This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A co-founder of an embattled cult-like self-help organization in upstate New York is pleaded guilty in a case featuring sensational claims that some followers became branded sex slaves.

Nxivm: Seagram liquor heiress arrested in alleged sex cult case Read more

Nancy Salzman is scheduled to be sentenced on 10 July, after she appeared in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday.

Salzman did not receive a plea agreement in exchange for her guilty plea, according to local news agency Spectrum, in Albany, New York. She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Jaclyn Cangro (@JaclynCangro) Giving a statement to the court, Salzman said: “I am pleading guilty because I am in fact guilty” saying what she did was “not just wrong, but criminal.”

Salzman was a co-founder of NXIVM, a group based near Albany. Prosecutors say a secret society within the organization branded women with a spiritual leader’s initials and forced them to have sex with him.

The leader, Keith Raniere, is set to go on trial next month. Also charged in the case are Salzman’s daughter as well as the Seagram liquor fortune heiress Clare Bronfman and actor Allison Mack, best known for a role in the TV series Smallville.