NEW YORK — An heiress to the Seagram’s liquor fortune was arrested Tuesday in connection with her work with an upstate New York self-improvement organization accused of branding some of its female followers and forcing them into unwanted sex.
Clare Bronfman, a daughter of the late billionaire philanthropist and former Seagram chairman Edgar Bronfman Sr., and three other people associated with the NXIVM organization were taken into custody and charged with racketeering conspiracy, the US attorney’s office announced.
For many years she has been involved in financing NXIVM and supporting its co-founder, Keith Raniere. Raniere was charged this year along with actress Allison Mack with coercing followers into becoming ‘‘slaves’’ to senior members of the group.
They have denied the allegations....."
Related:
Polly Parks It
She does refer to the NXIVM operation among other things in her video, and questions do remain about a significant blind spot so it behooves us to be ever Vigilant:
Wayfair and Child Trafficking? The Rabbit Hole Goes Deep
Certainly in the Bo$ton area, which makes one reevaluate certain concerns in my pre$$.
Also see:
"Secretive group’s leader charged with sex-trafficking; Keith Raniere, co-founder of the group called Nxivm, was arrested in Mexico and returned to Texas Monday, authorities said" by Tom Hays AP, March 26, 2018
NEW YORK (AP) — The leader of a secretive group in upstate New York turned female followers into brainwashed “slaves” who were branded with his initials and coerced into having sex, authorities alleged on Monday in a criminal complaint charging him with sex-trafficking.
Keith Raniere, co-founder of the group called Nxivm, was arrested in Mexico and returned to Texas Monday, authorities said. He was to appear in court on Tuesday in Fort Worth on the charges filed by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.
According to the complaint, Raniere — known within the group as “Vanguard” — oversaw a barbaric system in which women were told the best way to advance was to become a “slave” overseen by “masters.” They also were expected to have sex with him and do menial chores for masters, and to keep the arrangement a secret or be publicly humiliated, the complaint says.
The name of Raniere’s attorney wasn’t immediately available on Monday. In a letter attributed to Raniere previously posted on a website related to Nxivm, he denied the practices were sanctioned by the self-described self-help group.
“These allegations are most disturbing to me as non-violence is one of my most important values,” the letter said.
The complaint said that many victims participated in videotaped ceremonies where they were branded in their pelvic area with a symbol featuring Raniere’s initials.
“During the branding ceremonies, slaves were required to be fully naked, and the master would order one slave to film while the other held down the slave being branded,” the complaint says.
Several things going on here, the first of which is the sick perversity that can only be described as Satanic. One imagines it was also a blackmail operation a la Epstein.
Investigators said Raniere preferred exceptionally thin women, so “slaves” had to stick to very low-calorie diets and document every food they ate. As punishment for not following orders, women were forced to attend classes where they were “forced to wear fake cow udders over their breasts while people called them derogatory names,” or threatened with being put in cages, court papers say.
Looks like torture to me.
Raniere left the United States late last year after The New York Times reported the stories of some women who defected from their secret sorority and the government began interviewing potential witnesses. He sought to cover this trail by using encrypted email and ditching his phone, court papers say.
Why would he bother?
The pre$$ has covered his tracks for him.
Just so you know, the Times sat on the Weinstein story for 10 years so..... you know.
He was ultimately found staying with several women in a luxury gated community in Puerta Vallarta where villas can run $10,000 a week to rent, investigators say. After authorities took him into custody on a U.S. warrant, investigators said the women got into a high-speed car chase.
The website related to the group describes Raniere as a “scientist, mathematician, philosopher, entrepreneur, educator, inventor and author” who has “devoted his life to studying the human psychodynamic and developing new tools for human empowerment, expression and ethics.”
Nxivm’s Mexican affiliate is headed by Emiliano Salinas, a son of that country’s former president. Several women who belong to the group in Mexico have traveled to Albany, where they were branded, two former Nxivm members told the Times. Salinas has also denied that the sorority is affiliated with Nxivm.
Of course. This crap always reaches into the echelons of power. That is where the disease is most rampant.
Raniere and Nxivm have been the subject of criticism for years, dating back to at least 2012 when the Times Union of Albany published a series of articles examining the organization and allegations that it was like a cult.
Over the years, Nxivm has attracted a following that includes Emmy Award-winning actress Allison Mack. Authorities also say Raniere has been bankrolled by Clare Bronfman, an heiress to the Seagram’s liquor fortune.
Bronfman gave millions of dollars covering expenses like private air travel costing $65,000 flight, court papers say.
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At the time I had no clue who Allison Mack was, nor do I really know now. I'm not impressed with the acting credentials.
"‘Smallville’ actress Allison Mack accused of recruiting women for sex-cult leader" by Keith McMillan The Washington Post April 21, 2018
Actress Allison Mack, best known for her decade on TV’s ‘‘Smallville,’’ and Keith Raniere, the leader of what authorities allege is a sex cult, were indicted Friday in New York on federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labor, the Albany Times-Union reported.
Raniere and Mack are each charged with multiple counts, and could face a minimum of 15 years in prison. Mack was arrested in New York City on Friday and will be held pending a bail hearing Monday. Raniere has been in custody since he was arrested in Mexico in March.
Raniere is the founder of NXIVM, which bills itself as a self-help and empowerment organization, but is described by authorities as a cultlike group whose members recruited women to be sex slaves, and branded their pubic regions with Raniere’s initials.
The Rochester Democrat Chronicle said Mack was indicted ‘‘for her role in DOS, a group . . . that purported to be a women’s empowerment sorority. Prosecutors, however, say DOS was actually a sex-slave ring led by Raniere, with women known as ‘slaves’ who reported to ‘masters’ who ultimately reported to Raniere himself. Mack is an alleged co-conspirator, reporting directly to Raniere.’’
Thank God I have been gifted with the miracle of skepticism.
Mack, 35, is alleged by prosecutors to have recruited slaves for pay, forcing the women to have sex with Raniere, and using explicit photos and damaging information to ensure their compliance.
According to the Associated Press, prosecutors said Mack told recruits that they were joining a female mentorship group.
‘‘Mack and other . . . masters recruited . . . slaves by telling them that they were joining a women-only organization that would empower them and eradicate purported weaknesses the NVIVM curriculum taught were common in women,’’ prosecutors said, but ‘‘the victims were then exploited, both sexually and for their labor to the defendants’ benefit,’’ said U.S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue of the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn.
The pre$$ spends way too much time in the Southern District.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Kim Penza also said in court that ‘‘under the guise of female empowerment,’’ Mack ‘‘starved women until they fit her co-defendant’s sexual ideal,’’ the AP wrote.
Mack starred in the CW Network series as Chloe Sullivan from 2001 to 2011, and has been in a handful of television series roles since, according to her IMDB page.
According to CBS News:
‘‘Former NXIVM publicist Frank Parlato told Inside Edition that Mack is ‘‘completely enamored with Raniere and completely under his thrall.’’ He also said that Mack and her ‘‘Smallville’’ co-star, Kristin Kreuk, were used as ‘‘poster girls for normalizing the group.’’ Kreuk says she left NXIVM years ago and commended the women who exposed DOS.’’
Raniere, 57, known to his followers as ‘the Vanguard’ - was living in a villa in Puerto Vallarta with several women, according to federal prosecutors, before he was apprehended in March. Mexican authorities took him into custody and delivered him to Texas; he’s now in federal custody in Brooklyn. As Raniere was taken from the villa, The Post’s Kyle Swenson wrote, citing prosecutors, the women chased after authorities in their own car at high speed.
‘‘In my opinion, NXIVM is one of the most extreme groups I have ever dealt with in the sense of how tightly wound it is around the leader,’’ cult expert Rick Ross told the Times-Union in 2012.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn last week wrote in court documents that Rainere has ‘‘a decades-long history of abusing women and girls,’’ and accused him of having sex with minors.
There you go. Same as Jeff Epstein.
In a statement attributed to Raniere on NXIVM’s website, he proclaimed his innocence and said he believed the justice system would prevail. He also denied affiliation with DOS, the sorority.
The Times-Union, however, wrote that ‘‘federal court records indicate emails seized from Raniere’s private messaging accounts support the conclusion that Raniere created the club, which was known as ‘Dominus Obsequious Sororium,’ which means ‘Master Over the Slave Women.’ ‘‘
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She cut a plea deal with prosecutors:
"TV actress pleads guilty to role in sex-trafficking case" by Tom Hays Associated Press, April 8, 2019
NEW YORK — With jury selection beginning at the federal case against a cult-like upstate New York group, TV actress Allison Mack pleaded guilty Monday to charges she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for the group’s spiritual leader.
Mack, 36, wept as she admitted her crimes and apologized to the women who prosecutors say were exploited by Keith Raniere and the purported self-help group called NXIVM.
‘‘I believed Keith Raniere’s intentions were to help people, and I was wrong,’’ Mack told a judge in federal court in Brooklyn as she pleaded guilty to racketeering charges.
Mack is best known for her role as a young Superman’s close friend on the series ‘‘Smallville.’’
After months of reflection since her arrest, ‘‘I know I can and will be a better person,’’ Mack said. Her sentencing was set for Sept. 11.
The plea means Mack will avoid going to trial with Raniere, wealthy heiress Clare Bronfman and another member of Raniere’s inner circle, Kathy Russell. All have pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.
Court papers allege NXIVM formed a secret society of women who were branded with Raniere’s initials and forced to have sex with him. Defense attorneys have insisted any relationship between Raniere and the alleged victims, including an unidentified actress and other women expected to testify against him at trial, was consensual.
On Monday, Mack said that at Raniere’s direction, she obtained compromising information and images of two unidentified women - called ‘‘collateral’’ within the group - that she threatened to make public if they didn’t perform ‘‘so-called acts of love.’’
I think I'm going to be sick, and not from COVID.
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Related:
Actress Allison Mack left Brooklyn Federal Court in New York in April after pleading guilty to racketeering charges in a case involving a cult-like group based in upstate New York called NXIVM (Mark Lennihan/Associated Press/File 2019/Associated Press)
That is the last I saw of her.
Also see:
Clare Bronfman Pleads Guilty in Nxivm ‘Sex Cult’ Case
She is now a felon.
"Self-help guru convicted in lurid sex-trafficking case" by Tom Hays Associated Press, June 19, 2019
NEW YORK — The former leader of a purported self-help group was convicted Wednesday of federal conspiracy and racketeering charges that centered on lurid details of what prosecutors called a secret society of ‘‘sex slaves’’ within a community of followers in upstate New York.
Purported?
The pre$$ is still covering for pedophiles with their damn semantics.
A jury in federal court in Brooklyn took less than five hours to find Keith Raniere guilty on all counts of sex-trafficking and other charges accusing him of coercing women into unwanted sex using systematic shame and humiliation.
‘‘Raniere was truly a modern-day Svengali,’’ Brooklyn United States Attorney Richard Donoghue said outside court, calling the former self-help guru a lying manipulator who ‘‘ruined marriages, careers, fortunes and lives.’’
Raniere listened attentively, but showed no reaction as he learned the verdict.
His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said Raniere plans to appeal.
‘‘Keith maintains his innocence. It’s a very sad day for him,’’ Agnifilo said. ‘‘I think he’s not surprised, but he maintains that he didn’t mean to do anything wrong.’’
How juvenile!
I didn't mean it!
Raniere’s sentencing is set for Sept. 25.
Raniere once had an international following with a foothold in Hollywood with his self-help group, called NXIVM, that was deemed a cult by critics. His adherents included TV actress Allison Mack, best known for her role as a friend of a young Superman in the series ‘‘Smallville”; a Seagram’s liquor fortune heiress, Clare Bronfman; and a daughter of TV actress Catherine Oxenberg of ‘‘Dynasty’’ fame.
Once again proving what a cess pool of literal filth is that place.
‘‘This was a very frightening group,’’ Oxenberg said after the verdict. Her daughter India left NXIVM after her mother became an outspoken critic of it.
‘‘I had to save a child who was caught in the grips of this cult, so I wasn’t going to stop until I succeeded,’’ Oxenberg said.
Catherine Oxenberg in April (Kevin Hagen/AP/FR170574 AP via AP)
So that is what a REAL HERO looks like!
Among the more damning allegations against Raniere were that he had some women branded with his initials and that he started having sex with one of his followers starting at age 15. Prosecutors said he took a series of nude photos of the teen that were shown at trial, one by one, to the eight women and four men who comprised the jury. Raniere kept the child pornography stashed in his private study as ‘‘a trophy’’ of ‘‘his sexual conquest,’’ Penza said.
The defense argued Raniere was a genuine believer in unconventional means for self-improvement and that all his sexual encounters with female followers of NXIVM were consensual. His behavior could be seen as ‘‘repulsive and offensive, but we don’t convict people in this country for being repulsive or offensive,’’ Agnifilo said in his closings.
Well, we do now after Floyd and the involvement of minors would seem to call for conviction, scum.
Raniere, 58, was arrested at a Mexican hideout in 2018 following an investigation his Albany-area group.
His organization began to crumble amid sensational reports about The Vow alleging its members were held down and branded in ceremonies at a ‘‘sorority house’’ for them that had a mock dungeon.
Mack and Bronfman, who were named as defendants with Raniere in a federal indictment, pleaded guilty before they could go to trial with him. They didn’t testify, leaving a cooperating member of his inner circle and three victims from the secret sorority as the key witnesses.
The cooperator described how female ‘‘masters’’ forced ‘‘slaves’’ for Raniere to give up ‘‘collateral’’ — nude photos and other material that would ruin them if ever made public — to keep them in line.
Somewhere out there are tapes of Trump diddling underaged girls, courtesy of Ghislaine and Jeffrey. It would explain a lot.
One of the victims, whose names were withheld to protect her privacy, described being confined to a bedroom for more than 700 days on orders from Raniere as punishment for showing interest in another man. Another explained how Raniere lured her to a home when she was blind-folded and bound to a table so that another woman could perform a sex act on her; and the third recounted making up an excuse to leave the community so she could avoid completing an assignment from her ‘‘master’’ — Allison Mack — to ‘‘seduce’’ Raniere.
I am absolutely aghast at this and feel like a naive fool.
It's all going on right in front of our faces with the official narratives nothing but illusion.
What if the DCF isn't about protecting children, but trafficking them?
What if the pre$$ is protecting pedophile rings?
Agnifilo, the defense attorney, sought to point jurors to evidence of text and other messages between Raniere and the woman he said showed they had caring relationships that ended with ‘‘no hard feelings,’’ and since the group never released any of the slaves’ collateral, ‘‘Where’s the extortion?’’ he asked, but with the victims’ stories of abuse at the hands of Raniere, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Penza in closing arguments. ‘‘A light has been shown into the darkness and the defendant’s crimes have been exposed.’’
Before being dropped and memory-holed again.
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UPDATE:
Former Trump national security advisor John Bolton is a swinger
Is that why his shadow has disappeared?
