Keith Raniere: Leader of alleged sex cult Nxivm faces child porn charges, court documents reveal

US prosecutors hit organisation’s founder, already accused of sex trafficking, with new charges

Keith Raniere (Keith Raniere Conversations)

Federal prosecutors have unveiled child pornography charges against accused sex trafficker Keith Raniere, founder of the alleged sex cult Nxivm.

In an indictment unsealed in a Brooklyn court on Wednesday, prosecutors accused Mr Raniere of coercing a minor to “engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing one or more visual depictions of such conduct” in 2005.

The 58-year-old is also accused of possessing child pornography between 2005 and 2018.

It came just hours after a former top associate in the Albany, New York-based Nxivm group pleaded guilty to engaging in a criminal conspiracy with him.

Mr Raniere, a self-styled spiritual leader who was known within Nxivm as “Vanguard”, was arrested in March 2018 on charges including sex trafficking.

Prosecutors said Mr Raniere led a group within Nxivm called DOS or “the sorority” in which women were branded with his initials, blackmailed and coerced into having sex with him.

Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Mr Raniere, has said his client’s sexual relationships with members were consensual, and denied the latest child pornography-related charges.

“If these charges were legitimate the government would have brought them a year ago,” he said.

The charges were unsealed several hours after former Nxivm president Nancy Salzman, known in the organisation as “Prefect”, pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy before US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis.

Nancy Salzman outside federal courthouse in Brooklyn (Reuters) (REUTERS)

Salzman, who has not reached any agreement to cooperate with prosecutors as part of her plea, admitted to hacking the email accounts of Nxivm critics and overseeing the destruction of video evidence in a civil lawsuit involving the organisation.

“It has taken some time and soul searching to come to this place,” said Salzman, choking back tears.

“I accept that some of what I did was not just wrong, but criminal. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would. But I can’t.”

Her daughter, Lauren Salzman, has also been charged in the case, along with Smallville actress Allison Mack, Seagram liquor heiress Clare Bronfman and Nxivm member Kathy Russell. All have pleaded not guilty.

Allison Mack outside Brooklyn court after a bail hearing (Getty Images)

Prosecutors have said Mr Raniere and his associates ran “pyramid-structured” schemes, including selling expensive courses, to bring in money and new members.

They have said that members of DOS were required upon joining the group to provide so-called “collateral” that could be used against them if they tried to leave, including compromising information about family and friends, nude photographs and rights to their assets.

Only Mr Raniere and Ms Mack are accused of sex trafficking. Other defendants face charges including conspiracy to commit racketeering, wire fraud and identity theft.

Mr Raniere was arrested in Mexico in 2018 and is being held without bail in Brooklyn on the sex-trafficking charges. At the time of his capture, Ms Mack was living with him at a luxury villa in Puerto Vallarta, according to court papers.

Nxivm on its website calls itself “a community guided by humanitarian principles that seek to empower people and answer important questions about what it means to be human.”

Salzman will be sentenced in July. Mr Raniere’s trial is scheduled to begin in April.

Additional reporting by agencies