New Delhi

Suspected sex cult Nxivm's co-founder Nancy Salzman has been handed a three-year prison sentence for her role in the cult. As per investigators, Nxivm was a sex-trafficking operation but it was disguised as mentoring group.

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In 2019, Salzman pleaded guilty to racketeering offences. Keith Raniere, the spiritual leader of the group was sentenced to 120 years in prison in October 2020.

Raniere's cult was based in Albany north of New York City.

He swapped personal development training courses for sex sessions as the head of a group of up to 20 women. 

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Followers signed up for $5,000, five-day self-help courses, but some were then financially and sexually exploited and had to follow a restrictive diet as Raniere -- known as "Vanguard" -- exerted his control, the jury at his trial in 2019 was told. 

In 2015, he established a faction within the group called DOS, a pyramid structure in which the women were "slaves" and "Grand Master" Raniere sat at the top.

Nacny Salzman was quoted in news reports as saying that Raniere was "narcissistic sociopath"

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Despite her criticism of Raniere, Federal judge said that Salzman left "trauma and destruction" for the victims of the sex cult. 

"You never rejected [Raniere]. The door was always open but you never left," New York Daily News quoted US Assistant Attorney as saying.