She was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison for her role in enabling what prosecutors called a corrupt organization. Critics of the group are more direct: Nxivm was an abusive cult that coerced women into sexual slavery. It is undisputed that many of its members were branded in their pelvic area.
She told the judge that she discovered the group when she was struggling with social anxiety, unable to accept her identity as the daughter of Edgar M. Bronfman, head of Seagram Co. Ltd., the world’s largest distiller at the time.
After discovering Nxivm, a “self-help” group, she became a member of its board of directors and used $116 million of her fortune to unleash an army of lawyers and investigators to pursue the group’s critics.
The sentencing hearing ran more than four hours as nine victims of Nxivm spoke with emotion about how their lives had been destroyed by Clare Bronfman, their marriages, careers and reputations shredded. Some said she sued them relentlessly, drove them into bankruptcy and persuaded local prosecutors to bring criminal charges against them.
Also awaiting sentencing: Several others, including Allison Mack, the former “Smallville” actress, who became a top Nxivm recruiter. Frank Parlato, an investigative journalist, has written that the group’s leader, Keith Raniere, had said he wanted to destroy Mack and succeeded. Raniere was convicted of racketeering, sex trafficking, fraud and other crimes. He is yet to be sentenced.
Bronfman pleaded guilty in April 2019 and pursuant to her plea agreement forfeited $6 million. In addition to 81 months in prison, the court also imposed a fine of $500,000 and directed $96,605 restitution be paid to victim “Jane Doe 12.” Her plea agreement recommended less than two years in prison.