Nxivm founder Keith Raniere is found guilty on all counts and faces life in prison after six weeks of testimony where jurors heard from the ‘branded sex slaves’ terrorized by cult leader

• Keith Raniere has been found guilty on all seven counts, including racketeering, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy and sex trafficking
• He is now facing life in prison after a jury arrived at a unanimous verdict just four hours after deliberations began on Wednesday 
• This follows six weeks of testimony in the case during which multiple women who were lured into the sex slave group DOS recounted their experiences 

It took just four hours of deliberation for a jury to find Nxivm founder Keith Raniere guilty on all counts.

He now faces life in prison after being convicted of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and attempted sex trafficking.  

The trial lasted for six weeks, during which time multiple women came forward to describe how they served as ‘sex slaves’ to Raniere and were forced to have his initials branded on their bodies. 

Another witness described how Raniere imprisoned her in a room for two years, while an FBI agent showed jurors the graphic nude photos of a 15-year-old Nxivm member that he discovered on Raniere’s hard drive.

Raniere had entered a plea of not guilty to all charges.

Guilty: Keith Raniere (above in sketch on Tuesday) has been found guilty on all seven counts, including racketeering, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy and sex trafficking

The cult leader’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo tried to discredit the weeks of testimony in its closing argument on Tuesday after calling no witnesses to the stand to testify, including Raniere who refused to speak in his own defense.  

He also filed a motion asking the court to declare a mistrial in the case.

Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis ultimately ruled against that motion following a brief hearing on Wednesday morning. 

Agnifilo had objected to the fact that Judge Garaufis dismissed Lauren Salzman during cross-examination when she began hysterically crying on the stand, and never asked her to return to court for questioning. 

Salzman, who was one of the five women initially charged alongside Raniere, was the only cooperating witness who was called to the stand during the trial. 

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