Ex-girlfriend of NXIVM leader: 'The good guys won today'

Brooklyn, N.Y. – After five hours of deliberations, a jury has found a self-help guru accused of sex trafficking and other charges guilty.

Prosecutors say 58-year-old Keith Raniere’s organization, called NXIVM, was more like a cult. They say he used shame and humiliation to groom women for sex, and even branded some of his followers.

Raniere’s former girlfriend, Toni Natalie, is from Rochester. She spoke outside federal court in Brooklyn after the hearing.

“Keith has said, ‘Next time I see you, you’ll be dead or in jail,” Natalie said Wednesday. “Well, I’m alive, and he’s in jail – and it looks like, for life. He didn’t win today. The good guys won today.”

Raniere denies abusing any of his followers. His lawyers said he never had any criminal intent, and that his encounters with the women were consensual.