A New York self-help guru who was accused of running a sex cult of starving women branded with his initials has been found guilty of all counts.

A jury took less than five hours to find Keith Raniere guilty of charges including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and possession of child pornography, at the end of a six week trial.

The 58-year-old faces up to 40 years in prison when he is sentenced later this year.

Five women who were charged alongside Raniere, including Smallville actress Allison Mack, pled guilty before the trial began and will be sentenced in September.

Raniere, a bespectacled and unprepossessing figure, began Nxivm (pronounced nexium) in the late 1990s, setting up in Albany, capital of New York state, what he describes as a self-help organisation.