Clare Bronfman, a daughter of late business mogul Edgar Bronfman Sr. and heiress to the Seagrams liquor fortune, was accused of financing what turned out to be illegal conduct after meeting Raniere in 2002 and becoming, first, a NXIVM acolyte, and ultimately a board member, as well as Raniere’s benefactor and legal advocate who allegedly financed lawsuits on his behalf against perceived enemies.
In 2003, Bronfman’s father estimated to Forbes that she had loaned NXIVM $2 million, which she denied at the time. “I think it’s a cult,” said Bronfman Sr., who died in 2013.
On April 19, 2019, Bronfman pleaded guilty to conspiring to conceal and harbor an undocumented immigrant for financial gain, and fraudulent use of identification for helping Raniere use a deceased person’s credit card. Part of her sentence called for her to forfeit $6 million.
“I am truly remorseful,” Bronfman told U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis. “I endeavored to do good in the world and help people—however, I have made mistakes.”
She was sentenced on Sept. 30, 2020, to 81 months in prison. Explaining the hefty penalty, Garaufis stated that he was “troubled by evidence suggesting that Ms. Bronfman repeatedly and consistently leveraged her wealth and social status as a means of intimidating, controlling and punishing” people who had left NXIVM or were perceived to be its adversaries.
Bronfman was released from prison into a halfway house in May 2024, per the Albany Times-Union.