Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Wealthy Founder-Sex-Cult-Perv BRANDS Victims

Episode Date: June 21, 2019

The leader of the sex cult Nxivm sexually abused a 15-year-old girl and took hundreds of pornographic images of her, federal prosecutors alleged this week in the criminal trial of Keith Raniere.. The former publicist of NXIVM Frank Parlato shares shocking insider details of how Smallville star, Allison Mack, and the group operated. Nancy is joined by Seattle lawyer Anne Bremner, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan, New York psychologist Caryn Stark, and RadarOnline reporter Alexis Tereszcuk. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I do not know how wealthy, educated, socialite women get suckered into a sex cult. I mean a sex cult that's bizarre, where young girls are raped, forced into orgies, even branded. Yes, branded like cattle. In the last hours, a bombshell development in the case against Keith Ranieri, the founder of NXIVM sex cult. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

Keith Ranieri, let me tell you, he's not much to look at. I do not know how these women got sucked into his craziness to become part of a bona fide sex cult, but they did. And this guy was the mastermind. In the last days, this guy, Keith Raniere, has been declared guilty on all counts, including racketeering, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, and sex trafficking. Now facing life behind bars after a jury arrives at a unanimous verdict after just four hours of deliberation. This after six weeks of testimony in the case, during which multiple women described being lured into the sex slave group

to recount their experience as the Gerard's men and women were shocked. Vernier had actually issued an order for these women to be branded with his initials in an extremely painful process. I mean, think about it, taking a hot iron, burning it until it's red, and then putting it on human flesh. He described it in one recording as a sacrificial whatever. That's what he said. Let me tell you something. A lot of people are going to be on the front row when he gets sentenced September 25. Of course, he insists he's innocent, but all these women come forward to describe what he did to them. Alexis Tereschuk joining me from RadarOnline.com, investigative reporter. Alexis, it's a little hard for me to believe this. Start at the beginning,

Alexis Tereschuk. The police are saying is that they spent years recruiting women around the country, around the world to join what was supposed to be a female empowerment club, you know, kind of like a yoga class extraordinaire. And you would go and this man, Keith, is so charismatic. You want to be a part of this thing that gives women power. Instead, they were turned into sex slaves who were branded, branded literally with like a hot poker on their bodies to become a member of this cult. And there's not a better word for it.

It's not a women's group. It's not a tennis club. It is a cult because these women were having to give, when they joined and professed their faith to this cult, they were blackmailed. They had to give things like naked pictures of themselves so the most compromising stories about themselves they had to give this to the leaders of the group so that in case they ever left this could be used it sounds like a freaky weird felonious version of scientology where you have to have be audited and tell all the worst things you've ever done to the extreme in your life and then they have it to hold over your head uh guys hold on with me as

alexis teres chuck investigative reporter with radar online.com but now joining us is the journalist who originally broke the story of this cult it's real at nxivm pronounced nexium NXIVM, pronounced NXIVM, its founder Keith Ranieri allegedly subjecting women to humiliating sex acts and branding women in their pelvic area with a series of initials. It had a large base, has a large base in Albany, New York. The guy who first cracked this story, journalist Frank Perlato, and the former NXIVM publicist. You can find out all about him and a lot of his work at Art Voice. Frank Perlato, thank you for being with us. This is such a wildly fantastical story. It's almost hard to believe. And Frank, you broke the story. What happened? Well, initially, it began, this cult, NXIVM, in 1998. And in 2002, they achieved their first great recruit, and that was Seagram's heiress, Claire Brothman. With her hundreds of millions of dollars behind the cult, they wereaniere's top recruiter of young, attractive,

nubile, slender women for Raniere's invidious sex cult. Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. What did you say? What kind of women? He had a type, and they were young, slender, long-haired, nubile, and uh attractive preferably with a little bit of money okay sorry jackie we're we're out okay we're not getting into the as as they say the unique human development and women's movement that is what allison mack the 35 year old star The 35-year-old star of the hit series Smallville had been tweeting and sending notes to Kelly Clarkson and also to Emma Watson, trying to lure them in. Luckily, they're smart enough to stay away from it. Frank Parlato with me, the former NXIVM publicist, he's in charge of an incredible site called Art Voice.

And the journalist that first broke the story. So it all starts off with a fringe group that manages to recruit an heiress from the Seagram's liquor dynasty. And she pumps a lot of money into it. They, according to Frank, solicit young, I don't believe I've heard anybody say the word nubile in a long time. It's flashback to Playboy 1990, but okay, not judging. Frank, young, thin women. Okay, what happens then, Frank?

It begins innocently enough. The first meetings are surrounded with a group of women, all of them already in the cult, who present a picture of normalcy, a picture of a friendly, wonderful, kind of lovely sorority. I think the term that's often used in these kind of cult-like recruitment scenarios is love bombing. A woman comes in, she's told that this kind of program will improve her life. She'll get life coaching and she'll be mentored by other women who care about her. That's the initial deception. Then what happens? So they have the facade of normalcy. So you think you're joining a women's group. Is that right, Frank Peralotto? Yes, you are elbow to elbow with

stars like Alison Mack or Kristen Krug. You're hobnobbing with Claire Brothman, who's a Seagram's heiress, and surrounded by attractive women, all of them slender. Later, you'll realize why they're so slender. They're kept on restrictive diets. But your initial impression is this is really quite an exciting opportunity for me or whoever it is that's joining. And then they begin the hypnotic induction. Okay, what's that? It's a very carefully laid out plan. And Keith Raniere, the head of NXIVM, is a master hypnotist. This is his art and this is his specialty. And you begin by attending very long classes. They're very intense, high intensity classes. They begin at seven in the morning and the end at 10 or 11 at night. And there is a slow hypnotic process that goes on, very carefully laid scheme.

Well, what are the classes about, Frank? They purport to be about new ways of doing critical thinking. In fact, it's called rational inquiry. And they start to challenge the students on various kinds of conceptions that they've long held as their base of belief. Such as what? Well, for instance, they begin kind of innocently. They talk about the criminal code, the social mores. They ask you, for example, to make a list of all of the advantages that would accrue to you if your boyfriend or husband should happen to die. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Right there. Right there.

It sounds to me, and Karen Stark with me, New York psychologist, very well known. That's exactly what happens when you get brainwashed. Your core beliefs, you're encouraged to start questioning them until suddenly what you're doing doesn't seem wrong at all. I've seen it in gangs. There's a whole us versus them mentality that ensues. And they choose people that are susceptible. And as that brainwashing experience is occurring that you just mentioned, Nancy,

what happens is that they become more and more open to the suggestibility of the cult. And they're beginning to discover brain changes that occur. It's like an overload of information that starts to happen so that the individual becomes more entrenched. And it's hard to believe how convincing this new world becomes. But think about Manson and all the girls that he was able to attract to him, which, when we're looking on the outside, makes no sense. crime stories with nancy grace welcome back i'm nancy grace breaking news right now the leader of a so-called sex cult Keith Ranieri. And this is a guy who's highly educated, has money, has a home, has had very reputable jobs, ends up leading a sex cult. Well, he's got plenty of time to think about it because a jury has just thrown the book at him guilty on all seven counts. but how does this happen in the 2000s frank parlato with me former nexium publicist

the journalist that broke the story and has a site called art voice frank somehow this guy uh rainieri keith rainieri managed to brainwash you know powerful and educated and wealthy women. So they're in these grueling classes about questioning their beliefs. How does it go, Frank Perlmato, to getting branded with a hot iron on your pelvic region? Well, you have to consider that it took nine years from Alison Mack's first entree into the cult to the day she was branded and began to brand other women. Nine long years of hypnotic induction. investigative reporter with RadarOnline.com. What starts as a women's empowerment group with a facade of normalcy ends with sex trafficking and literally branding women physically? And these women were expected and pressured by Allison and Keith into having sex with Keith.

And it wasn't just Allison and Keith. It was all of the women. And that's what, and they were told, and the indictment revealed that they were threatened with physical force and violence if they didn't submit to this. That they would be physically harmed if they didn't submit to have sex with Keith. And then the branding, they were really lied to. These women were told that joining this organization, you know, into the upper levels of the club slash cult, that they would just get a small tattoo. And the first woman that came out said, I was fine with a small tattoo. But instead, they were taken into a room. They were placed on a massage table.

Face up. Three people held them. One person held each leg and the other held their shoulders and their arms, held them down. And these initials were cauterized into their body, burned into their body. And it literally took between like 20 and 30 minutes. One of the women who came forward said, I disassociated. I felt like I left my body. I wept the entire time because it was so awful.

What were the initials that were branded into the women? Keith Rainier's initials are in this branding. It's a K and an R design. And in fact, he has said, well, what if they were Bill Gates's initials? You wouldn't care, but because they're mine, you're upset about it? It's horrific that these women were burned this way. Well, I would care no matter who initials were branded into my skin or my daughter's skin, branded to Joseph Scott Morgan, forensics expert and professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University.

Long story short, that is your prime forensic evidence right there. Yeah, and this is not something that's going to be going away. It's branded into the skin. It creates this nasty looking kind of keloid scar. I've seen these on gang members primarily. And it's really interesting, Nancy, you paralleled this earlier talking about gang membership. One of the things that some gangs and even fraternal organizations will do is take a coat hanger, for instance, and bend it into a particular shape, superheat it, and then brand it in. And it's really interesting that these women are so beaten down at this point mentally and emotionally, uh, where they get them to this point where he, the, the leader obviously feels comfortable with doing this to them. And they allow it to certain degree to be done to them because they're, they're staying within this environment. It's almost like

all norms have been stripped away. Of course, this is more Karen's area, but yeah, yeah, it is something. It is a unique identifier that is left behind that will be connected back to them. You know, to Ann Bremner, high-profile Seattle lawyer who has been at the forefront of so many, many renowned cases. Ann Brebner, in what universe is it suddenly okay to hold a woman down by force and brand her with a hot iron? I mean, at any point, didn't these people go, whoa, this is so wrong. I got to get out of here. Well, I mean mean it's just so alarming and amazing and you know with these cults somebody just I think Karen mentioned the Manson

cult I mean they went out and killed for him and I don't we don't understand it you know at some point you say I've got to get out of here Allison Mack's bizarre blog she had detailed life in an alleged sex cult. And while she says, quote, it seems like it has been a lifetime in here already, it's not going to matter as to her feelings about if she wanted to get out because her actions belie that. She was taking part, according to the state, in recruiting and using young girls, women in a sex cult where they were physically branded with a hot iron. I want you to hear on ABC's 2020, a report on this group, this cult, NXIVM, and it's right here in our country. And there are Hollywood stars and wealthy, educated women as part of it. Take a listen to this, including former members as they describe being stripped naked, blindfolded, tattooed and abused. Listen to ABC's 2020.

Five women summoned to a house outside Albany, New York, one night this past March. Sarah Edmondson says she was one of them, willingly participating in a strange initiation ritual led by a woman who told everyone to take off their clothes and put on a blindfold. Led us in blindfolded and sat us in a semicircle, buck naked, no clothes, on a sheepskin rug. Like, could that be any weirder? No, it could not be any weirder.

We were all, you know, my goodness, what's going on here? This is so weird. Weird doesn't begin to cover it. Sarah told authorities she thought they were there to get tattoos. Instead, she says they found out they were all going to be branded. It sounds like a horror movie, what you're describing. It was a horror movie. It was the most inhumane, horrific way to treat anybody.

What was that like? It was worse than childbirth. It was worse than childbirth? Yeah. It was, imagine a hot laser dragged across your flesh for 30 minutes without anesthetic. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Welcome back. I'm Nancy Grace. Keith Ranieri, founder of the Next Femme Sex Cult. Guilty on all counts.

The jury was barely out long enough to get a drink, a soda, and some snacks. And they return a guilty verdict. I'm sure the prosecutors are dancing up and down the halls. Mixed reviews from victims' families. The victory, bittersweet. Yes, he's going to jail. But think of what all these young girls have lived through. So many lives changed forever.

You were just listening to ABC's 2020 in a report on NXIVM. It's spelled N-X-I-V-M. And with me is the former publicist for NXIVM who broke the story, journalist Frank Peralotto. You can find him on Art Voice online. Frank, I still don't understand how women were brainwashed into thinking this was okay, as now charges of sex trafficking are going down. Where do those, from where do those charges stem? Well, two witnesses, and there are others, but strictly speaking, the Jane Doe one and the Jane Doe number two, both of these were

escaped slaves from the sex cult who told their horrifying stories first to me and then i encourage them to go to the fbi and tell their entire story which they did their horror emanated primarily from this and this is a secret that many don't yet understand it just didn't start with branding it began by the, the assiduous procurement by Allison Mack of blackmail-worthy material. So this slippery slope occurred where you began as a women's empowerment. You were brainwashed. You gave blackmail-worthy material to Allison and Keith Ranieri. And suddenly you found that what you thought was voluntary no longer became voluntary, but coerced. So let me understand this. Alexis Tereszczuk,

RadarOnline.com investigative reporter. This sex cult NXIVM, which allegedly forces women to have relations with its leader and brands them, we believe, with his initials and others. Alexis Tereschuk, as far as the sex trafficking goes, what is the origin of the claim? So for sex trafficking, she has been accused of recruiting these women from all over and taking them to different places to have sex with Keith Rainier. And what they're saying is they used either force or coercion. She, excuse me, used force or coercion to make them have sex with him. And so they traveled all over the world, this group did. And in fact, when she, the last video we saw of Allison Mack is she, Keith was arrested in March in Mexico. They'd been hiding out in a very, very, very high end home in Mexico. And the authorities captured him. Allison jumps in a car and there is video of her chasing the police and chasing the car that Keith is in, in hysterics,

basically. She is so upset that her leader has been arrested. And she's not somebody who was like, oh, yeah, this is right. This is bad. This guy's finally been arrested. Thank goodness for me. No, she is convinced that this guy is being treated unfairly. And so she was chasing the police down as if to try to rescue him from the cops in Mexico. Well, as a matter of fact, take a listen to Hollywood star Allison Mack as she is interviewing the alleged cult leader about his program that, quote, helps actors be better actors. OK, listen. I wanted to talk a little bit about the source, which is the company that you created for actors, artists, people who want to get better at expressing in general. Several years ago when we first met, I had said to you,

would you be willing to work with me on becoming a better actress? And you said, yeah, you know, we'll talk about it. And then several years later you started working with me and a bunch of other people to develop a curriculum specifically for actors. And I've been talking to different people about it and like different actors and things like that enrolling them in the idea of coming and participating and seeing what you've created because it's been incredible for me um and a lot of the questions that they ask is like well how is it different than miser how is it different than stella adler or whatever and a lot of what the answers that i've given have been like well it it's sort of it's well, it's a partnership with that

because it gives you the foundation underneath all of the technical skills and all of the kind of traditional approaches to acting that we've had throughout time. Like it really gets to the core of the actor so that you can work on the raw material and then everything else that they produce is affected by that. But I don't know, like I'm curious to know what your perception is of the curriculum that you created and where it came from. Well, it comes from a mix of human behavior and philosophy and also really technical communication. You know, acting is all about a type of communication and being not only more aware, but more congruent in your communication.

So you want people to, if you will, to be a bit common in what I say. You want people to buy your character. Right. And the way they buy it is they find it congruent and authentic. I mean, if someone could be totally congruent in a character and express authentically through that character, so they could do any sort of a scene or whatever, certainly that actor could do anything. So the question is,

how do you achieve that? How do you achieve congruence? How do you achieve authenticity? And I think there are many roads to do this. The thing that I think makes the source a bit unique is I come from a non-acting background. You could say, I don't know what I'm talking about. Which is, yeah. So that's good and bad. The good aspect is it comes from a behaviorist, humanist sort of practical and philosophical background, dealing with communication,

dealing with all sorts of things relating to the psychodynamics of people and humans. As you hear Allison Mack interviewing the cult leader, compare that, the dichotomy of these victims describing being stripped naked, blindfolded, and tattooed. Sarah says she devoted 12 years to NXIVM, recruiting hundreds of new members, rising through the organization, even opening and running a center in Vancouver. Along the way, becoming best friends with Nancy Saltzman's daughter, Lauren, who was maid of honor at Sarah's wedding.

She's like my therapist. And in the ranking system, she's also above me. Then in March, after all their years together in NXIVM, Sarah says Lauren approached her about a new and mysterious opportunity. She said, I want to invite you to something that totally changed my life. It was a secret sorority for women only.

Life changingchanging but top secret and the first step is making a vow of obedience to her as me being a slave and her being my master. Again. Slave? She used the word slave? She used the word slave. Did you object? Of course yeah I objected every stage of the way and she said it's just it's a metaphor it's a guru disciple. Then came the night that Sarah says she and four other women submitted one by one to being branded by this woman, she says, Dr. Danielle Roberts. And the woman on the table screamed out in pain,

twisted and turned and yelled. And the woman I was with holding her legs down, we looked at each other and we just wept. Why did you let go and run out of there even naked? It didn't seem like a choice at the time. She points to years of NXIVM training. All the indoctrination, all the years of women are weak, women have no character. Now is the time to prove I can do it. Sarah gives another explanation for her obedience. Before she joined the secret sorority and got branded, she says Lauren Saltzman had demanded highly compromising collateral. You need to provide something to me that I'm going to hold forever

just to confirm and to solidify that you'll never share the secret. So what did you give her? So I gave her a written confessional. She says for her and some others, the price of admission to the secret group also included providing nude photos of themselves. So understand when women do that, it's very difficult to say, no, I'm not doing this because the person has something of you with them. Instantly, all my alarm bells are going off. Absolutely. So why did you do it? I did it because I trusted her.

That was from ABC's 2020 report on NXIVM. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Keith Renier, the founder of a bizarre sex cult right under our noses, including wealthy, educated, socialite women. I mean, famous women as part of this sex cult. Just had the book thrown at him, and frankly, I can't wait till he's sentenced. I hope he gets the maximum on every count to run consecutively one after the next. But you got to wonder,

yes, while I'm happy and relieved, more relieved at the guilty verdict, I just got to stop and try to figure out how this happened. I mean, this is going on right under our noses. How? This is how the whole thing works. Former members of the cult claim the Hollywood star, Mac, would lure young ladies into joining the cult and then demand they turned over, quote, collateral. The collateral would be compromising photos or their personal assets, money, belongings, car titles. That collateral was then used by Mack to control the women who were transformed into branded sex slaves. Now, the founder, Ranieri, was arrested the way Alexis Tereshchuk just told us in Mexico. The state said that during the past 20 years, Ranieri established a series of self-help programs, self-help programs. They had centers, so they were getting a lot of money funding in the

U.S., Mexico, Canada, South America, and it was a pyramid scheme. The courses cost thousands of dollars, and the people that took them were then encouraged to pay for other classes and recruit other people to take the classes so they could rise up within the ranks. It's like, it's a pyramid scheme. Ann Bremner, it's like a Ponzi scheme. Ann Bremner, Seattle lawyer, explain what I mean by pyramid. Basically, it's like Amway or any of these kinds of things that you just keep building membership by using your members to go out and get other people and just keep building that pyramid. There's a lot of financial ones like that too, but this is human trafficking and it's just self-perpetuating. So what would happen, Frank Parlato with me, the former

NXIVM publicist, the journalist that first broke the story. You can find him at Art Voice. What would happen if someone tried to stop and leave the cult? Well, they threatened them with the release of their quote-unquote collateral. It all exploded around May of 2017 when the secret part of NXIVM, they call it DOS, and that stands for Dominus Obsequius Sororium, or the master over the slave women, became revealed to the external group of NXIVM, the women who had not yet been branded. And that caused kind of a chaotic explosion with the NXIVM and a rapid exodus. Allison stuck with the group as did the core slaves. And even when the women were threatened,

some of them, like Sarah Edmondson, decided to leave anyway and risk the collateral being released. Wow. It's just amazing that this is happening right here under our own noses. Take a listen to this. According to promotional materials, even as a child, Ranieri was destined for greatness, speaking in full sentences at age one, reading at age two, judo champ and concert-level pianist at 13. I was told that he was one of the smartest men in the world and just an incredible man. With that, I'm going to pass the microphone over to Mr. Ranieri.

So incredible it seems that an ordinary name just won't do. Participants say they're taught to call Ranieri Vanguard. Vanguard. Yes. Participants say they're taught to call Ranieri Vanguard. Vanguard, yes. Vanguard is the name that we refer to Keith as because he is a leader of a philosophical movement. The second highest ranking member of NXIVM is a woman named Nancy Saltzman. Former members say she is known as Prefect. So Keith and Nancy, Vanguard and Prefect.

At the heart of NXIVM training is something called intensives, which former members say are like group therapy, running as long as 14 hours a day for up to 16 days. Edmondson says she attended her first in 2005 when she was 27. I left my five-day, my initial training, as if a veil had been lifted and I could see things more clearly in my life I could communicate better with people that sounds fantastic yeah it was great classes are invitation only and they are not cheap a five-day intensive will run you $3,000 a 16 day is 7,500 in promotional videos and materials that claims more than 16,000 people worldwide

have taken NXIVM courses. Many testify to its effectiveness. I learned through the tools that there was a different way. Sarah was recruited into the group by filmmaker Mark Vicente. What was it that was so compelling to you? Just a way to break down and understand certain things in my life in a way I never had before. Ranieri is fiercely protective of his teachings, requiring participants to sign confidentiality agreements. Everyone signed it, and if you didn't sign it, you couldn't take the curriculum. We do know that NXIVM has its own lingo.

Students are taught about overcoming disintegrations to become more potent and less suppressive and avoiding people termed parasites or Luciferians. You know, to Karen Stark, New York psychologist, Karen, when you're in so deep in something, I guess it seems normal to you. It seems normal to you and it seems normal to the people around you. And maybe for people who are vulnerable for the first time, they get a strong feeling of belonging to something. It always involves a charismatic leader so that you're enticed and you feel like you're getting the special attention. She talks about Alex and Matt, the fact that he was her mentor, that he mentored her in acting and the skills of acting, and they made it all sound very legitimate. You took courses, there was a curriculum. It became extremely enticing to be a part of this group, particularly

because there were so many people who were celebrities or who had a great deal of money. And you begin to question, well, why would they be a member of this group if it were not legitimate? We are talking about a cult that started in Albany, New York, upstate New York, with connections all over the world. Now, it poses as a self-help organization to empower women, and it rides the coattails of girl power. It ends up in the spotlight when the New York Times investigation exposed that the women in the group were referred to as slaves and subjected to ritual humiliations. They starved themselves. They were forced to starve themselves to achieve the cult leader's beauty ideal and to have repeated relations with him. To Frank Peralotto, former NXIVM publicist, founder of Art Voice, and the journalist that broke the story.

Frank, how did you become involved with NXIVM as their publicist? I was originally retained to work for them by Claire Groffman, the Seagram's heiress, who funds the entire operation of NXIVM. She funded all of the branding and the cult network. And I was retained back in 2007 to try to help them get a better public persona. Even at that time, people in the media were labeling this group as a cult. Well, Frank, how did you get out of it? Why? Well, I had uncovered that Keith Raniere, the head of the cult, had embezzled or swindled Claire Brothman out of $100 million. And I approached Claire and I told her that her money was missing and that Keith was in charge of that money.

$100 million disappeared. And she didn't really want to accept that finding, which later wound up being proven to be true. She was content with him swindling her out of $100 million. And Pete Raniere fired me. Wow. I just wonder what jail he's going to. I can only think about what may happen to him behind bars. Not that I approve vigilante justice, of course. We wait as justice unfolds.

Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.