by Patrick Howley, Big League Politics:

The NXIVM trial will proceed to closing arguments Monday, with both sides resting their cases Friday after weeks of emotional testimony including from the upstate New York cult’s imprisoned sex slaves.

An FBI agent showed jurors Thursday a series of photos of an underage teen sex slave named Camila, alleging that cult leader Keith Raniere — who stands accused of sex trafficking — made pornographic photos of her. Camila was an illegal immigrant trafficked into the cult from Mexico.

Raniere’s defense team, which unsuccessfully tried multiple times to dismiss the case altogether, decided not to call any witnesses.

FBI special agent Meagan Rees presented more than twelve images of child pornography allegedly produced by NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere in Raniere’s trial Thursday at Brooklyn federal court. Raniere stands accused of sex trafficking during his tenure atop the elite upstate New York sex cult, where he was branding female sex slaves.

The full dark story of NXIVM’s reign of terror is now coming to light. Witnesses have described how the sex cult illegally bundled money for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign while trafficking in young girls from Mexico, providing them with fake documentation to evade immigration law. Evidence shows that Raniere wanted his branding sessions to emulate Satanic human sacrifice rituals.

A former NXIVM sex cult slave named “Daniela” testified in the trial of cult leader Keith Raniere, noting that she joined the cult at age 16 in 2002.

The alleged visa and immigration fraud involved in Daniela’s years with the cult underscores the extent to which NXIVM had deep connections to powerful people in Mexico, including Emiliano Salinas, the son of a former Mexican president.

Robert Gavin of the Albany Times-Union reported:

The witness said her tourist visa and her father’s visa were taken in Atlanta in October 2004. She went back to Mexico, she said, and Raniere arranged for her to fly to Canada and get picked up on Christmas Eve and taken to Albany. But the plan had problems.#NXIVM #NXIVMTrial

— Robert Gavin (@RobertGavinTU) 23 May 2019

The witness then described how she was given a fake ID by the sex cult and had a traumatizing experience with Raniere, alongside her sister, noting, “I stayed there crying. That was Christmas,” according to Gavin. The witness also knew that Raniere was involved in a sexual relationship with her sister, who was under the age of 18.

I reported earlier:

The NXIVM sex cult’s leader Keith Raniere, now on trial in Brooklyn for sex trafficking and racketeering, aimed for his branding of female sex slaves to be “like a sacrifice,” referring to the practice of human sacrifice, which is practiced in Satanic rituals.

Read More @ BigLeaguePolitics.com