In 2012, Odato reported Raniere's history of pedophilia. A frustrated Raniere instructed his followers to help get him moved back by ingratiating themselves to prison staff, including offering coffee and donuts as they left their shifts. She faces up to 20 years in prison. By that standard, HBO's The Vow should be a better story than Starz's four-part special Seduced. "[157], Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., attorney for Bronfman, called the sentence "an abomination. Edmondson alleged that participants were blindfolded naked, held down by Mack and three other women, and branded by NXIVM-affiliated doctor Danielle Roberts, using a cauterizing pen. [35][36], Following Raniere's conviction, he continues to direct a small set of loyal members from his prison cell, encouraging continued recruitment. After Raniere's conviction, Clyne and others began dancing nightly outside the detention center containing Raniere.[252]. A complaint from a 2020 lawsuit by former members of NXIVM recapitulated several fantastical claims made in marketing materials about Raniere. In reality, Raniere rebranded real psychological methods used in therapy and used them to elicit private information from his followers that he later wielded as blackmail, according to former members. Raniere was charged with sex trafficking of children, conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit forced labor in Brooklyn in June 2019. [275] In 2015, Keeffe alleged that NXIVM leaders had planned to lure critics to Mexico with an invitation to an anti-cult conference; once in Mexico, the critics were to be arrested on false charges by order of a judge who had been bribed. NXIVM - Wikipedia The complaints focused on a secretive subgroup within the organization called The Vow or D.O.S. What Is NXIVM - The True Story of the Sex Cult in HBO's The Vow "[174], In May 2022, Keith Raniere filed suit against the U.S. Department of Justice and Bureau of Prisons, alleging that his civil rights are violated as a prisoner in United States Penitentiary, Tucson. Vicente is also one of the key voices in "The Vow" docuseries. [282] In a January 2003 ruling, federal judge Robert Littlefield implied Raniere was using a legal suit to harass Natalie. In 2019, multiple members including Raniere were convicted of various crimes related to their roles at NXIVM. Wrote Littlefield: "This matter smacks of a jilted fellow's attempt at revenge or retaliation against his former girlfriend, with many attempts at tripping her up along the way. She was released on $100 million bond and placed on house arrest with electronic monitoring. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. As part of her plea agreement with the government, Salzman did not contest asset forfeiture. [42][43][44] Raniere claimed that its "main emphasis is to have people experience more joy in their lives". Keith Raniere, orchestrator of the cult Nxivm, was recently sentenced to 120 years in prison for racketeering, possession of child pornography, and sex trafficking. Prosecutors revealed a decades-long pattern of grooming, sexual abuse of girls and women, physical and psychological punishments against dissenters, and hacking and vexatious litigation against enemies. That happened when his wife Bonnie Piesse told Vicente she felt something was off about Raniere and was leaving the organization herself in 2017. [263] After Raniere's conviction, Roberts was among the dancers outside the jail in which he was incarcerated. [154][155][156], On September 30, 2020, Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York sentenced Clare Bronfman to six years and nine months in federal prison. NXIVM filed suits in New York and New Jersey, but both were dismissed. [27][28] Raniere was convicted on the top charge of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy as well as several other charges. [159] She is presently imprisoned at Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury. The first details many people learned about NXIVM, the cultlike organization based for decades near Albany, New York, were the most sordid. NXIVM - Times Union Lauren Salzman testified that the women in D.O.S. Though not called to testify against Keith Raniere, prosecutors said that Mack, "was available to testify at Ranieres trial if requested to do so. [281] Natalie recalled that she was able to stop smoking after a two-hour session with Raniere. The actress Allison Macks role in the Nxivm subgroup D.O.S. My birthday is always a strange thing. Nxivm trial evidence On Wednesday, Salzman apologized for keeping a woman named Daniela captive in a room from 2010 to 2012 at Raniere's request and threatening to deport her to Mexico. Vicente, her husband, asked her to give her career another chance after taking NXIVM self-help courses. [181][182], NXIVM has been described as a cult and Raniere a cult leader by anti-cult activists such as Rick Alan Ross and Steven Hassan, as well as the billionaire businessman Edgar Bronfman Sr.[183][184][12] Stephen A. Kent, a sociologist who studies new religious movements, in an article that compares NXIVM with Scientology, noted that NXIVM operated mainly as a business and never incorporated as a religious organization. He falsely told followers that he was a scientist and that he had created a unique self-help method that would help anyone achieve their personal and professionals aspirations. | Psychology Today", "Notice Of Hearing In The Matter Of Brandon Porter, MD", "Executive course in 'cult' lawsuit launches in Dublin", "Vicente: Keith Forced Clare Bronfman to Wear Jock Strap [and More Wonderful Testimony]", "Seagram heiress Bronfman pleads not guilty in NXIVM 'sex slave' case", "From heiress to felon how Clare Bronfman wound up in cult like group NXIVM", "NXIVM Leader Keith Raniere Has Been Convicted for Keeping Women as 'Sex Slaves.' HBO's docuseries "The Vow," which wrapped up its first season on Sunday, followed former members of the alleged sex cult NXIVM as they tried to take the organization down founder and leader Keith Raniere's manipulation and sexual abuse. NXIVM students are taught that Raniere is the smartest and most ethical man in the world. [256][255][257], Keith Raniere, founder of NXIVM, arrested and indicted on a variety of charges related to DOS (a "secret sisterhood" within NXIVM), including sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit forced labor in March 2018. Here Are the Major Players in the Case", "Lder de secta NXIVM enseaba que la violacin y el abuso infantil no son delitos", "Inside Nxivm, the 'Sex Cult' That Preached Empowerment (Published 2018)", "Inside the Tangled Web of NXIVM: The Surprising Players Sucked Into the Alleged Cult's Orbit", "Ordered to seduce Raniere, woman planned escape from NXIVM", "NYC Prison Dancers Linked to 'Sex Cult' NXIVM Start Social Justice Org", "NXIVM members dancing for Raniere outside federal prison", "Doctor Associated With Cult-Like New York Group Loses License", "NXIVM Trial: Prosecution's opening statements lasted 90 minutes", "NXIVM Leader Keith Raniere Convicted on Sex Trafficking Charges. A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the convictions and sentences for NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere and his co-conspirator Clare Bronfman. NXIVM, Sex Cult, & Slavery - Reconsider News During a "fright study", Porter exposed subjects to disturbing videos, including actual footage of a decapitation. In the early 2000s, Forbes, and other media outlets started covering the group NXIVM, a massive marketing enterprise based in Clifton Park, New York with chapters across the country, Canada and Mexico. "I showed. Keith was experimenting on him. In a 2003 mission statement on the NXIVM website: NXIVM embodies a set of consistent and universal principles in which all humans can participate. A former NXIVM member, Damon Brink, started a website, and I may have been the motivation. But after Bronfman's father learned how much his daughter was spending on Raniere's legal pursuits, he called the organization out as a cult in a 2003 Forbes profile of Raniere. nxivm website archive. "[124][125][126], On April 19, 2019, Bronfman pleaded guilty to charges of harboring an alien and identity fraud; bookkeeper Kathy Russell pleaded guilty to visa fraud. [255] In 2016, Porter was present at a NXIVM retreat ("V-Week") where 300 to 400 individuals were struck by an unidentified disease; Porter failed to report the outbreak, in violation of his duties as a licensed medical doctor. [297], Indictment of Raniere and co-conspirators, Guilty pleas, corporations and conviction, Sentencing and appeals for Raniere and Bronfman, Claims of Raniere's superior intellect and sexual powers. The NXIVM Cult: An Inside Look at the Classes and Cruelty Brandon Porter, a medical doctor, conducted unlicensed human-subjects research on 200 people for NXIVM. [153] Prosecutors also submitted documentation that Raniere and his follower Chakravorty used a false name and "burner phone" to evade detection, with Raniere instructing Chakravorty to "get scrutiny" on Judge Nicholas Garaufis, explaining that "the judge needs to know he's being watched". NXIVM Two Ways: 'Seduced' and 'The Vow' - The Atlantic [56][44], NXIVM claimed its training is a trade secret, subject to non-disclosure agreements, but reportedly uses a technique the organization calls "rational inquiry" to facilitate personal and professional development. [190], As established by prosecutors, according to several sources, including former high-ranking members of NXIVM, Raniere's word is final within NXIVM, and nothing of import happens within NXIVM without Raniere's approval. [271], Sarah Edmondson is a Canadian actress. By Kashmira Gander On 3/27/18 at 6:56 AM EDT. A federal appeals court Friday upheld the convictions and sentences for NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere and his co-conspirator, Seagram's liquor heiress Clare Bronfman. The Most Disturbing Details From the NXIVM Sex-Cult Case - The Cut Serial Number: 78109670", "Her Darkest Role: Actress Allison Mack's Descent From 'Smallville' to Sex Cult", "This Keith Raniere Sex-Cult Story Is Much Deeper Than Allison Mack's Arrest", "A Top NXIVM Sex Cult Recruiter Comes Forward, Says Founder 'Messed With the Wrong Person', "NXIVM's files on 'enemies' debated in court", "Witness: Bronfmans tried to apply political pressure", "FBI shifts mountain of data in NXIVM's seized computers", "Dalai Lama fills Palace with message of compassion", "Suspended Lama Tenzin Dhonden Had A Lover Too! Courts ruled in favor of Ross. The YouTube link for the full song is in Bonnies bio. NXIVM is a secretive self-help organization based in Albany that was founded by Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman. Nxivm, pronounced "nexium", is a group that started in 1998 as a self-help programme and says it has worked with more than 16,000 people including the son of a former Mexican president and. helped the case make headlines. [226][227], Edgar Boone, the scion of a wealthy family, introduced NXIVM to numerous affluent Mexicans, becoming head of NXIVM-Mexico and rising to third in the NXIVM organization. Nxivm case: Here's what 6 weeks of testimony revealed about the - CNN "[176], Judge Raner Collins granted the Department of Justice's motion to dismiss the suit on grounds that Raniere failed to exhaust administrative remedies (in line with the Prison Litigation Reform Act), and his lawyer's insufficient service of process.[177]. [236][237][238], Clare Bronfman, daughter of billionaire Seagrams chairman Edgar Bronfman Sr., was introduced to NXIVM by her sister Sara. Raniere frequently cited having earned three degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Seriously. from March 2019. After five years there, she was recruited to DOS and forced to have sex with Raniere for two years. ", "Revelan video de Emiliano Salinas bailando en celebracin a Keith Raniere", "Self-help guru denies enslaving, branding women in Nxivm sex cult", "Leader of alleged cult that ensnared Vancouver woman appears in court", "Feds say self-help guru coerced followers into sex, had them branded with a cauterizing pen", "NXIVM female sex 'slaves' allegedly branded with secretive group leader's initials", "Founder of 'NXIVM', a Purported Self-Help Organization, and Actor Indicted for Sex Trafficking and Forced Labor Conspiracy", "Smallville Actress Arrested for Role in Alleged Sex Cult that Branded and Enslaved Women", "Smallville's Allison Mack was allegedly a 'top member' of cult that abused women", "Allison Mack of 'Smallville' granted bail in sex cult case", "Allison Mack granted bail in sex trafficking case", "Self-help guru denies enslaving, branding women in sex cult", "Raniere, Mack appear in court on sex-slavery charges", "Trial date set for Keith Raniere and Allison Mack", "Foreclosure Complaint Reveals NXIVM Sex Cult Rituals In Upstate New York", "NXIVM suspends all operations; founder's bail denied", "Clare Bronfman, Seagram's heiress, arrested in Nxivm sex-trafficking case", "Seagram's heiress Clare Bronfman charged in connection with alleged sex cult NXIVM Bronfman and five others accused of racketeering related to operations of a cult-like pyramid group", "Self-help guru Raniere faces U.S. child porn charges; associate pleads guilty", "Nxivm co-founder Nancy Salzman pleads guilty in sex cult case", "Leader of alleged NXIVM sex cult pleads not guilty to child porn charges", "Spiritual leader of alleged NY sex cult hit with child porn charges", "Federal prosecutors recommend leniency in high-ranking NXIVM sentencing", "Smallville star Allison Mack pleads guilty to racketeering in Nxivm case", "SENTENCING MEMORANDUM by USA as to Allison Mack", "Actress Who Recruited Women for Nxivm Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison", "Clare Bronfman Pleads Guilty in Nxivm 'Sex Cult' Case, Leaving Leader to Stand Trial Alone", "NXIVM trial prosecution's opening statements lasted ninety minutes", "Supplemental Sentencing Statement & Order as to Keith Raniere", "Seagram's heir sentenced to prison in branded sex slave case", "Prominent NXIVM cult leader Lauren Salzman avoids jail time after 'extraordinary' cooperation", "NXIVM Co-Founder Nancy Salzman, Featured in 'The Vow' Docuseries, Sentenced to 42 Months in Prison", "Judge hands down final sentence in NXIVM case", "3 years after Raniere's arrest, NXIVM divides into victims, loyalists, guilty", "LETTERS OF SUPPORT ACCOMPANYING SENTENCING MEMORANDUM ON BEHALF OF KEITH RANIERE", "Nxivm leadership accused of illegal psychological experiments and systematic abuse in federal lawsuit", "Docket for Edmondson v. Raniere, 1:20-cv-00485 - CourtListener.com", "Podcast: NXIVM members dance outside federal lockup for Keith Raniere", "Dancers outside Brooklyn jail are 'cover movement' for Nxivm sex cult", "Brooklyn Prison Dancers Linked to 'Sex Cult' NXIVM Start Social Justice Organization", "Exhibit D, Response in Opposition re: 7 First Motion for Preliminary Injunction", "NXIVM Cult Leader's Jailhouse Call to Disciples: 'The Judge Needs to Know He's Being Watched', "Raniere, facing possible life sentence, wants judge to know 'he's being watched', "Government's Sentencing Memorandum as to Defendant Keith Raniere", "Exhibit D, Sentencing Memorandum by USA as to Keith Raniere", "Sentencing Memorandum as to Clare Bronfman", "Seagrams heiress keeps paying as NXIVM's Keith Raniere adds big-name lawyers", "Raniere in Quarantine in USP Lewisburg PA; Likely Headed for Sex Offender Prison in Tucson Next", "Leader of New York sex cult transferred to federal prison in Tucson", "Larry Nassar now housed in Arizona prison", "Oral Argument for United States v. Raniere (Bronfman) CourtListener.com", "NXIVM 'Cult' Founder Keith Raniere Loses Appeal of 120-Year Sentence Following Sex Trafficking Convictions", "Appeals court upholds sentences for NXIVM sex cult leaders Keith Raniere, Clare Bronfman", "NXIVM loyalist files $12 million suit against Starz network", "Former Epstein lawyer drops out of appeal for NXIVM leader Raniere", "NOTICE OF MOTION AND SPECIAL MOTION TO STRIKE FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT PURSUANT TO C.C.P.