by Sarah Berman
Amway first came under fire: Jane Marie and Dann Gallucci, “The Mind Is a Fertile Field,” The Dream podcast, October 2018.
successfully prosecuted by the FTC: Interview with Dann Gallucci, February 2019. First appeared in “Lazy, Stupid, Greedy or Dead,” The Dream podcast, October 2018.
jars of avocado face cream: Steven Pressman, Outrageous Betrayal: The Dark Journey of Werner Erhard from EST to Exile (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993), 35.
244,140,625 new recruits: Calculated by 5^12. Also illustrated in “Lazy, Stupid, Greedy or Dead,” The Dream podcast, 2018.
forced to close in 1974: Order in FTC v. Holiday Magic Inc et al, October 15, 1974.
beaten, mock-crucified, or put in coffins: Steven Pressman, Outrageous Betrayal, 41.
inspired the creators of other leadership seminars: Ibid, 42.
Amway changed the game: Dann Gallucci interview; “The American Way,” The Dream podcast, 2018.
“Bill Clinton’s people”: Mark Vicente testimony, USA v. Raniere et al, May 9, 2019.
millions of dollars on legal fees: Raniere affidavit, August 2003, 12.
CHAPTER 5: WHEN KEITH MET NANCY (AND LAUREN)
a new multi-level marketing company: Toni Natalie interview, October 2017. Also in Toni Natalie, The Program: Inside the Mind of Keith Raniere and the Rise and Fall of NXIVM (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2019), 83.
wasn’t living up to relationship agreements: Toni Natalie interview, April 24, 2018.
husband of six years came out: Interview with Barbara Bouchey, March 13, 2019.
as a nurse and a hypnotherapist: Nancy Salzman deposition, June 2009, 9.
studied under NLP’s two founders: Nancy Salzman deposition, June 2009, 186.
second husband was a doctor: Barbara Bouchey interview, March 2019.
depressive episode: Ibid.
teaching communications courses: Toni Natalie, The Program, 2019, 137.
testing out various self-help methodologies: Heidi Hutchinson interview, March 2019.
he didn’t want to teach it to me: Nancy Salzman deposition, June 2009, 201.
talked about Werner Erhard: Heidi Hutchinson interview, March 2019.
The likes of John Denver: Steven Pressman, Outrageous Betrayal: The Dark Journey of Werner Erhard from EST to Exile (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993), 93.
no such thing as a “victim”: Ibid, 71–73.
used Scientology terminology: i.e., “overt” in Keith Raniere letter to Toni Natalie, May 12, 1999.
denied being influenced by Dianetics: Raniere deposition, March 2009, 362.
raised almost $50,000: “The Concept School,” Raniere affidavit, August 2003, 8.
the ideal person: Raniere affidavit, August 2003, 13.
incorporated in July 1998: Nancy Salzman deposition, June 2009, 197.
it would become NXIVM: Complaint, O’Hara v. Raniere et al, 2012, 8.
Salzman was a senior: Lauren Salzman testimony, USA v. Raniere et al, May 2019.
a patent application: Keith Raniere, The Rational Inquiry Method, Application number 09/654,423, filed September 4, 2000, rejected August 19, 2004.
early trial run of classes: Lauren Salzman testimony, USA v. Raniere et al, May 2019; Toni Natalie interview, May 2020.
set of curious rules and rituals: Rational Inquiry patent application; exhibits in USA v. Raniere et al, May 2019.
the “Self-esteem” module: Coach notes, Rational Inquiry patent application.
never explicitly reveal his own position: Interview with Anthony Ames, March 2020.
twice a week, or daily: Coach notes, Rational Inquiry patent application.
no psychologists or psychiatrists: Interview with Susan Dones, July 2019; Nancy Salzman deposition, June 2009, 320.
“all they want to do is argue”: Susan Dones interview, July 2019.
a great human invention: Lauren Salzman testimony, May 2019.
early test subject: Toni Natalie interview, April 2018.
hundreds of sessions: Ibid.
unifying theory of her “issues”: Ibid; Raniere letter, May 1999.
dispute over laundry: Toni Natalie interview, October 2017.
showed up at her workplace: Ibid.
I was raped repeatedly: Filing by Toni Natalie, NXIVM v. Dones, August 26, 2011, 4.
very small playbook: Toni Natalie interview, April 2018.
CHAPTER 6: ALBANY SHRUGGED
out of the Yellow Pages: Barbara Bouchey interview, May 2020.
claimed they had visions: Bouchey deposition, October 2009, 23.
she was his Dagny: Bouchey interviews, 2018–2020.
watching her closely: Ibid.
Proctors earned 10 percent: Exhibit in NXIVM v. Ross et al, October 2009.
both lived past lives: Bouchey deposition, October 2009, 216–217.
she had been Reinhard Heydrich: “Sex, Money and Nazis,” Uncover: Escaping NXIVM, podcast, CBC, May 2019.
Hitler reincarnated: Susan Dones interview, July 2019.
repetitive suggestion: Ibid.
around a hundred pounds: Lauren Salzman testimony, USA v. Raniere et al, May 2019.
more than a dozen other relationships: Barbara Bouchey interviews, 2018–2020.
go along with the wrong answer: Solomon Asch, “Effects of Group Pressure on the Modification and Distortion of Judgments,” in Groups, Leadership and Men: Research in Human Relations, ed. Harold Guetzkow (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Press, 1951), 177–190.
personal assistant role: Sarah Edmondson and Barbara Bouchey interviews, 2018–2020.
she actually has the highest IQ: Susan Dones interview, July 2019.
paralegal internship: Complaint, O’Hara v. Raniere et al, 2012, 7.
CHAPTER 7: THE GIRLS
massive family legacy: Edgar Bronfman, Good Spirits: The Making of a Businessman (New York: GP Putnam and Sons, 1998).
unspoken social boundaries: Suzanna Andrews, “The Heiresses and the Cult,” Vanity Fair, November 2010.
living out of a suitcase: Nicholas Kohler, “How to Lose $100 Million,” Maclean’s magazine, September 2010.
money made people bad: Vanessa Grigoriadis, “Inside the ‘Sex Cult’ That Preached Empowerment,” The New York Times Magazine, May 2018.
“the girls”: Interviews with Barbara Bouchey and Frank Parlato; Stephen Herbits testimony, 2019; Bouchey deposition, 2009.
unverified April 2003 testimonial: Quoted by Will Yakowicz, “From Heiress to Felon: How Clare Bronfman Wound Up in ‘Cult-Like’ Group NXIVM,” Forbes, May 2019.
“parasite strategies”: Rational Inquiry patent application, 2000.
the first thing I had earned: Michael Freedman, “Cult of Personality,” Forbes, October 2003.
anti-NXIVM conspiracies: Barbara Bouchey deposition, Precision v. Plyam et al, June 2, 2009, 58–59.
kiss him and sit at his feet: Nicholas Kohler, Maclean’s, 2010.
novelty check: Bouchey deposition, NXIVM v. Ross et al, October 2009, 79.
$11 million private jet: Suzanna Andrews, Vanity Fair, 2010.
CHAPTER 8: US VS. THEM
Michael had refused: Michael Sutton deposition, NXIVM v. Ross et al, October 21, 2008.
long hours, secrecy: John Hochman, “A Forensic Psychiatrist Evaluates ESP,” Cult Education Institute (formerly Ross Institute) website.
highly critical report: Paul Martin, “Robert Jay Lifton’s Eight Criteria of Thought Reform as Applied to the Executive Success Programs,” Ross website.
$10 million lawsuit: Complaint, NXIVM v. Ross et al, August 22, 2003.
more than twenty factual falsehoods: Raniere affidavit, NXIVM v. Ross et al, August 2003.
joyous interdependent civilization: Keith Raniere quoted in Dennis Yusko, “Group Gathers B
oth Acolytes, Doubters,” Albany Times Union, August 28, 2003.
complete radical shift: Kristin Keeffe, quoted in Ibid.
campaign contributions: Government exhibit GX 1482, in USA v. Raniere et al, June 2019.
$30,000 in private jet travel: James Odato, “Political Connections Take to the Air,” Albany Times Union, September 14, 2007.
Snyder had gone missing: Dennis Yusko, “An Espian’s Brief Life,” Albany Times Union, February 1, 2004.
low self-esteem could have contributed to their illness: Maja Miljkovic interview, July 2018; Complaint, Edmondson v. Raniere et al, January 28, 2020, 179.
subject to an ethical review: Raniere deposition, September 2009, 259.
attack might not have happened: Susan Dones interview, July 2019.
hallucinating and suffered a nervous breakdown: Michael Freedman, “Cult of Personality,” Forbes, October 2003.
“resort hopping”: Michael Weniger testimony, USA v. Raniere et al, June 14, 2019.
CHAPTER 9: SUNK COSTS
theory for everything: Psychology, mathematics, biology, world markets, spirituality, parenting, childhood development, athletics, art, journalism, philosophy, history, gender, sexuality, criminal justice, and weight loss, to name a few areas of claimed specialty and innovation.
buy land and start a new society: Barbara Bouchey deposition, NXIVM v. Ross et al, October 2009, 83.
asking to open a $50,000 trading account: Bouchey interviews and records, 2009–2020.
more wealthy followers: Ibid.
develop a winery: Complaint, O’Hara v. Raniere et al, February 2012, 19.
$2,000 per hour: Frank Parlato. “Bronfman Sisters Join NXIVM and Lose Millions,” Niagara Falls Reporter, December 2015.
“passive investors”: Clare Bronfman testimony, Precision v. Plyam et al, March 2011.
getting a driver’s license: Mark Vicente testimony, May 9, 2019.
blamed the sisters’ father: Bronfman deposition, Precision v. Plyam et al, 2009, 58.
CHAPTER 10: MISSION IN MEXICO
she got it right: Daniela testimony, May 2019.
wrote a story for Vice: Sarah Berman, “Keith Raniere’s ‘Sex Cult’ Was Powered by Gaslighting, Experts and Witnesses Testify,” Vice, June 11, 2019.
CHAPTER 11: THE HEIST
multibillion-dollar self-help industry: The U.S. self-improvement market was worth an estimated $11 billion in 2018. “The U.S. Market for Self-Improvement Products and Services,” Marketdata Enterprises, October 2019.
excitement made people better communicators: Rational Inquiry patent application, 2001.
didn’t understand these concepts: Mark Vicente testimony, May 2019.
It doesn’t have a hold on you: Interviews with Sarah Edmondson, 2018–2020.
“Abuse, Rights and Injury”: Michael Weniger testimony, quoting module from “The Human Experiment,” June 14, 2019.
“confusion techniques”: Richard Bandler and John Grinder, Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D., Vol. I (Soquel, CA: Meta Publications, 1975), 50–63.
CHAPTER 12: WHAT THE BLEEP
a process called “auditing”: Lawrence Wright, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013), 15–17.
a running joke in the community: Susan Dones interview, July 2019.
CHAPTER 13: “CRACKED OPEN”
most active and star-studded centers: Sarah Berman, “How NXIVM Ripped Through This Group of Canadian Actors,” Vice, September 2018.
“seal bark” coughs: “Epiphany,” Uncover: Escaping NXIVM, podcast, CBC May 2018.
I want to bring this to Canada: Sarah Edmondson interview, October 2017.
rolled out the VIP treatment: Scott Johnson and Rebecca Sun, “Her Darkest Role: Actress Allison Mack’s Descent from ‘Smallville’ to Sex Cult,” The Hollywood Reporter, May 2018.
CHAPTER 14: AN ETHICAL BREACH
collection of miniskirts: Lauren Salzman testimony, May 21, 2019.
a 2015 phone call: Exhibit for Bouchey motion to dismiss, New York State v. Bouchey, May 28, 2015.
TV mounted on the ceiling: Daniela testimony, May 23, 2019.
CHAPTER 15: GOLDEN BOY
wish for a family only grew stronger: Lauren Salzman testimony, May 2019.
what he called the “golden child”: Rodger Kirsopp interview with Vice News documentary producer Kathleen Caulderwood (quoted with permission), October 27, 2017.
“bespoke, in-home service”: Fred Quick, “The New Frontiers of Education,” Quintessentially Education, July 7, 2017, Quintessentially Education website.
“epitome of a Rainbow child”: Maja Miljkovic interview, July 2018.
operations had been halted: Jerry Iannelli, “State Closes Midtown Miami School Tied to NXIVM ‘Sex Cult’ Leader,” Miami New Times, April 27, 2018.
CHAPTER 16: HIS HOLINESS
earning the nickname “Forlorn”: Lauren Salzman testimony, May 2019.
had become a “suppressive”: See also: a “suppressive person” in Lawrence Wright, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013), 99–100.
making out in a hot tub: Catherine Oxenberg with Natasha Stoynoff, Captive: A Mother’s Crusade to Save Her Daughter from a Terrifying Cult (New York: Gallery Books, 2018).
Dhonden would be forced to step down: Katherine Ellison and Rory Carroll, “Revealed: Dalai Lama’s Personal Emissary Suspended Over Corruption Claims,” The Guardian, October 2017.
leaked eight-minute video clip: Jeane MacIntosh, “Creepy Cultist’s ‘Killing’ Confession,” New York Post, October 2010.
CHAPTER 17: SPY GAMES
compromising poses: Transcript read in Raniere deposition, NXIVM v. Ross et al, March 12, 2009.
sixty attorneys at thirty firms: Edmondson et al. v. Raniere et al, January 2020; Will Yakowicz, “From Heiress to Felon: How Clare Bronfman Wound Up in ‘Cult-Like’ Group NXIVM,” Forbes, May 2019.
what extent I was being surveilled: Sarah Berman, “What It’s Like to Be Surveilled and Sued by NXIVM,” Vice, June 2019.
victim’s advocate: James Odato, “NXIVM Pressed District Attorney,” Albany Times Union, March 6, 2012.
investigated for professional misconduct: James Odato, “Private Eye Lands in Public Trouble,” Albany Times Union, September 17, 2012.
CHAPTER 18: ROOM
one of his other young victims: Camila texts, exhibit GX 1702, USA v. Raniere et al, June 6, 2019.
he didn’t pick up: Ben Myers did not respond to interview requests.
CHAPTER 19: THE ACT
“all students would make a vow”: Mark Vicente testimony, May 9, 2019.
“control panel”: Richard Bandler, Design Human Engineering lectures, 1997.
Tourette’s syndrome research: Sarah Berman, “I Tried to Make Sense of an Alleged Sex Cult’s Bizarre Health Claims,” Vice, May 1, 2018.
“philosophical founder”: Mark Vicente testimony, May 9, 2019.
You could say I don’t know what I’m talking about: Keith Raniere Conversations on YouTube.
CHAPTER 20: SLAVE NUMBER ONE
more emotionally mature: Daniela testimony, May 2019.
secret boyfriend for nearly nine years: Camila texts, USA v. Raniere et al, June 2019.
palms once turned orange: Maja Miljkovic interview, July 2018; Sarah Berman, “I Followed the NXIVM ‘Sex Cult’ Diet for a Week,” Vice, August 2018.
if someone is threatening to hurt you: Sarah Berman, “A BDSM Educator Tells Us Why NXIVM Sex Cult Allegations Aren’t Consensual Kink,” Vice, May 2018.
CHAPTER 21: THE CALL
Barbara Bouchey was speechless: Interview with Barbara Bouchey, August 2018; Sarah Berman, “The Alleged Plot to Put NXIVM’s Critics in Mexican Prison,” Vic
e, September 2018.
chase her with lawsuits: Bronfman v. Bouchey et al (Los Angeles), February 2010; NXIVM v. Bouchey (New York), May 2011; Bronfman v. Bouchey Asset Management (New York), May 2011; New York State v. Bouchey, March 2014.
unloaded her knowledge: Exhibit for motion to dismiss, New York State v. Bouchey, May 28, 2015.
102 women were initiated: Lauren Salzman testimony, May 2019.
CHAPTER 22: THE VOW
Hildreth told her: Mark Hildreth did not respond to interview requests for this book.
CHAPTER 23: “THIS IS NOT THE ARMY”
through a trapdoor: Nicole testimony, June 2019.
envisioned thousands or maybe even a million members: Lauren Salzman testimony, May 2019.
CHAPTER 24: “MASTER, PLEASE BRAND ME”
get over your body issues: Sarah Edmondson interview, October 2017.
obedience experiments of the 1960s: Stanley Milgram, “Behavioural Study of Obedience,” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1963.
CHAPTER 25: RECKONING
episode of Black Mirror: Charlie Brooker, “Shut Up and Dance,” Black Mirror, season 3, 2016.
ten-hour train ride: First recounted on “The Suppressives,” Uncover: Escaping NXIVM, podcast, CBC 2018.
texted Raniere “911”: Lauren Salzman testimony, May 2019.
allegations appeared on Frank Report: Frank Parlato, “Sources: Human Branding Part of Raniere-Inspired Women’s Group,” Frank Report, June 5, 2017.
the BDSM dungeon: Lauren Salzman testimony, May 2019.
CHAPTER 26: “ME TOO”
abuses of film producer Harvey Weinstein: Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, “Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades,” The New York Times, October 5, 2017.
an investigation into Keith Raniere: Barry Meier, “Inside the Secretive Group Where Women Are Branded,” The New York Times, October 2017.
the U.S. Declaration of Independence: Lauren Salzman testimony, May 2019.