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Nxivm — a secretive group headquartered in Albany — has had countless well-connected power brokers on its payroll, including the father of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

The lawmaker’s dad, Doug Rutnik, worked as an attorney for Nxivm for four months in 2004 at a rate of $25,000 per month.

“When he wanted to quit, he was falsely sued” on dubious grounds, said one source. “He ended up paying them back the $100,000 he’d been paid and signing a confidentiality agreement.”

Former members of N call it a cult and say its leader Keith Raniere, aka Vanguard, has a secret sorority of young, attractive women who are branded like cattle with his initials and forced to hand over nude photos as “collateral” in case they disobey him.

Rutnik was just one of several lobbyists and power brokers Nxivm has hired, including Roger Stone, Joe Bruno and Arkansas Judge Richard Mays.

The lawyer was a victim of Nxivm’s aggressive use of the court system, sources said. Court records show that the group, said to have spent more than $1 million a month on legal fees, has been involved in more than 50 lawsuits over the years.

Nxivm’s biggest financial supporter, Seagram heiress Clare Bronfman, contributed $2,400 to Gillibrand’s 2010 special-election campaign, records show.

“Sen. Gillibrand went after Bill Clinton for something that happened decades ago, but she’s done nothing about the women who are being branded and tortured right now, and right in her hometown,” one ex-member told me.

A spokesman for the senator said, “Sen. Gillibrand had never heard of this group until she recently read about them in the newspaper.”