Clare Bronfman Is Sentenced to 81 Months in Nxivm ‘Sex Cult’ Case

“Will you never stop?” a former member of the group asked Ms. Bronfman, a Seagram’s heir, who used her family fortune to intimidate critics of Nxivm, prosecutors say.

On Wednesday, a federal judge sentenced Ms. Bronfman, 41, to six years and nine months in prison for her role in enabling what prosecutors said was a corrupt organization.

“I am troubled by evidence suggesting that Ms. Bronfman repeatedly and consistently leveraged her wealth and social status as a means of intimidating, controlling, and punishing” Nxivm’s enemies, said Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of Federal District Court in Brooklyn.

Minutes after the judge read his sentence, Ms. Bronfman, an heir to the Seagram’s liquor fortune, touched her throat as if struggling to swallow. Moments later, federal marshals escorted her out of the courtroom into custody.