NEW YORK — In addition to a 120-year jail sentence, the former leader of the cult-like NXIVM group has been ordered to pay $3.5 million to 21 victims of a sex-trafficking scheme.
The sum announced this week includes the cost of surgically removing scars from branding rituals performed by a secret sorority.
The brands depicting the initials of Keith Raniere were meant to symbolize the womens’ status as sex slaves for the self-help guru who once had an international following. They were burned into the skin of the victims.
The judge in the restitution hearing ruled 17 people deserved payment under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, and the largest amount allocated is just over half a million dollars to a young woman Raniere sexually abused when she was 15.
He was convicted of various crimes including sex trafficking and racketeering after a 2019 trial. He led the organization at the center of HBO's docuseries "The Vow."