Many members said they feared that confessions about indiscretions would be used to blackmail them. Interviews with a dozen of them portray a group spinning more deeply into disturbing practices. Now, as talk about the secret sisterhood and branding has circulated within Nxivm, scores of members are leaving. But other people have become drawn more deeply into Nxivm, giving up careers, friends and families to become followers of its leader, Keith Raniere, who is known within the group as “Vanguard.” Most participants take some workshops, like the group’s “Executive Success Programs,” and resume their lives. Since the late 1990s, an estimated 16,000 people have enrolled in courses offered by Nxivm (pronounced Nex-e-um), which it says are designed to bring about greater self-fulfillment by eliminating psychological and emotional barriers. For hours, muffled screams and the smell of burning tissue filled the room. According to one of them, their “master,” a top Nxivm official named Lauren Salzman, instructed them to say: “Master, please brand me, it would be an honor.”Ī female doctor proceeded to use a cauterizing device to sear a two-inch-square symbol below each woman’s hip, a procedure that took 20 to 30 minutes. Each woman was told to undress and lie on a massage table, while three others restrained her legs and shoulders.
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