Ex-Nxivm members sue sex cult’s leader saying she hasn’t paid $150,000 to victims of her crimes
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Fallen sex cult leader Nancy Salzman is facing a lawsuit filed by actress and former top recruiter Sarah Edmondson, along with dozens of other ex-members, who say Salzman is refusing to hand over more than $150,000 she owes them as part of a civil settlement.
Salzman, 70, the co-founder and president of Nxivm, who served less than 20 months of a 4-and-a-half year prison sentence for racketeering conspiracy, ran Nxivm alongside co-founder Keith Raniere, who is four years into a 120-year sentence of his own.
In 2020, Salzman, Raniere, and other Nxivm leaders were sued by a slew of members who claimed the Upstate New York multi-level marketing scheme and self-help group was, in fact, a massive criminal enterprise engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, and illegal human experimentation.
As part of an agreement with her victims, Salzman consented to sell three properties she owned and to transfer the “net proceeds” to them, according to a November 8 suit first reported by the Albany Times-Union.
But while Salzman forked over the money from the first two sales, in 2023 — minus $6,450 she demanded for “upkeep and maintenance” on one of them, the lawsuit says — she is now allegedly withholding $155,687.32 from the third sale, claiming she needs it for “capital gains tax” and “unpaid property management fees” on all three properties.
No mention of either was ever included in paperwork finalizing the settlement, and Salzman did not “contend or attempt to withhold” capital gains tax from either of the other property sales, according to the lawsuit.
The attorney representing the victims has asked Salzman’s lawyer to put the funds in escrow while the dispute winds its way through the courts, but was advised that Salzman “will not agree to such a transfer” absent a court order, the lawsuit states.
They are now asking a judge to declare that Salzman is “not entitled to withhold capital gains tax and unpaid property management fees from the net proceeds of the sale of the three properties,” and are seeking a court order to force Salzman to disgorge the funds according to the terms of the settlement.
Content retrieved from: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nxivm-nancy-salzman-sued-cult-victims-lawsuit-b2645799.html.
