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The Vow is still rolling out new episodes on HBO Max each week, but the Nxivm case is unfolding in real-time. Today, Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison for her role in the sex cult that made women slaves and branded them with leader Keith Raniere‘s initials, The Hollywood Reporter reports.
Bronfman, who was sentenced in federal court in Brooklyn today, was immediately taken into custody. In today’s sentencing, federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York said Bronfman “used her incredible wealth as a means of intimidation, threat and exacting revenge on individuals who challenged [Nxivm’s] dogmas,” according to Deadline. Bronfman was immediately taken into custody to begin her 81-month sentence, which exceeds the five years recommended by prosecutors.
Last year, Bronfman pled guilty to conspiracy to conceal and harbor people who were in the US illegally for unpaid “labor and services,” and fraudulent use of identification. Bronfman denied that she knew about the allegations of abuse surrounding DOS, Nxivm’s all-female secret society which required members to submit “collateral” in the form of humiliating photos or video, obey their “master” as a “slave,” and starve themselves by severely restricting their calories.
During her sentencing, Judge Garaufis said that Bronfman’s case was not “not about an isolated incident of credit card fraud or a run-of-the-mill case of harboring illegal aliens for financial gain,” even though she was not convicted of crimes like racketeering or sex trafficking, according to CNN. “Ms. Bronfman’s crimes were not committed in a vacuum,” Garaufis said. “They were committed in connection with her role in Nxivm and her close relationship with Raniere, and I believe that it would be inappropriate for me to consider them divorced from that context.”
In last month’s letter to the court, Bronfman stood behind Raniere and his teachings, insisting she “never meant to hurt anyone, however I have and for this I am deeply sorry.” She added, “Nxivm and Keith greatly changed my life for the better.”
Bronfman is the first Nxivm member to be sentenced in the federal case, and has been in home confinement for the past two years. Viewers of HBO’s The Vow were first introduced to Bronfman as the wealthy benefactor of Raniere. The series, which first debuted last month, follows the rise and fall of Nxivm and its leaders, including the powerful, manipulate man at the center of it all. Using interviews from survivors, The Vow uncovers the horrors within the organization and explains how the “self-help” group attracted and abused so many members.
