NXIVM was founded in 1998 by Keith Raniere. Officially, it was a self-development and training organization, and to a large extent also a kind of pyramid scheme based on the principles of "multi-level marketing". On the surface, a company like many, makes millions from people's desire to gain more confidence. In reality, however, NXIVM was more than that - an extremely dangerous cult that preyed on women.
Keith Raniere was a lousy polytechnic student, barely graduating from a third-rate private college. Nevertheless, he portrayed himself as a guru in matters of successful life and self-development. This was largely due to the support of NXIVM co-founder, and former psychiatric nurse Nancy Salzman.
“Having Nancy Salzman on board was a huge victory for Raniere. It wasn't just her abilities; she also had lots of valuable connections,” comments Canadian reporter Sarah Berman in Don't Call It A Cult.
The organization, founded in 1998, quickly began to operate on a dizzying scale. She conducted group training and mentoring programs, which, according to the New York Times, were attended by about 18,000 people over the years. Among the members of NXIVM were many show business people, actors, and celebrities. Raniere also taught the children of influential American millionaires.
Over the years, it has been pointed out that NXIVM has sectarian overtones, and its founder draws on methods readily used, for example, by Scientologists. The fact that Reniere believed he was the only one who knew the secret of the perfect life was disturbing. Especially since this secret had to be paid very dearly.
People who came into contact with the organization but managed to leave it, as well as relatives of Reniere's clients who were under his influence, have been alarming the media for years. The fact that NXIVM acted like a sect was also spoken and written by activists from organizations such as the Institute for Cult Education.
It was even known quite well that Raniere had a group of faithful acolytes, almost followers, who considered him the greatest, most intelligent, most ethical man in the world. For the messiah.
Despite this, NXIVM ran a large-scale, extremely lucrative business without hindrance, not only in the United States but also internationally. Sarah Berman, the author of the book Don't Call It a Cult, describes in detail the initiatives that Raniere undertook, for example, in Mexico or Canada.
The legal cult functioned for two decades. No U.S. government agency or law enforcement agency has attempted to expose NXIVM's practices. The bomb exploded only in 2017, and not at all thanks to the vigilance of the authorities.
Three former members of NXIVM and the mother of a fourth woman related to the organization revealed the cult's hidden underbelly in The New York Times.
Behind the facade of a training organization, Raniere created a sect of sexual exploitation in which women were treated as slaves, blackmailed, imprisoned, humiliated, and exploited. They were even branded on their bodies with surgical cautery. The process was also filmed.
It was only the material of the New York daily that made the prosecutor's office launch an investigation into Raniere. On March 26, 2018, the founder of NXIVM was detained in Mexico. The public prosecutor announced that the businessman "spent his whole life making money on pyramid schemes and taking funds from wealthy women" who succumbed to his charisma.
The scope of the proceedings was quickly expanded. Already in July 2018, it was reported that Raniere and five women who helped him run NXIVM will face trial for, among others, identity theft, extortion, exploitation of slave labor, human smuggling, money laundering, financial crimes, and misrepresentation.
All the defendants except Ranier himself pleaded guilty. The leader of the sect, however, decided to go to trial. It was revealed before the court that for decades he had indulged in sexual and psychological violence, as well as grooming minors. Finally, on October 27, 2020, the man was sentenced in the first instance to 120 years in prison and a fine of $ 1.75 million.
Six shocking things we learned from the trial of the leader of NXIVM. Keith Raniere helped create a ritual whose victims were women. This is due to the recordings that appeared in the trial of a dangerous American guru. "Slaves during initiation should lie completely naked on the table," the New York Times reported. Who is this Ranier? And what is NXIVM?
In the photo of the anti-hero of the sex scandal in the New York daily, we see a fifty-eight-year-old man with an intelligent face, wearing fashionable spectacles that befit an academic intellectual rather than a degenerate erotomaniac, a ferocious predator. In a courtroom drawing taken during his trial in Brooklyn Federal Court, Keith Raniere sits calmly in the defendant's dock with his hands clasped, as if he has no fear of sentencing. But maybe it's just an impression. Even the best line of a litigious artist, for which Americans are famous, will not reflect the psychology of such a calculated character.
Raniere, prosecutors say, considered himself "the smartest, most ethical person in the world," comparing himself to Einstein and Gandhi. In fact, he was brainwashing and blackmailing women in his secret society. He is accused of creating a sex cult, recruiting women to turn them into his sex slaves. His harem was said to have included Hollywood actresses and wealthy heiresses. He also entwined the son of the former president of Mexico. Some will testify against Raniere.
NXIVM (read as "nexium") is officially an American marketing company since 1998, based near Albany - the capital of New York State. Her program included seminars on personal and professional development. Keith Raniere offered a number of techniques aimed at self-improvement. By 2003, about 3,700 people had attended the classes, including reportedly businesswoman Sheila Johnson, Ana Cristina Fox, daughter of former Mexican President Vicente Fox, and actresses Linda Evans, Grace Park, and Nicki Clyne. Nxivm would work with over 16,000 people and operations centers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America.
The case of Sara Bronfman, daughter of Edgar Miles Bronfman, an American-Canadian businessman of Jewish descent, philanthropist, and longtime president of the World Jewish Congress, is very interesting. At the age of 25, Sara was introduced to the Raniere pyramid by a family friend. According to his account, Sara "was desperately looking for some purpose in her life. And she found it in NXIVM." She moved to New York State to work as a personal trainer. She organized special VIP programs for companies that provided special training and coaching to outstanding employees. She worked her way up the organization until September 2018 brought a case against her in the Brooklyn Supreme Court. She was accused of emotionally entangling, among others, actress Isabella Martinez, and then simply cheating her financially.
But the money didn't just flow one way. Political themes are also intriguing. In early 2007, a number of donations were made from NXIVM attendees to Hillary Clinton's first presidential campaign. The total was $29,900. The World Ethical Foundations Consortium, an organization co-founded by Raniere and the Bronfman sisters, was to sponsor the Dalai Lama's visit to Albany. The spiritual leader of the Tibetans spoke at Albany's Palace Theater in May 2009. However, he denied taking money for it. "Neither His Holiness the Dalai Lama nor the Dalai Lama Foundation have ever received a million dollars for an appearance in Albany," the statement said.
The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Raniere took the title "Vanguard" from his favorite childhood arcade game, where destroying enemies increased your own power. And apparently, he was increasing his "power". Every August, members of NXIVM - called the "Nixians" - spent $2,000 or more to celebrate Mr. Raniere's birthday for a week in Silver Bay, New York. A former cult member testified that part of the holiday was a "tribute ceremony" for Keith Raniere. The celebration, dubbed "Vanguard Week", reportedly attracted adherents from the US and Canada. "It was a bit like summer camp for adults," said one of them. The event, centered around Mr. Raniere's birthday on August 26, reflected the nature of an organization totally devoted to its leader and meeting his various demands. How could he achieve it. What was his charisma?
NXIVM training was a trade secret, subject to confidentiality agreements. In 2003, the organization sued the Ross Institute for copyright infringement for publishing excerpts from a company handbook in three critical articles posted on a website. Critical texts referred to this training as "expensive brainwashing". The guide was provided by Stephanie Franco, who signed a non-disclosure agreement for the flowchart book. NXIVM filed lawsuits in both New York and New Jersey, but both were later dismissed.
Raniere insists that "the main focus of his endeavor was to make people experience more joy in their lives." However, this "coaching" was just a cover. It was actually a recruitment platform for a secret society called "DOS" or "The Vow" where women were tagged with tattoos and forced into sexual slavery. One of the victims was a fifteen-year-old girl.
"DOS" is an acronym for the ominous Latin phrase Dominus Obsequious Sororium, meaning Lord of the Servile Sisters (in a more explicit version: Trainer of Faithful Bitches). FBI Special Agent Michael Lever stated under oath that Keith Raniere had enslaved 15 to 20 women he named to have sexual relations with them. However, this number could be much higher. These "chosen ones" were not allowed to have sex with anyone other than Ranier, and they had to keep secret the nature of their relationship with their lord and master. Yet it was impossible to keep everything a secret.
Early last year, NXIVM founder Keith Raniere was arrested by the FBI in Mexico with his associate, German-born American actress Allison Mack, who starred in the youth series Smallville. Raniere's trial began on May 7.
It came to light that NXIVM had a pyramid scheme, engaged in human trafficking, and practiced a sex cult. In a 2010 article published in the Times Union, former coaches, and personal trainers, characterized their former students as "conquests". The victims were sexually abused by Raniere. Kristin Keeffe, his longtime partner, and mother of his child left the group in 2014 and described him as a dangerous individual. "The worst news about NXIVM is true," admitted Keeffe.
The first about the dark side of the sect was reported by the New York Times in October 2017. The newspaper described the details of the torment of women at the Dominus Obsequious Sororium. "Slaves" were marked with the initials of Raniere and Mack, and punished corporally by their "masters" and "masters." And as a safeguard against escape, a blackmail deposit, collections of nude photos, pornographic films, or other compromising materials and information are served.
Sarah Edmondson, a Canadian actress who has been participating in "training" since 2005, told about tattooing victims. She admitted that she left NXIVM after Allison Mack introduced her to DOS at home in Albany. Edmondson described that the naked participants in the ritual were blindfolded. They were held down by Mack and three other women and tattooed by Dr. Danielle Roberts using a cautery pen, a laser-tipped instrument. The tattoo was done on the hip, under the underwear line, so that women could still wear bathing suits without any problems and not expose themselves to prying eyes. The victims did not know they were marked with the initials of Mack and Raniere. They were told something about the symbol of the four elements. It was to be earth, water, air, and feather as the carrier of fire.
"This is the horizon, and this is the designation of air. Here are the mountains and the earth. It's about our power and unity. The earth is a woman and all that crap," Edmondson said. After the ceremony, she complained that the tattoo was too big, but the complaint was dismissed and she was instead asked to help tattoo another girl. The pain of childbirth, the smell of a burnt body, which is hard to bear without masks, forty-five minutes of ordeal while reading "sacred" texts about commitment and honor aloud, and after the initiation, a group photo, a "souvenir" group photo showing symbolic tattoos. The women had to look happy and content. The entire ceremony was recorded on video. Went to the archive. During the trial, Raniere's lawyer stated that the women had voluntarily participated in all this.
A former sex cult victim named Daniela testified that she was groomed to have a relationship with Ranier until she turned 18 so that he could take her virginity. When she was 16, Daniela and her relatives moved from Mexico to the US after learning about NXIVM. The family of six moved into a two-room apartment in Albany, New York, and began a personal training program. "I've never kissed or made love to anyone before," Daniela testified in court. She didn't see Keith as a potential lover, but she noticed that he was flirting with her in subtle ways. During the celebration of Vangarda Week, their relationship "began to evolve into sex." Raniere has started talking openly about his intention to consummate his relationship with Daniela when she turns 18. However, he noted that she would first have to lose weight to adapt to his preferences. "He said he couldn't share his sexual energy with someone who was overweight," Daniela testified. When she became an adult, Keith called her and announced that "it's time". Later, he took the teenager to his office to have her virginity removed.
Daniela testified that she was then forced to perform oral sex with him on a regular basis, often more than once a day. One of Daniel's sisters had a child with Ranier, and another, fifteen, was a victim in a child pornography case against NXIVM's guru. He repeatedly forced both of them to have group sex with him. "We cried all the time," Daniela stated. During the trial, it was revealed that she herself had been locked in a bedroom for two years only because she had gained weight and had asked to see another man. "She was supposed to lose weight, but instead she got fat," the cult leader said.
Ultimately, Daniela decided to return to Mexico, even if it meant never seeing her family again, just to get out of solitary confinement. No wonder, because in addition to sexual enslavement, she had to undergo a starvation diet - 500 to 800 calories a day, just because her torturer liked "women-hangers". The NXIVM scandal, however, is not an invention of journalists hungry for cheap sensations. The scandal exposes the dark side of organizations that proclaim noble slogans.
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