he or she regretted.
What he did is not as bad as cutting off someone’s gonads, but people are not going to prison for that.
Jerry: What do you mean you show up?
George: I show up. I pretend I have the job. The guy's on vacation. If I have the job, it's fine. If I don't have the job, by the time he comes back, I'm ensconced.
Jerry: Hmm. Not bad.
****
George: I gotta find a way to work this out, I love that apartment. It's so cozy, I'm ensconced in velvet. You know, if it were socially acceptable--
Jerry: I know, you would drape yourself in velvet.
George: I've said that before?
Jerry: Many times. You love velvet, you want to live in velvet, everything with the velvet.
All NxVIM had to do was get a psychiatrist to be its figurehead. Then they could have done far worse under the color of law plus get tax money for this “therapy”.
I feel bad for the guy.../s
If he was an immigrant in the UK the police would have looked the other way...
Yup. Too bad.
He gets the Ross Ulbricht treatment.
Allison Mack must be filling her pants hearing this sentence.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Wonder how NY US Sinator Kristen Gillibrand is
feeling about this?
The sentence seems excessive, but I don’t mind too much. This guy was demonic and preyed upon vulnerable women.
He’s been around a while. Tried to start a pyramid scheme some years ago. Made commercials.
Just heard our local talker say there was a movie made about this called “The Vow”. Anyone see it?
I went to youtube to hear this guy speak, to see how exactly he was so mesmerizing, that attractive, wealthy (and stupid) white women would drop their panties and open their checkbooks for this him
After the 3rd video of this effeminate turd cooing cheesy new-age cliches and phony “self help” psychology, I had to stop and could only shake my head in disbelief.
it ain’t gonna go well for her, that’s for sure.
Wasn’t it as much a MLM cult as a sex cult?
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