Seagram's heiress Clare Bronfman charged in connection with alleged sex cult NXIVM
Bronfman and 5 others accused of racketeering related to
operations of cult-like pyramid group
Jason Proctor · CBC News 
Clare Bronfman leaves court on Tuesday in New York City. Bronfman and three other people associated with the NXIVM organization had been charged with racketeering conspiracy. (Mary Altaffer/Associated Press)
An heiress to the Seagram's liquor fortune has been charged with racketeering in the United States in connection with the operation of a cult-like group whose leader has been accused of sex-trafficking.
Clare Bronfman is one of six people accused of a variety of racketeering offences in relation to the operation of NXIVM, according to a superseding indictment sworn in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York.
She is accused alongside NXIVM leader Keith Raniere, Smallville actress Allison Mack and three others of working to achieve the aims of a pyramid-like scheme that used shame, guilt and blackmail to recruit and groom sexual partners for Raniere.
"Among the means and methods by which the defendants and their associates participated in the conduct of the affairs of the enterprise were the following," the indictment reads.
"Promoting, enhancing and protecting the enterprise by committing, attempting and conspiring to commit crimes, including but not limited to identity theft, harbouring of aliens for financial gain, extortion, forced labour, sex trafficking, money laundering, wire fraud and obstruction of justice."
Dead person's credit card
Bronfman has pleaded not guilty to the charges. She was released on house arrest Tuesday after signing a $100 million bail bond.
"Clare Bronfman did nothing wrong. NXIVM was not a criminal enterprise but instead was an organization that helped thousands of people," her lawyer, Susan Necheles, said in a statement.
"The charges against Clare are the result of government overreaching and charging an individual with crimes just because the government disagrees with some beliefs taught by NXIVM and held by Clare. This is not how things should be done in America."
Both Raniere and Mack have previously pleaded not guilty to charges they coerced women into joining a secret society within the group to become sex slaves. Some were branded in their pubic areas with a symbol that prosecutors claim contains Raniere's initials.
The latest indictment accuses Bronfman of conspiracy to commit identity theft, encouraging and inducing illegal entry into the U.S. and money laundering.
According to a document, filed in a bid to deny bail, prosecutors claim the allegations arise "out of a scheme to obtain usernames and passwords of people believed to be NXIVM's enemies so their emails could be monitored."
Prosecutors claim Bronfman also used wire transfers to make an illegal alien appear wealthy, in order to obtain an investor visa. She's also accused of "facilitating Raniere's use of a dead person's credit card" by paying off the monthly bill with the dead person's bank account.
The scheme was allegedly done to help Raniere — known as Vanguard to his followers — from paying taxes. The charges date back to 2006 and include alleged activity as recent as March 2018.
The indictment also includes charges against three other high-ranking NXIVM members: bookkeeper Kathy Russell, president Nancy Salzman and Salzman's daughter, Lauren, who served on the executive board.
Lauren Salzman is accused of human trafficking in relation to a victim who was both a former sexual partner of Raniere's and part of his inner circle.
"The victim was confined to a room as punishment after she developed romantic feelings for a man who was not Raniere," the court documents read. "While in the room the victim went for months-long stretches without any human contact. After nearly two years in the room, the victim left the room and, as threatened, she was driven to Mexico without any identification documents."
Independently wealthy
The U.S. court filings describe Bronfman as a "woman of extraordinary wealth with access to significant assets in several places around the world." She's the daughter of former Seagram's chair Edgar Bronfman Sr., whose father and brother built the $2.6 billion Montreal-based liquor empire.
Prosecutors claim her virtually unlimited financial resources and history of frequent international travel make her a high flight risk.
They also claimed Bronfman, if allowed out on bail, is a significant risk for obstruction of justice. They claim evidence compiled during the investigation indicates she has gone to "significant lengths to compile information and threaten litigation" against Raniere's enemies and critics.
Earlier court filings have described her relationship with Raniere. "She has financed the defendant repeatedly over the years, including providing him with millions of dollars and paying for private air travel costing up to approximately $65,000 a flight," prosecutors wrote in March. "She has also paid for numerous lawyers to bring suits against NXIVM critics."
As part of a series of exhibits Raniere filed in an unsuccessful attempt to get bail, he included a cancelled Airbnb receipt booked on his behalf in Montreal in Bronfman's name. The 57-year-old claimed he tried to enter Canada in October 2017 but was turned back by immigration authorities.
Bronfman's website says she spent years as an internationally ranked equestrian show jumper and also notes her work with Raniere and her position on NXIVM's executive board. In a statement posted to her website in December 2017, Bronfman said "there have been many defamatory accusations made and I have taken them seriously. Determining the truth is extremely important to me, and I can say firmly that neither NXIVM nor Keith have abused or coerced anyone."
'Horrific' Aston Hall child sex abuse claims
doctor drugged and abused at least 65 kids
By Margaret Davis Josh Payne
Kenneth Milner has been accused of drugging and raping children at Aston Hall hospital (Image: SWNS)
Cops would have interviewed a doctor accused of the "horrific" abuse of children had he been alive today, a report has found.
Child patients sent to Aston Hall Hospital in Derbyshire between the 1950s and 1970s have claimed they were taken to a secluded room, drugged and sexually abused by Kenneth Milner. Some were put in straitjackets.
Derbyshire police said in a report: "There would have been sufficient evidence to justify interviewing Dr Milner under caution in relation to a number of potential offences, namely rape, indecent assault, child cruelty and assault."
So far 115 people have come forward to speak to the investigation team and police have recorded 65 crimes including physical and sexual abuse. Officers said 65 people are being treated as victims.
Cops are investigating 65 allegations of abuse against a late doctor at Aston Hall Hospital (Image: SWNS)
Lawyers for 47 patients sent to the hospital in the 1960s and 1970s said the "horrific treatment" had "undoubtedly caused permanent, damaging effects".
Stephen Edwards, from Bond Turner, said: "We believe that every doctor should have to demonstrate their accountability in treating patients, especially those as vulnerable as children.
"The UK needs to ensure it has the clinical infrastructure to protect the next generation of young people and our efforts are focused on preventing this kind of gross negligence ever occurring again.
"We are committed to seeking the justice and compensation that our clients deserve and hope that today will encourage those who are yet to come forward to speak out."
A slew of claims were made against Milner, who was medical superintendent of Aston Hall, between 1954 and 1979.
As well as the sexual abuse, there were claims of a patients being hit while trying to resist treatment, one having her head repeatedly forced under water, and one having her hair repeatedly pulled to force her to take medication.
Another said she woke with her hands bound after being drugged and complained to a nurse of soreness between her legs. The nurse slapped her around the head and told her she must have a urine infection.
The vast majority of the allegations were made against Milner, who died in 1976. Other staff members accused of physical abuse have either been eliminated from the inquiry, are also dead or are unable to be identified.
A victim initially came forward to Suffolk Police in June 2011. Her claims that she was forced to receive treatment at Aston Hall were passed to Derbyshire where officers investigated but found no allegations of sexual abuse.
A string of allegations have been made surrounding events at the now closed Aston Hall children's hospital (Image: SWNS)
In July 2014, another person made an allegation to Derbyshire police that they were raped at the hospital, but the claim was not pursued because the suspect was dead.
Two months later, police in Nottinghamshire spoke to another individual who alleged they were abused at the hospital, but this was recorded purely for intelligence purposes, again because the suspect was dead.
In July 2015, another woman complained of abusive treatment, referring to being drugged and waking up feeling sore between her legs, mirroring other claims.
The following year, in February 2016, the investigation was formally passed to Derbyshire's Public Protection Major Investigation Team.
Detective Chief Superintendent Kem Mehmet, from Derbyshire police, said the same level of importance is placed on crimes when a suspect is dead.
He said: "I am satisfied the force gave an appropriate and proportionate response to the first allegation in 2011. One of the victims sent a card to the police saying they no longer feel like victims, they feel like warriors."
Just telling someone about abuse you have suffered can help you feel that way. Telling someone is the most important thing you can do.
I'm confused by DCS Mehmet's comments that "the same level of importance is placed on crimes when a suspect is dead." And then he says, "I am satisfied the force gave an appropriate and proportionate response to the first allegation in 2011." The two statements appear to be in direct opposition to each other.
The independent chairman of the Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Board, Chris Atkinson, said one victim's reaction to the report was "at last I have been heard".
He said: "It has taken some time for victims to raise (their views) because there hasn't been the process in place to do that in the past."
AND.... the same level of importance is NOT place on crime when the suspect is dead, at least it wasn't until recently.
161 victims and 400 child sex offences in
one Catholic school in Australia
Call for Bathurst police to be honoured for bringing St Stanislaus College paedophiles to justice
ABC Central West
By Joanna Woodburn
PHOTO: Former St Stanislaus College student and Bathurst journalist, Terry Jones, has asked for Chifley Police District to be honoured for its investigation into child sexual abuse. (ABC News: Joanna Woodburn)
The New South Wales Government is being asked to honour the police investigators who brought to justice the paedophile priests, brothers and dorm masters who abused students at Bathurst's St Stanislaus College in the state's Central West region.
At least 160 students at St Stanislaus College — a Catholic boys' boarding school — were abused by priests and staff between the 1970s and 1990s.
Terry Jones, a former student of the college has written to state MP Paul Toole to ask for the Chifley Police District to be recognised for helping to bring the perpetrators to justice.
"The police worked in Bathurst under the most extreme circumstances and they came up with 161 victims and 400 offences in the one school. We've got to put them on a pedestal," Mr Jones said.
Former priest, Brian Joseph Spillane, is one of the staff who worked at the St Stanislaus College who is serving jail time for abusing students at the school.
Former priest Brian Spillane leaves the Downing Centre Courts in Sydney in 2008. Spillane is serving time in jail for abusing children at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst. (AAP: Dean Lewins)
Strict non-publication orders, which were placed on his numerous cases in 2013, were lifted in 2016.
Mr Jones said there was not enough recognition of what occurred at the school between the 1970s and 1990s.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse did not hold a public hearing in Bathurst. In a statement to the ABC in March 2017, it said it was unlikely that Bathurst institutions would be the subject of a public hearing because of its obligation to report by December 2017.
It said a major consideration in deciding whether to hold a public hearing was whether there were ongoing criminal cases that could be prejudiced.
"Bathurst has not heard the truth," Mr Jones said. "Acknowledge the two detectives who led this investigation.
"This was not an ordinary investigation. This was a huge brief of evidence for a local area commander and his force to put together in Bathurst."
PHOTO: At least 160 students at St Stanislaus College were abused by priests and staff between the 1970s and 1990s. (ABC News: Gavin Coote)
Mother of victim supports call
Carole Clarke's son, Tor Nielson, was abused by Spillane while he was a student at St Stanislaus College and was the whistleblower on the abuse at the school.
Mrs Clarke said she is supportive of Mr Jones's call to honour the police who brought the priests to justice. "I think it's a wonderful idea and I think it's very important," Mrs Clarke said.
"What happened in Bathurst was a terrible thing and it was kept a secret for so long … people didn't know what was happening in their own community and with their own children. The fact that it was never properly acknowledged is a real shame."
Mr Jones would like the recognition of the Bathurst police to coincide with the national apology to victims of institutional child sexual abuse on October 22.
He said he believed the abuse has damaged Bathurst. "Bathurst's reputation is shot," Mr Jones said. "Bathurst's biggest industry is education [and] it's out there every time a priest was jailed."
The Commander of the Chifley Police District declined to comment about Mr Jones's request.
Mr Toole also declined to comment.
Bathurst, NSW
3 Aussie men charged with 44 crimes including
child sex charges
Rebecca McDonald
Three Geelong men arrested during police raids across the city are facing a total of 44 charges, including child sexual abuse.
They were taken into custody yesterday morning after detectives from the Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team (SOCIT) and the Youth Tasking Unit searched properties in Geelong, Herne Hill and Winchelsea.
The raids were conducted following a two month investigation under auspices of Operation Epicycle.
A 59-year-old Geelong man is facing 26 charges including commit an indecent act with a child under 16, assault with a weapon, unlawful imprisonment and supply a drug of dependence to a child.
He was remanded to face court in October.
A 52-year-old man from Herne Hill will also appear in court in October on 12 charges including threatening to commit a sexual offence, supplying a drug of dependence to a child, recruiting a child to engage in criminal activity and possessing a drug of dependence.
A 45-year-old Winchelsea man is up on seven counts including trafficking a drug of dependence to a child, committing an indictable offence while on bail, supplying a drug of dependence to a child and possessing a prohibited weapon and ammunition.
He was remanded to face court on August 22.
Geelong SOCIT Detective Senior Sergeant Michael Harvey said Victoria Police was committed to protecting vulnerable children and young people at risk of exploitation. “Investigations such as this one highlight how seriously police take the exploitation of vulnerable children and youth in our community,” Det Sen Sgt Harvey said.
Anyone who has information or would like to make a report about exploitation of vulnerable youth in the Geelong area is encouraged to contact Geelong SOCIT on 5264 8100.
Anonymous reports can also be made to Crime Stoppers online or by calling 1800 333 000.
Football sex abuse in Scotland: 300 criminal cases of child sex abuse linked to football
By Chris McLaughlin
BBC Scotland
Child protection policies in Scottish football are "not fit for purpose" and must change to prevent future cases of sexual abuse, according to a report.
The work was commissioned by the Scottish FA in December 2016 following allegations of historic abuse spanning decades.
The independent inquiry is led by former children's charity executive Martin Henry.
It will publish a collection of interim findings on Thursday.
The report cannot be published in full until legal proceedings, in some cases relating to the report, have been concluded.
Among its findings, it highlights:
Gaps in the system that still leave children at risk
A shortfall in money and resources to help tackle the issue
A need for football clubs to accept greater responsibility for affiliated youth clubs
The requirement of a designated Scottish FA board member for safeguarding issues
Scottish football's governing body announced it would commission the report at the end of 2016 after a number of victims came forward to tell their story.
That also followed criticism from the Scottish Parliament, where the Scottish FA was accused of being "asleep on the job" around areas of child protection.
Earlier that year, BBC Scotland revealed a gap in background checks for coaches working with children across the country.
As of November 2017, a total of 298 criminal cases have been recorded with Police Scotland linked to sexual abuse in Scottish football.
Chile names Santiago archbishop as suspect in cover-up of ring of 14 Paedophile Priests
File photo shows archbishop of Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati arrives at the supreme court building in Santiago city, Chile. — Reuters photo
SANTIAGO: The Chilean public prosecutor’s office has summoned the archbishop of Santiago to testify in an investigation into the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse by members of the Catholic Church, the archbishopric said on Tuesday.
The Santiago archbishopric said in a statement that Ricardo Ezzati had been summoned to speak with prosecutors on Aug 21 as a defendant accused of concealment.
Prosecutors investigating criminal accusations against bishops, clerics and lay workers in the Roman Catholic Church in Chile are also probing claims that Ezzati and others covered up a network of 14 priests who systematically abused minors.
Ezzati denied wrongdoing and vowed to cooperate with authorities. “I reiterate my commitment and the commitment of Santiago’s Church to the victims,” Ezzati said in the statement by his office.
“I have the conviction that I never covered up or obstructed justice, and as a citizen will fulfill my duty to contribute all the information that may help clarify the facts.”
Last month, police seized documents from the ecclesiastical court of the diocese of Santiago.
The child sex abuse crisis has gripped Chile’s Catholic Church since 2011, when Chilean priest Fernando Karadima was found guilty by the Vatican of abusing children in the 1970s and 1980s.
Juan Carlos Cruz, one of Karadima’s victims, said on Twitter that Ezzati has “little time left as archbishop of Santiago, but his new mission of answering for his cover-up, lies and other crimes … has just begun.”
Accusations of sex abuse against various members of the Catholic Church led Pope Francis to open an investigation in the South American country that has led the Church to oust bishops and other priests accused of carrying out or covering up abuses against minors. — Reuters
Chinese rural children living without parents
increasingly fall victim to sex abuses
By Liu Caiyu Source:Global Times
Students in a village in North China's Hebei Province run back home after class is dismissed. Photo: VCG
Eight-year-old Youyou knows that her 56-year-old teacher asked her to take off her pants every time he had a chance. "My teacher touched the place where I pee. It hurt," Youyou said. But she doesn't understand why it happened.
The little girl is one of six victims of sexual assault by a primary school teacher in a county in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, surnamed Jiang, who was later criminally detained by the police, news site thepaper.cn reported.
Most of the victims were left-behind children, away from their parents, being taken care of by either their grandparents or distant relatives.
Ten-year-old Xuanxuan, who was also assaulted by Jiang, has been living with her uncle and aunt. Her father is in prison and her mom left her after a divorce.
"Jiang would target anyone depending on his own mood, students from first grade or third grade," Xuanxuan told her uncle. Medical records showed that her hymen had been broken.
Left-behind children in China, who lack attention from adults, are vulnerable to predators. The children are also easily targeted because of a lack of sex education and a general taboo around the subject in villages, said experts.
Sense of being abandoned
The term left-behind children refers to children whose parents have left rural areas to become migrant workers in towns or cities, leaving behind their children either unsupervised or in the care of relatives or neighbors.
Tragedies happening to left-behind children are common.
An underage girl from a county in Hubei Province eventually committed suicide after being assaulted four times in a month by her neighbor. She was also staying with her grandparents since her parents were working in another city.
Many grandparents or older relatives in their 70s or 80s who are asked to take care of the children in rural areas lack education about sex abuse.
Their only goal is to make sure those children do not starve and remain alive, Zong Chunshan, director of the Beijing Youth Legal and Psychological Consultation Service Center, told the Global Times.
Left-behind children usually have a sense of being abandoned by their parents, which leaves them suffering from emotional loss and insecurity, so they are easily manipulated by others, Zong said.
As of 2016, China had 9.02 million left-behind children, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
In 2017 the reported cases of child sex abuse were 378, involving more that 606 victims. In total 90.43 percent of the victims were girls and 9.57 percent were boys. Most victims were 7 to 14 years old, according to data released by the Girls Protection Fund of the China Foundation of Culture and Arts for Children in 2017.
Protect themselves
Compared with urban children, child victims of sexual assault from rural areas are less easily detected, the report said. Information in villages is relatively sparse, Zong explained, adding that traditional culture in China's rural areas and the lack of privacy make people very ashamed to speak up.
However, He Xuefeng, director of the China Rural Governance Research Center at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, who has been conducting research in rural areas across China, told the Global Times that "the occurrence of sexual assault in villages are extreme cases."
Was that their finding, or is that the party line?
Media reports of sexual assault cases in villages have put the issue under a public spotlight. But generally speaking, relations between parents and children, teachers and students in China's rural areas are serious but very harmonious, He said.
Sounds like the part line to me!
After the prevention of sexual assault cases was put on agenda, many villages started to educate children about sex. But He warned that sex education conducted in rural areas might break the harmony and give wrong ideas to villagers about sex, since the instruction is normally unqualified.
About 55.17 percent of rural children have never received any education on how to prevent sexual abuse, the report said.
Sex education would make youngsters know how to protect themselves when assaulted and at least identify if they are sexually assaulted, but the promotion of sex education has been difficult and even disapproved of by some schools and parents due to their traditional mindsets, Zong said.
However, the fundamental solution for sexual assaults for left-behind children is to improve the local economy, Zong said. "Left-behind children are the easiest group in villages to target for sexual assault, a group that lacks care and attention."
A gender imbalance that has created a surplus of men in villages also contributes to sexual assault, Zong added.
'Gender imbalance', read: many years of the one-child policy, and the preference of boys over girls.
UK man jailed for 'horrific' child sex offences
over 25 years
A man has been jailed for 17 "horrific" sexual offences against children in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
Robert Robinson, 56, was sentenced to 11-and-a-half years for offences committed between 1975-2000.
He was found guilty of six counts of indecent assault of a girl under 14, six counts of indecency with a child, and five counts of indecent assault on a boy.
"His offending started when he was a teenager," Thames Valley Police said.
Oxford Crown Court heard how all of Robinson's victims were under 11-years-old.
Of course they were - prepubescent! That's a paedophile! Why is he ever going to get out of jail in his miserable life? Shouldn't he get at least one year for every year he spent destroying children's lives?
Det Sgt Sarah Berry said: "Robinson is a dangerous offender who committed sexual offences against children spanning over a number of decades and his offending started when he was a teenager.
"I am pleased that Robinson is now behind bars and I would like to thank the victims for their courage and strength in standing up to their abuser.
"This case illustrates that time is not a barrier when it comes to obtaining justice for victims of sexual abuse."
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