Seagram’s heir sentenced to prison in branded sex slave case

A wealthy benefactor of Keith Raniere, the disgraced leader of a self-improvement group in upstate New York convicted of turning women into sex slaves who were branded with his initials, was sentenced Wednesday to almost seven years in prison in the federal conspiracy case.

Seagram’s liquor fortune heir Clare Bronfman was taken into custody to begin her 81-month sentence immediately after her appearance in federal court in Brooklyn.

Bronfman, 41, admitted in a guilty plea last year that she harbored someone who was living in the U.S. illegally for unpaid “labor and services” and that she committed credit card fraud on behalf of Raniere, leader of the group called NXIVM.

At trial, prosecutors told jurors the 60-year-old Raniere’s organization, NXIVM — pronounced NEHK-see-uhm, operated like a cult whose members called him “Vanguard.” To honor him, the group formed a secret sorority comprised of brainwashed female “slaves” who were branded with his initials and forced to have sex with him, the prosecutors said.

Bronfman’s lawyers argued she deserved leniency because she had no direct involvement in the most disturbing allegations and has a health condition that could put her at greater risk for a coronavirus infection if incarcerated.

The defendant had long been affiliated with NXIVM, giving away tens of million of dollars to bankroll Raniere and his program of intense self-improvement classes. She also paid for lawyers to defend the group against a lawsuit brought by its critics.