Convicted Nxivm sex cult leader Keith Raniere is getting another delay in his sentencing date — thanks to the coronavirus outbreak.
Raniere, who faces between 15 years to life in prison for his conviction on charges that include racketeering and sex trafficking, was scheduled to be sentenced at an April 16 hearing.
But on Wednesday a federal judge approved a request to move the proceedings to May 21.
Attorneys for Raniere noted in a letter to Brooklyn federal Judge Brian Cogan that the US Bureau of Prisons on March 13 initiated a 30-day prohibition on attorneys meeting with prisoners in federal facilities to help contain the spread of COVID-19.
The attorneys said they would not get the opportunity to meet the co-founder of the purported self-help group, who is being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, prior to the April sentencing date.
“It is not possible to properly prepare a sentencing memorandum, with the defendant’s full participation, in a case of this magnitude and complexity, given the understandable restrictions on counsel visitation during this unprecedented health crisis,” Raniere’s attorneys wrote.
Raniere was convicted on his charges last June, while several top members of his group copped to guilty pleas before they could face a jury.
Jurors in Raniere’s trial found him guilty of running a sadistic sex-slave ring within Nxivm called DOS, in which women were branded with his initials and forced to do his sexual bidding.
The purported self-help guru, who was known as “Vanguard” within the upstate organization, was originally scheduled to be sentenced in September — but has since had his day of reckoning postponed three times.
Raniere’s codefendants in the case included Seagrams booze heiress Clare Bronfman, Lauren Salzman, Nancy Salzman, the former “Smallville” actress Allison Mack and Nxivm bookkeeper Kathy Russell. They all pleaded guilty to various charges.
Raniere and his codefendants, as well as other members of Nxivm’s “inner circle,” were also named in an 80-plaintiff lawsuit filed in January accusing them of subjecting members to dubious medical experiments and forced labor.