Remember the NXIVM sex cult case in New York that involved a cult leader, a Hollywood TV star, and a filthy rich heiress?
Clare Bronfman, the Seagram’s liquor heiress who allegedly used her family fortune to bankroll the infamous NXIVM cult — is set to become the first person sentenced in the sleazy saga on Wednesday.
The daughter of the late Canadian billionaire Edgar Bronfman Sr pleaded guilty last year to charges linked to her role as a top cohort of sick group manipulator, controller, and charmer Keith Raniere.
The 41-year-old is looking at 30 months behind bars under federal sentencing guidelines, however, prosecutors are requesting twice that, pointing out the world of privilege she came from, and due to her alleged lack of remorse.
“Bronfman did not commit these crimes out of need,” wrote Brooklyn prosecutors in a scathing sentencing memo this month.
“She is likely one of the most privileged and wealthy defendants to ever appear before this court for sentencing.”
The heiress plead guilty last August to conspiracy to conceal and harbor an illegal alien for financial gain and fraudulent use of identification.
This is the same woman who once funneled illegal campaign donations to Hillary Clinton’s campaign trying to win influence with the failed presidential candidate. And on top of that, it was reported that NXIVM had financial records of Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) who they referred to as a “friend,” though it’s unclear if they they were doing accounting work for the Senate minority leader, they were trying to get his business, or he was involved in their shenanigans.
Her time along side self-help guru-turned-sex trafficker Raniere included her bringing young women into the country illegally, prosecutors said.
She made a South African woman her personal assistant and allegedly would send out emails explaining how to make oatmeal for her dogs, according to court documents.
Bronfman, who used to ride horses, also recruited a professional horse-rider into NXIVM when the woman was 18.
The sex cult also groomed to perform perverted sex acts for Raniere as part of a secret master-slave group within NXIVM called DOS, and she was forced to wear a dog collar while performing oral sex on him, based on court testimony. This is sick stuff.
Bronfman used part of her $210 million fortune, which includes an island in Fiji, to help fund NXIVM , in addition to threaten Raniere’s victims and foes into silence, prosecutors have alleged. It all sounds very Ghislaine Maxwell, doesn’t it? But I digress.
Bronfman’s attorneys are asking for 3 years of probation, as she’s been under house arrest at her city luxury apartment, denying she knew anything about DOS.
Her lawyers, Ron Sullivan and Duncan Levin, wrote that she was never charged with or convicted of sex-trafficking and that prosecutors are “seeking to lay the blame for DOS at [her] feet because she has a large checkbook.” If she supported the group financially and helped recruit women for sex then blame is at her feet, counselor.
In addition they filed court papers noting that she might have a liver disorder. She should take Wild Fish Oil daily and stop funding sex cults that traffic women.
A number of women testified at Raniere’s trial that they had been tricked into joining DOS, handing over “collateral” and then being starved and literally branded like cattle with Raniere’s initials and ordered to have sex with him.
When the “slaves” failed at their duties, they were whipped with a leather strap, forced to hold agonizing poses or subjected to other humiliating punishments, according to trial testimony.
Raniere, 60, was found guilty of racketeering and sex-trafficking last year. He is awaiting a sentencing hearing next month where he faces up to a life sentence.
Bronfman still “stands by both the organization and Mr. Raniere for the tremendous good they did for thousands of people,” according to her attorneys.
However, prosecutors fired back, “There can be little doubt that Raniere would not have been able to commit the crimes with which he was convicted were it not for powerful allies like Bronfman.’’
“For years, Bronfman leveraged her colossal wealth to recruit individuals, often women with no legal status in the United States, into NXIVM-affiliated organizations,” the prosecutors wrote.
She continues in her “unwavering support” of Raniere, the feds said.
Three others are waiting for sentencing hearings over their roles in NXIVM — including former actress Allison Mack from the hit TV show “Smallville.”
Mack was Raniere’s right-hand person and one of DOS’s masters pleaded guilty to racketeering.
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