Updated 27th May 2019
And with it described how Raniere expected female followers to be as obedient as “hungry dogs” (theguardian.com):
Nxivm branding was scripted by sex cult leader to be ‘like a sacrifice’ (nytimes.com).
“Do you think the person who is being branded should be completely nude and sort of held to the table like a sort of, almost, like a sacrifice?” Mr. Raniere asked the actress Allison Mack in one recording.
As already noted the branding rather than a tattoo being Mack’s idea and with Raniere himself not being, his lawyer argued, a member of the Nxivm subset D.O.S., but seemingly needing Grandmaster’s vision:
He went on to outline his vision for how women’s bodies would be arranged before being branded: “legs spread straight, like feet being held to the side of the table, hands probably above the head, being held almost like tied down.”
And with Raniere telling Mack in the recording that “the person should ask to be branded”:
“She should say, ‘Please brand me. It would be an honor’—or something like that—‘an honor I want to wear for the rest of my life.’”
Updated 29th May 2019
And with Daniella, who was we learnt confined to a bedroom for two years because she gained weight and asked to see a man other than Mr Raniere and who’s sister had a child with him (bbc.co.uk):
A former NXIVM ‘cult’ member says she and her two sisters had to have abortions after sex with Keith Raniere (buzzfeednews.com).
“I panicked, I was scared,” Daniela testified. “I didn’t wanna have a baby, and I didn’t wanna have a baby with Keith.”
With an unmoved Raniere suggesting she get an abortion and that his longtime friend, the now-deceased Pam Cafritz, would “take care of it”, which involved Cafritz coaching the living in the US undocumented Daniella on what to say at the doctor’s office, involving her being “in the country temporarily” and being “in a long-term, stable relationship” resulting in her being given a prescription of pills to terminate the pregnancy.
And Daniela sheding light on how Seagram heir Clare Bronfman had helped instal surveillance malware on her the computer systems of her now deceased father, billionaire Edgar M. Bronfman Sr. who had told Forbes magazine that the self-help group was a cult:
Nxivm Trial: Sex cult used spyware to monitor Bronfman (nytimes.com).
After emails to Mr. Bronfman containing spyware went unopened [sent by the group with the intention of hacking to spy on his emails], his daughter, Clare Bronfman, a high-ranking Nxivm member, installed the program directly on her father’s computer, said the witness—whom prosecutors identified only by her first name, Daniela.
Who it seems was charged with checking the mail:
“I would read all of his correspondence,” Daniela testified. “I would methodically check email by email.”
Then cutting and pasting the emails into a file on to a USB drive to hand over to Raniere, who she said appeared to be “pleased“ with her work, which would continue for “a really long time” and was not the only hacking operation she who had hoped to undergo computer courses rather than duties as an unpaid maid was witness to:
Daniela said that when she questioned how hacking could be reconciled with the ethical values that Nxivm purported to advance, Mr. Raniere told her that the group was being threatened by malefactors and could not limit the weapons it deployed.
With Raniere telling her her “We’re going to do unethical things ethically”, an argument with which she was persuaded. But being rebuffed by a consulted hacker:
So she taught herself hacking tactics, learning how to send emails with “keylogger” spyware that would record keystrokes and screenshots and send them secretly to a server she had set up.
Which she would later put to use to spying on her sister Marianna’s accounts, who Raniere suspected was in touch with an ex-boyfriend, although she herself did not read her sister’s messages saying that “I know what I did was wrong,” and that “I feel bad that I contributed to the manipulation and abuse of my own sister.”
Updated 4th June 2019
Apartment rented by Nxivm exec was actually used for sex slave (nypost.com).
Said “sex slave” being Nxivm hacker Daniella’s younger sister Camila, with whom Grandmaster Keith is alleged to have had underage sex with, and simply asking Daniella if she “minded”:
While the upstate New York hideaway was rented by bookkeeper Kathy Russell, it was secretly inhabited by “Grandmaster” Keith Raniere’s first sex slave Camila, according to multiple sources and court records.
Although with Raniere having had sex with Daniella and later imprisoning her in her room and having a sexual relationship with her older sister Mariana too the definition of who was his “first sex slave” is perhaps a bit fuzzy here, but the definition here seemingly being that she was the first member of sex devotional member branded subgroup DOS. The apartment itself featured a camera tripod next to the bed, a reverential photo of Raniere pinned to a bulletin board in the kitchen, and fridge magnets spelling out lewd messages such as “I s–k big hard d–k!”.
Updated 7th June 2019
And after hearing Grandmaster Raniere had first sex slave Camila cruise Tinder for virgins for him (forbes.com):
The NXIVM “cult” leader allegedly blindfolded a woman and watched while a stranger performed oral sex on her (buzzfeednews.com).
D.O.S. member “Nicole” saying her master, Smallville actress Allison Mack, instructed her to tell Raniere “I will do anything you ask me to do” before he blindfolded her and took her out for a ride to a cabin in the woods where he told her to “get undressed” and to “get on a table” after which her wrists and legs were tied at which point someone started going down on her, which she assumed was Grandmaster Keith until he resumed talking.
According to Nicole, Raniere told her not to tell anyone about what happened with the exception of Mack. She said Raniere also asked her if she was okay and stressed to her “that nothing bad had happened” and that she was “very brave.”
With Raniere later telling her it was a woman who had performed oral sex on her but refusing to tell her who, but with prosecutors alleging it was the now 29-year-old Camila.
Updated 11th June 2019
And with another of Mack’s slaves again recounting how in the organisations pyramid structure her role as as allegedly Raniere’s second in command seemingly mainly involved coercion to ensure women felt dependent on the Grandmaster:
A woman says Allison Mack told her seducing the NXIVM ‘cult’ founder will heal her sexual abuse trauma (buzzfeednews.com).
In the spring of 2017, as a part of DOS, the secret group within NXIVM where women became “slaves,” Jay said Mack told her she needs to seduce Raniere, have sex with him, and allow him to take a photo of her nude.
“This is going to help you get rid of all your sexual abuse trauma,” Jay, 29, said Mack told her.
With Jay again testifying she had to turn over compromising “collateral”, in her case involving as well as nude pictures a video recounting recounting how her uncle had sexually abused her when she was 12-years-old, leaving her feeling somewhat upset the actress was “using that against me”:
“And I give you permission to enjoy it,” Jay said Mack told her after instructing her to seduce Raniere.
“Internally, I was just like, you fucking bitch,” Jay said, adding that at that moment she realized “I needed to get the fuck out of there.”
And rightly decided to act to fully extricate herself from D.O.S.:
Before leaving on a pre-planned trip to Mexico with her family, Jay said she took screenshots of the Dropbox folder hosting DOS members’ collateral, including several photos of naked women.
Updated 14th June 2019
And with prosecutors finished presenting their evidence over six weeks of trial alleging that Rainere taught followers to substitute their principles for his and see deviation from his teachings as heresy (nytimes.com) and a witness comparison comparing him to Scientology’s L. Ron Hubbard (nypost.com):
NXIVM guru Keith Raniere calls no witnesses at trial (huffpost.com).
Raniere’s decision not to call witnesses or testify came after prosecutors finished presenting their evidence over six weeks of trial in Brooklyn federal court. Closing arguments are expected to begin Monday morning.
Updated 15th June 2019
With prosecutors seemingly finishing up with Raniere’s rhetoric at its worst:
Nxivm trial testimony ends with video of founder discussing child sex abuse (cnn.com).
Before resting their case after nearly six weeks of testimony, prosecutors played a video of Raniere, 58, talking about how the age of sexual consent differs in various countries and states.
“Most people scream abuse, and a lot of times the screaming of abuse is abuse in itself,” Raniere said, facing the camera as he sat at a kitchen table. “Some little children are perfectly happy with it.”
Updated 18th June 2019
And with closing arguments being presented:
‘This is just his lifestyle’: Keith Raniere’s lawyer defends NXIVM head as trial closes (rollingstone.com).
“There’s been no shortage of intimate partners for Keith Raniere pre-DOS. He’s had them his whole life,” [Raniere’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo] said. “This is just his lifestyle.”
Although likely always a “lifestyle” born of deceit and manipulation.
