Seagram's Liquor Heiress Charged With Bankrolling Sex Cult: Feds

BROOKLYN, NY — Seagram's liquor heiress Clare Bronfman and founding members of an upstate sex cult that left women branded were arrested, Brooklyn federal prosecutors announced.

Bronfman is expected to be arraigned in Brooklyn Federal Court Tuesday afternoon for helping “Smallville” actress Allison Mack and Keith Raniere, both accused of recruiting women into Nxivm, to kidnap and steal from their victims, prosecutors said.

The Albany heiress allegedly stole money from a dead woman's bank account, hacked emails of people "perceived enemies and critics of Raniere," and held his former lover hostage for two years because the woman supposedly entertained romantic feelings for someone other than the cult leader, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Bronfman's attorney, Susan Necheles, dismissed the U.S. Attorney’s Office's charges that her client had broken any laws through her connection to Nxivm.

"Nxivm was not a criminal enterprise but instead was an organization that helped thousands of people," the heiress' attorney said in a statement.

"The charges against Clare are the result of government overreaching and charging an individual with crimes just because the government disagrees with some beliefs taught by Nxivm and held by Clare."

Nxivm co-founder Lauren Salzman, her mother Nancy and bookkeeper Kathy Russell were also arrested and are slated to be arraigned in Albany Federal Court, prosecutors said.

The four women have been charged with racketeering conspiracy for their part in an operation that resulted in sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy charges for Raniere and Mack, who recruited women to a purported self-help group in Albany that was instead a sex cult, said prosecutors.

Mack, 35, helped create a program called "The Source," which recruited actresses whom Raniere entered into a secret society, dubbed "DOS," that turned the women into slaves and forced them to recruit others, prosecutors said.

The cult forced women to get the group's symbol branded on their pelvic area, endure sleep deprivation, starvation diets and ice-cold showers, the New York Post previously reported.

Mack allegedly forced women into sex acts with Raniere, threatening them if they didn't comply, in exchange for financial benefits from Raniere, authorities said.

She even reached out to Emma Watson and Kelly Clarkson on Twitter to try to get them to join, the New York Daily News reported.

“Keith Raniere was the leader of a racketeering conspiracy in which he and members of his inner circle committed a broad range of serious crimes from identity theft and obstruction of justice to sex trafficking, all to promote and protect Raniere and Nxivm,” stated Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

“This Office and the FBI will continue to investigate and prosecute those who prey on others to such destructive effect.”

Nxivm has since relocated to Brooklyn and members were preparing for "war," the New York Post first reported.

Branfman — daughter of the billionaire and former Seagram chairman, Edgar Bronfman — and her sister allegedly gutted their trust funds and handed over as much as $150 million to the cult, Vanity Fair reported in 2010.

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