Sept. 8 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced Nancy Salzman, co-founder of NXIVM, was sentenced to 42 months in prison for her involvement in the cult-like self-help group's abuse of women.
Salzman, 66, pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy for helping to recruit women to join NXIVM, where leader Keith Raniere forced them into sexual slavery. Raniere was sentenced in October to 120 years in prison for creating a secret group within NXIVM called DOS in which female "slaves" turned over compromising material and were then blackmailed into sex.
Salzman's lawyers sought a sentence of two years of home confinement, saying she was also a victim of Raniere.
"I am horrified and ashamed that I promoted ... him," she said in court of Raniere, according to the New York Daily News.
"I apologize to everyone I hurt, intentionally and not. I don't know that I can ever forgive myself."
District Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York said that though Salzman pleaded guilty, she hurt others.
"You positioned yourself alongside Mr. Raniere atop the NXIVM pyramid," he said, according to The New York Times. "In 20 years at Mr. Raniere's side, you left trauma and destruction in your wake."
