NXIVM co-founder Keith Raniere arrested, charged in federal complaint

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Times Union


By Brendan J. Lyons Updated 5:23 pm, Monday, March 26, 2018



Keith Raniere, the co-founder of the NXIVM corporation, a secretive Colonie-based organization that an expert has called an "extreme cult," has been arrested by the FBI based on a federal criminal complaint filed in the Eastern District of New York, according to a person briefed on the arrest.

The complaint, filed recently in connection with an ongoing federal criminal investigation being headed by the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, charges Raniere with multiple counts of sex trafficking and forced labor.

A person briefed on the investigation said the federal complaint does not include all of the charges that are being examined by the U.S. attorney's office as part of its ongoing investigation.

In a letter to a U.S. magistrate judge on Monday, federal prosecutors said that Raniere "was living in Mexico prior to his arrest and has access to vast resources, (and) poses a significant risk of flight. In addition, his long-standing history of systematically exploiting women through coercive practices for his own financial and sexual benefit demonstrates that, if released, he would pose a danger to the community."

Read more: https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/NXIVM-co-founder-Keith-Raniere-charged-in-federal-12782354.php

[lapfog_1]

1. i really don't get why anyone would let a cult leader do this to them

i guess i never will

[vkkv]

3. Ouch! I thought you were going to mention taking away health care, voting rights, raising the costs

of imported goods, screwing up schools, the EPA, DOJ, HUD and every other agency..

wrong cult, I guess..

[ck4829]

2. Oh look, less competition for Amway. What a strange and bizarre coincidence.

Weird how the DeVos clan isn't running an "EXTREME cult" even though they have the same exact structure.

[paleotn]

4. My thoughts exactly.

[chowder66]

5. I wonder why they can get a forced labor charge on him and not scientology. nt

[nitpicker]

6. Link to BBC

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43550908

[nitpicker]

7. Link to the DoJ PR

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/founder-nxivm-purported-self-help-organization-based-albany-ny-arrested-sex-trafficking

[obamanut2012]

8. FINALLY!

[Judi Lynn]

9. What Is Nxivm? Keith Raniere's Cult-Like Group Allegedly Kept Women As "Slaves" & Worse

By LAUREN HOLTER
29 min ago

A leader of a secretive "self-help" group based in upstate New York was arrested by the FBI in Mexico and charged with sex trafficking earlier this week. Details of Nxivm, Keith Raniere's cult-like group, allegedly treated women publicly surfaced last year, prompting its leader to flea the country. Raniere is now expected to spend at least 15 years behind bars.


Nxivm's website (pronounced like Nexium, the heartburn relief drug) describes the group as a "community guided by humanitarian principles that seek to empower people and answer important questions about what it means to be human." USA Today reffered to Nxivm as a "cult-like self-help group," and The Times Union of Albany wrote a series on Nxivm comparing it to a cult. Raniere allegedly established a more secretive group within Nxivm called Dominus Obsequious Sororium (DOS), latin for "master over the slave women."

Federal prosecutors believe women in DOS were part of a "slave and master" system, which Raniere has denied (it's not clear whether he's retained a lawyer yet). The women were allegedly expected to have sex with Raniere — who the group refers to as "The Vanguard" — and no one else, according to a criminal complaint. Prosecutors also allege that the women had to attend "ceremonies" during which their pubic areas were branded with Raniere's initials while other group members filmed the ritual.

In a 2017 New York Times report, women who previously belonged to Nxivm said they were required to hand over compromising photos of themselves in order to join. They also claimed they were warned that the photos would be released if they ever talked publicly about the secret group. One of the women, Sarah Edmondson, said she was then required to ask a male Nxivm official: "Master, please brand me, it would be an honor." Edmondson believed she would get a tattoo, but instead a symbol was seared into her skin right below her hip.

More:
https://www.bustle.com/p/what-is-nxivm-keith-ranieres-cult-like-group-allegedly-kept-women-as-slaves-worse-8630710