Nancy Salzman, the former president of NXIVM who loyalists referred to as "Prefect," was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to 3 1/2 years in prison for her leading role in the Capital Region-based organization, which some called a cult.

U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis sentenced Salzman to 42 months’ imprisonment and ordered her to pay a $150,000 fine, prosecutors confirmed. Salzman agreed to forfeit several properties, more than $500,000 in cash and a Steinway grand piano.

“In her misguided loyalty and blind allegiance to Keith Raniere, the defendant engaged in a racketeering conspiracy designed to intimidate NXIVM’s detractors, and that inflicted harm on NXIVM’s members,” Acting U.S. Attorney Kasulis said. “Today’s sentence holds the defendant accountable for her crimes, and we hope that it brings some measure of closure to the vulnerable women who were victimized and abused.”  

Salzman pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges in March 2019. In doing so, she admitted to participating in a scheme to spy on those critical of NXIVM and being involved in a plan to alter video tapes that were used in a federal lawsuit against NXIVM.

Salzman, 67, founded Executive Success Programs, which later became NXIVM, with Keith Raniere in 1998. She was responsible for teaching his curriculum and encouraged people to take expensive courses.

In March 2018, the FBI raided her Waterford home. They found hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, flash drives and folders of information about people who had previously spoken publicly about Raniere, NXIVM's leader. 

Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in federal prison in October 2020. He was found guilty of charges including racketeering, sex trafficking and forced labor conspiracy.

She says she has since changed, calling Raniere a "sexual predator," "narcissist" and "likely a psychopath."

Like others, Salzman says she's a victim of Raniere, who created NXIVM with good intentions, only to be manipulated. Not everyone agrees. Several victims have submitted letters to the court.

One says it was Salzman who promoted Raniere's "poisonous and predatory falsehoods to an unsuspecting audience," including questions over the age of consent. Another victim, Ivy Nevares, says Salzman has tried to contact her since her 2018 arrest and is continuing to serve as a coach to people with NXIVM ties.

Before being sentenced, Nevares told the court, "Salzman has the capacity for empathy. However, she uses it to wield her victim’s own empathy against them, playing them to her self-serving interests. She will undoubtedly attempt to do so with the Court today."

Nevares wrote in part, "I believe she stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Raniere as a criminal, a fraud and a self-serving sociopath." ​

Almost 40 letters supporting Salzman were submitted to the court, but each was redacted in public filings. According to a government memo, the letters are from family, close friends, and "members of the NXIVM community."

Salzman is the only co-defendant to go to such lengths to keep letters of support hidden from the public.​

Salzman's attorneys had asked she be sentenced to home confinement while the government recommended a prison sentence.

Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman, who pleaded guilty to charges involving fraud and identity theft, was sentenced in September 2020 to 81 months in prison.

She was the first NXIVM co-conspirator to be sentenced for their role in NXIVM. Actress Allison Mack, who pleaded guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges, was sentenced last month to three years in prison.

Salzman's daughter, Lauren Salzman, who testified against Raniere at trial, was sentenced to probation.