Keith Raniere, the leader of the now infamous NXIVM, will be sentenced on Tuesday after being convicted last year on charges of multiple acts of sex trafficking, multiple acts of racketeering, forced labor conspiracy, and wire fraud conspiracy. He faces a possible life sentence, and his sentencing, as the New York Times noted on Monday, is set to include hours of his victims’ statements. The jig is more or less up, but Raniere has devoted this last period before the conclusion of his legal case to saying he didn’t really do anything.
“He is not sorry for his conduct or his choices,” Raniere’s lawyers wrote in a court filing last month, as the Times pointed out. He “intends to fight this case with all of his might, confident that he will one day be vindicated,” they added.
While NXIVM initially presented itself as a self-help group, it’s now commonly known as a sex cult, as prosecutors described it when Raniere was charged. He has not been deterred. As the Times reported, citing court filings, Raniere has been campaigning for his conviction to be overturned, including an effort to make a podcast about his case and hold a $25,000 cash prize contest to find mistakes in his prosecution. Prosecutors have said that Raniere told a supporter in an April phone call from prison that the judge in the case “needs to know he’s being watched.”
Raniere struck some similar notes in an interview with NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt that aired on Friday. He claimed he is innocent, and that federal prosecutors “scared away witnesses” who could’ve helped his case. On the same day, as NBC News noted, a judge denied Raniere’s second attempt to get a new trial.
Perhaps more surprisingly, Raniere did acknowledge that some wrongdoing had occurred within NXIVM, saying, “This is a horrible tragedy with many, many people being hurt.” But the greater injustice in his eyes seemed to be the one that he thinks he currently faces: “Whether you think I’m the devil or not, the justice process has to be examined.”
Last week, as the Times noted, prosecutors said that a woman identified only as Camila may speak publicly for the first time at Raniere’s sentencing. Raniere was accused of sexually abusing her and taking nude photographs of her from the time she was 15. Camila’s sister Daniela, who Raniere also had a sexual relationship with, testified at trial, saying that Raniere threatened to deport her back to Mexico unless she isolated herself in a room, after she had developed romantic interest in another man. At Tuesday’s sentencing, Raniere’s attempts to criticize the justice system may take a backseat to further revelations of what he’s already done.
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