High-Ranking Member of NXIVM Sex Cult Avoids Prison Time After She Helped Convict Keith Raniere
High-Ranking Member of NXIVM Sex Cult Avoids Prison Time After She Helped Convict Keith Raniere
Elizabeth Johnston reports:
One of the highest-ranking members of the NXIVM sex slave cult for which ringleader Keith Raniere is currently serving a 120-year sentence has received a reduced sentence of just 5 years’ probation and 300 hours of community service.
Lauren Salzman, whose mother founded the group with Raniere, provided testimony which helped convict Raniere, was considered to be “central” to the case against her former “master” and Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis stated Jul 28 that he believed her to be both a victimizer and a victim in the twisted cult.
Salzman pled guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy in 2019 for the role she played in the high-profile sex cult case.
“The defendant helped Keith Raniere implement some of the most twisted, manipulative and reprehensible schemes,” the judge stated when he handed down his sentence. “She is also herself a victim of Raniere and his depravity.”
Citing Salzman’s “credible, detailed testimony,” prosecutors had requested a sentence below the federal guidelines of seven to nine years.
