Seagram Heiress Clare Bronfman Sentenced to Prison Time in NXIVM Case
Clare Bronfman has been sentenced to 81 months in prison after pleading guilty to identity theft and immigration offenses, committed as a part of her involvement in the NXIVM cult. A fine of $500,000 has also been imposed, and she's been ordered to pay a NXIVM victim $96,605 in restitution—all on top of the $6 million she forfeited in 2019, pursuant to her plea agreement.
Said William F. Sweeney, Jr., FBI assistant director-in-charge, "Today, Clare Bronfman is the first of many to be sentenced for the crimes she committed in furtherance of NXIVM’s objectives. While her fate in no way removes the trauma NXIVM’s victims will likely continue to suffer, it does highlight the government’s efforts to bring to justice all of those involved in a series of illegal acts carried out for the benefit of this organization.
"She recently wrote to the judge telling him that NXIVM and Keith Raniere had changed her life for the better. She will now have more than six years behind bars to contemplate that sentiment, and decide once and for all if it’s as easy to accept as she once believed it to be."
Prior to her involvement in the cult as a high-ranking member of NXIVM's executive board, Bronfman was best known as an heiress to the Seagram's liquor fortune. Said Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, per the New York Times, "I am troubled by evidence suggesting that Ms. Bronfman repeatedly and consistently leveraged her wealth and social status as a means of intimidating, controlling, and punishing."
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