NXIVM

NXIVM (a.k.a. DOS) was a self-help organization that claimed to provide "personal-development" seminars, but was later exposed as a highly exploitative and depraved sex cult involved with human trafficking.Ross Institute 2003 essays on NXIVM It also operated Executive Success Programs, Inc. It was founded by Keith Raniere ("The Vanguard")Founder of the secretive self-help group NXIVM charged with sex trafficking (Mar 26, 2018, 7:49 PM ET) ABC News. in 1998. The name is pronounced to rhyme with "Nexium", an over-the-counter 24-hour antacid.
At one point, they ran a news site called "The Knife of Aristotle", which later just became "The Knife". They claimed to help readers snuff out fake news, but their methodology for doing so was incredibly vague.The Knife of Aristotle Isn't Just a Fake "Fake News" Site—It's a Cult by Brock Wilbur (May 30, 2017) Paste Nevertheless, Media Bias/Fact Check apparently felt confident enough to give it a "Least Biased" rating, somehow. The Knife shuttered its doors somewhere around August 2018.The Knife, Media Bias/Fact Check
==What it claims==
NXIVM boasted "a remarkable development in scientific and psychodynamic understanding, education, and technology that can facilitate this transition so the pattern of humanity's rises and falls can actually be broken and transformed."Front page, nxivm.com. Archived from 31 March 2017.
==Allegations==
===Celebrity recruitment and wealthy heiresses===
Taking its cues directly from the Church of Scientology, NXIVM had managed to acquire a handful of celebrities to boost its image and increase its membership, though admittedly, most of them were televisions actors that lacked the same level of star power from the likes of Tom Cruise and John Travolta.Stacey Nguyen, These Are the Celebrities Known For Being Involved With NXIVM. Popsugar, 5 July 2023. Echoing the experiences of former scientologists such as Leah Remini,Megan Friedman, Leah Remini Claims the Church of Scientology Wanted Her to Recruit Kevin James. Country Living, 30 August 2017. the cult's celebrities were also encouraged to recruit their fellow cast and crew members (both on-and-off set) from the shows and movies they currently acting in to join up with the group, similar to a pyramid scheme.Hilary Weaver, Allison Mack Tried to Recruit One Very Famous Actress into Nxivm. Vanity Fair, 24 April 2018.
For instance, former star allegedly recruited her co-star into the cult starting in 2006. She was sent to a self-help retreat which turned out to be one of their recruitment seminars. Kreuk just barely got in and then got out, but Mack did not. She co-founded the sex sect, recruited and kept the women underfed, branded them with her initials, and introduced corporal punishment along with her leader. Marketing her cult as a "feminist" organization, Mack would also use Twitter during the mid-to-late 2010s to try and recruit several high-profile women into NXIVM, including Harry Potter star , country singer , and New York Times cultural critic .Jacob Shamsian, Allison Mack apparently tried to recruit a slew of prominent feminists for her alleged sex cult — here they are. Business Insider, 25 April 2018. Actress Samia Shoaib recalls that soon after meeting her while they were both were auditioning for a television pilot episode sometime in 2013, Mack attempted to "lure" her (in Shoaib's own words) into NXIVM through various emails and text messages, describing Mack's behavior as love bombing.Chris Harris, Actress Says Allison Mack Tried to 'Lure' Her into Alleged Sex Group by Appealing to Her Feminism. People, 26 April 2018.
 and from the hit Sci-Fi Channel series were also involved in the organization in some capacity as its top recruiters, the latter of whom was so devoted to the cult that Clyne (at the very height of her popularity and following Keith Raniere's instructions) broke her contract with the show's producers and had her character killed off before quitting acting entirely just so she can support NXIVM full time and later ended up defending Raniere even after he was convicted.Frank Parlato, Nicki Clyne quit acting, broke her contract with Battlestar Galatica producers to join NXIVM mission full time. Niagara Reporter, 21 November 2017.Julia Emmanuele, Allison Mack's Wife Nicki Clyne Defends NXIVM & Founder Keith Raniere. Bustle, 29 September 2020.Sarah Berman, How a Secret Society That Brands Women Sold Empowerment. Vice, 23 November 2017Sarah Berman, These Actresses Have Been Linked to an Alleged Sex Cult. Vice, 6 April 2018Sex cult sources: Allison Mack ‘married’ Actress Nicki Clyne to defraud US Immigration. Artvoice, 3 April 2018. Clearly, Raniere was trying to fuck and brand all the women from your favorite sci-fi shows you watched as a kid. In addition, the guy got two heiresses to give him $60 million.Suzana Andrews, The Heiresses and the Cult, Vanity Fair, November 2010.
===Sorority scandal===
A secret sorority within the organization, said to have started in 2015, was discovered in 2017, with female recruits being non-consensually branded with a mark below their hip after being asked to voluntarily offer naked photographs and other compromising material as "collateral" and a show of trust. The sorority was structured around obedience, with each circle led by a "master" who would recruit six "slaves", who were then expected to recruit slaves of their own. Punishments for lack of strict obedience included fasting and corporal punishments. Over time, more collateral was demanded from its members. Text messages suggest that Raniere was aware of its practices, including the brand which incorporated his initials.Inside a Secretive Group Where Women Are Branded by Barry Meier, The New York Times, Oct. 17, 2017) According to court testimony by ex-member Lauren Salzman, Raniere envisioned having thousands of slaves.The NXIVM 'Sex Cult' Story Keeps Getting More Disturbing: Lauren Salzman testified that Keith Raniere envisioned thousands of "slaves" and even one of them running for office. by Sarah Berman (May 20 2019, 2:58pm) Vice.
In 2018, Raniere was indicted with charges of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit forced labor. Allison Mack was arrested and charged with the same crimes on April 20, 2018.Founder of “NXIVM,” a Purported Self-Help Organization, and Actor Indicted for Sex Trafficking and Forced Labor Conspiracy. United States Department of Justice, 20 April 2018. Reason has, however, criticized the charges of "sex trafficking", noticing that although what they did at NXIVM can be called several things, it cannot be called "sex trafficking", and that they're calling it so because of sensationalism.The Sex Trafficking Charges Against Smallville Actress Allison Mack Are Totally Bogus. Reason, 26 April 2018.
In April 2019, Allison Mack pleaded guilty to the crimes of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges.Allison Mack of ‘Smallville’ Pleads Guilty in Case of Nxivm ‘Sex Cult’ Where Women Were Branded In July 2021, Mack was sentenced to three years in prison.Edward Helmore, Allison Mack: Hollywood actor with key role in abusive Nxivm sex cult. The Guardian, 4 July 2021.
In June 2019, Raniere was found guilty of "racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and attempted sex trafficking",Nxivm sex cult leader found guilty by Veronica Rocha et al. (Updated 3:25 p.m. ET, June 19, 2019) CNN. with the "racketeering" charge including "extortion, identity theft, and production and possession of child pornography".Jury Finds Nxivm Leader Keith Raniere Guilty of All Counts, U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York 19 June 2019 Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison on 27 October 2020.Larry Neumeister and Tom Hays, NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere sentenced to 120 years in prison. Associated Press, 27 October 2020.
==Response to critics==
While gratuitous comparisons to Scientology annoy the experienced cult watcher, it really doesn't help NXIVM's case when they take their moves straight out of said tax-deductible religion's playbook:
*They label dissenters "suppressives".
*They respond to said dissenters with attempted overwhelming legal force (to the point where judges call them out on it).
*They sent private investigators to go through Rick Ross's garbage cans, of all the people to try such a stunt on.'NXIVM is a litigation machine' (James M. Odato and Jennifer Gish, Times Union, 13 March 2012)
*They also tried to sue Ross for copyright violations when he quoted their material to criticise it, which surprisingly enough didn't work out too well for them.Nicholas Köhler, How to Lose $100 Million Archived from Maclean's, 13 September 2010.
*They even cited a Scientology lawsuit victory as a defense against the forced labor/nude photo blackmail charges filed in the sorority scandal.Kevin Fitzpatrick, Smallville Star Turns to Scientology Precedent in Nxivm Cult Case. Vanity Fair, 30 December 2018.
==External links==
*Executive Success Programs
*World Ethical Foundations Consortium — another Raniere site; it is not clear whether the Dalai Lama endorses his name and image being all over it
*Rick Ross links on NXIVM/ESP
*Daily Beast reportage on NXIVM:
**Feds: ‘Self-Help’ Guru Kept Women as Sex ‘Slaves,’ Branded Them With His Initials, 27 March 2018
**How ‘Smallville’ Actress Allison Mack Became a Women-Branding Cult Leader, 28 March 2018
**The Hollywood Followers of NXIVM, a Women-Branding Sex Cult, 30 March 2018
==See also==
*Erhard Seminars Training
*Steve Drain
==References==
Category:Conspiracy theorists
Category:Convicted felons
Category:Crime
Category:Living people
Category:Multilevel marketing
Category:New York
Category:Paedophilia
Category:Rape
Category:Self help