NEW YORK — A federal judge in Brooklyn sentenced NXIVM co-founder Nancy Salzman to three and a half years in prison Wednesday after eight of her victims described Salzman as a cold, calculating enabler and enforcer for cult leader Keith Raniere.

Salzman, known as “Prefect” in her role as the president of Raniere’s purported self-empowerment organization, also must pay a fine of $150,000 and serve three years of supervised release after her incarceration ends. The 67-year-old Halfmoon resident is scheduled to report to prison on Jan. 19.

“I convinced myself that the ends justified the means,” Salzman, wearing a pink mask, told Senior U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in a courtroom in Brooklyn.

Unmoved, the judge told Salzman she had weaponized the civil legal system to bring lawsuits against those NXIVM perceived as its “enemies,“ manipulated its students and turned a blind eye to the worst of Raniere’s abuses, which included his sexual predation of a 15-year-old girl from Mexico who worked as a maid in Salzman’s home.

The judge questioned how Salzman, who has two grown daughters, could treat the girl and her siblings so horribly. “What mother does that to a child?” Garaufis said. “It’s just … it’s unspeakable.”

The sentence was slightly longer that what prosecutors had asked for.

At NXIVM’s headquarters in Colonie, Salzman’s photo was prominently displayed along that of Raniere, who is now serving 120 years in prison for sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy and racketeering charged with underlying acts of possessing child pornography, child exploitation and identity theft.

“In 20 years at Raniere’s side, you left trauma and destruction in your wake,” the judge told Salzman.

The courtroom was packed with former NXIVM members and victims as well as Salzman’s family. Her daughter, Lauren another former high-ranking NXIVM member, was the star witness for prosecutors at Raniere’s 2019 trial.

Nancy Salzman, who co-founded NXIVM’s Executive Success Programs in 1998 with Raniere, sat and listened as