Small consolation: Heiress could reap cash from sex-cult auction

Proceeds are pittance next to $150M that Bronfman sisters reportedly poured into Nxivm

Sara Bronfman-Igtet and the NXIVM Executive Success Programs headquarters at 455 New Karner Road, Colonie (Credit: Getty Images)
Sara Bronfman-Igtet and the NXIVM Executive Success Programs headquarters at 455 New Karner Road, Colonie (Credit: Getty Images)

With three upstate New York properties owned by a sex cult set to be auctioned off, a Seagram’s liquor heiress could pocket up to $200,000.

Despite giving up her ownership stake after her involvement with the cult, Sara Bronfman-Igtet could get a sizable sum from the sale, the New York Post reported. Brooklyn federal judge Nicholas Garaufis signed off Thursday on the sale, according to court documents.

The properties, in the suburbs of Albany, formerly served as the offices of Nxivm, a cult that claimed to offer empowerment but instead entrapped women. Keith Raniere and his accomplices allegedly forced female followers to have sex with him and brand themselves with his initials.

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Raniere was convicted of crimes including sex trafficking and racketeering, while
Igtet-Bronfman’s sister Clare Bronfman pleaded guilty in April to conspiring to conceal and harbor an undocumented immigrant for personal gain and to fraudulent use of identification.

Bronfman, who authorities said was the chief financier of Nxivm, previously sought in 2018 to develop a multifamily residential property in Encino, California. The sisters are daughters of the late Edgar Bronfman Sr., who was chairman of Seagram’s, and granddaughters of its founder, Samuel Bronfman. The sisters reportedly spent around $150 million of the family’s fortune on Nxivm. [NYP] — Georgia Kromrei