Where Is Keith Raniere Now? Inside the NXIVM Leader’s Life After Being Sentenced to 120 Years in Prison
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Six years ago, Keith Raniere was found guilty on seven criminal counts tied to his leadership of the NXIVM cult that embroiled a CW star, a billionaire heiress and the daughter of a Dynasty actress.
Authorities called NXIVM a “pyramid scheme” built on sexual exploitation and manipulation, describing it as “a cult-like organization involved in sex trafficking, child pornography, extortion, compelled abortions, branding, degradation and humiliation.”
Actress Catherine Oxenberg raised alarm bells about the New York-based group, which billed itself as a center for coaching and mentorship, when her daughter, India, became involved. Soon, it was revealed that Allison Mack, who played Clark Kent’s friend Chloe Sullivan in Smallville, recruited India and several other women, as well as underage girls, to be sex slaves for Raniere, who founded NXIVM.
Raniere insisted that all sexual relationships he had were with consenting adults and that the women involved were merely a sort of “sorority” that had developed within NXIVM. The court, however, disagreed, and he was sentenced to 120 years in prison for his crimes.
Here’s everything to know about what happened within NXIVM and where Keith Raniere is now.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Aug. 26, 1960, to an advertising executive father and ballroom dancer mother, Raniere and his family moved to Suffern, N.Y., when he was a child. Raniere was advanced in science and math as a teen and left high school early to pursue higher education at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
After college, Raniere worked as a computer programmer and consultant, per Vanity Fair, before launching his own multi-level marketing company, Consumers Buyline, in 1990. After regulators investigated the business for allegedly being a pyramid scheme, Raniere didn’t admit wrongdoing but settled for $40,000. According to Forbes, he only paid $9,000 of that fine, despite claiming to be worth $50 million.
In 1998, Raniere founded Executive Success Programs (ESP) which later became NXIVM. The program began as a set of executive coaching and self-help seminars, which counted Richard Branson and BET co-founder Sheila Johnson among its early clients. The company was based in Albany, N.Y., but eventually expanded to have chapters as far as Mexico and Canada, according to The New York Times.
Within NXIVM, Raniere referred to himself as Vanguard. Some women within NXIVM told the Times that Raniere was warm and engaging, while others described him as litigious and manipulative.
Content retrieved from: https://people.com/where-is-keith-raniere-now-11756915.
