美国最高法院周一拒绝受理基思·拉尼尔（Keith Raniere）的上诉。拉尼尔曾就其因领导NXIVM性邪教组织而被判有罪的敲诈勒索和性贩运罪名提出申诉。这一决定维持了联邦上诉法院小组于去年十月作出的裁决，该裁决支持了2020年下达的判决及长达数十年的监禁刑期。2019年6月，纽约联邦陪审团在为期六周的审判后，认定拉尼尔在七项指控中罪名成立。
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up an appeal from Keith Raniere challenging his conviction on racketeering and sex-trafficking charges in connection with his leadership of the NXIVM sex cult. The decision leaves in place an October ruling from a federal appeals court panel that upheld the verdict and a decades-long prison sentence that was handed down in 2020. A federal jury in New York found Raniere guilty on seven counts in June 2019, following a six-week trial that centered on allegations that he operated the secretive group as a criminal enterprise that engaged in forced labor, as well as the exploitation and abuse of young girls.
审判的核心指控是，他将这个秘密组织运营为一个从事强迫劳动、剥削和虐待年轻女孩的黑社会性质企业。拉尼尔于2000年代初在纽约州奥尔巴尼创立了NXIVM，对外宣称这是一个自助组织，在美国、加拿大和墨西哥各地的中心提供基于其教义的高价研讨会。据检方称，他在该组织内部建立了一个名为DOS（即“誓言”）的秘密社团，将女性划分为“奴隶”和“主人”，旨在推广拉尼尔的意识形态并招募新成员。
Raniere founded NXIVM in Albany, N.Y., in the early 2000s as a purported self-help organization that offered expensive workshops based on his teachings in centers across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. He created a secret society within the organization called DOS, or “The Vow,” that separated women into “slaves” and “masters,” intended to promote Raniere’s ideology and recruit new members, according to prosecutors.
检方表示，拉尼尔自称“先锋”（Vanguard），通过收集“抵押品”——如露骨照片或令人尴尬的信息——来控制其追随者，并利用这些信息操纵他们为其从事强迫劳动或与其发生性关系。在某些情况下，DOS的“奴隶”会在骨盆处被烙上拉尼尔的姓名首字母。检方还指出，该组织犯有其他罪行，包括将一名女性囚禁在房间内近两年。
They said Raniere, who went by “Vanguard,” controlled his followers by collecting “collateral,” such as explicit photos or embarrassing information, that he then used to manipulate them into forced labor or sexual acts with him. In some cases, DOS “slaves” were branded on their pelvises with Raniere’s initials. The group also held a woman captive in a room for nearly two years, according to prosecutors, among other crimes.
拉尼尔被判处120年监禁，并被责令支付175万美元罚金。在量刑听证会上，十多名受害者提供了个人证词，其中包括一名名为“卡米拉”的女性，她15岁时曾遭受拉尼尔的性虐待。拉尼尔已申请重新审判，理由是联邦调查局探员伪造了儿童色情证据，而这些证据在审判中被用来指控他。
Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison and ordered to pay a $1.75 million fine. More than a dozen victims offered personal testimony at his sentencing hearing, including a woman named “Camila” who was sexually abused by Raniere at the age of 15. He has sought a new trial on the grounds that FBI agents fabricated evidence of child pornography that was used against him at trial.
他声称，“卡米拉”的裸照被植入从他的联排别墅中缴获的硬盘和相机存储卡中，而且某些信息未向辩护方披露。拉尼耶多次试图推翻定罪，但均被初审法院和上诉法院驳回。美国最高法院也于2023年驳回了他此前提出的一项上诉。
He alleges that nude photographs of “Camila” were planted on a hard drive and camera memory card that were seized from his townhouse and certain information was withheld from the defense. Raniere’s repeated attempts to overturn the conviction have been rejected at both the trial and appellate court levels. The U.S. Supreme Court also turned away an earlier appeal in 2023.