The Vow

Within NXIVM, there's a secret sisterhood.

They have to sign a lifetime vow of obedience,

and they have to provide blackmail,

and they're branding girls.

I just spoke to India,

and she did admit to being branded.

She thought it was wonderful.

I will do whatever I can to get India out.

We knew there was another branding ceremony

that was about to happen, and it was like

"We have to get this story out and Frank will report it."

And when he came out with the news,

it set the whole organization into a panic.

The idea was not just to expose what was going on.

It was about getting people away from danger.

This organization has taken my child.

I will do whatever it takes to get her back.

And... whenever you're ready.

You know, like, here we're doing this, you know, wonderful,

idealistic movement,

and we're trying to create something,

and we have created something that just produces value.

Enhances people's lives.

And we're just minding our own business and doing this great thing,

and we're just being attacked.

So, I just feel determined.

You know, like, "Motherfucker." You know?

Like, how could they do this to us?

When I think of how destructive that is,

I think, "Oh, my God. That is just heinous."

We're gonna uncover all these things,

and then people are gonna say, "Don't fuck with those people,

because, you know, they'll come after you."

You know? "They will, they will figure it out.

"They will... They won't let it go.

They're not... They don't let things slide."

Yeah!

He asks about Albany.

He's like, "Mommy, when are we going back to Albany?"

- I wanna get down. I wanna get down. - What about your sweatshirt?

- I wanna get... I want... - Ooh.

What about your sweatshirt? You wanna put it on like a cape?

- Yeah. - Put it on like a cape.

I'm gonna give you this jacket in case.

- Superman! - Good?

Bye, Troy. Love you!

So I got a call from the police officer

from the financial crimes unit in Vancouver

saying that they were trying to get me arrested on three fronts:

fraud, mischief, and theft.

I knew this was coming, because I'd heard

through someone who was kind of playing both sides

that they were preparing a legal case against me.

That's when I called Jim,

because he was one of the main leaders of SOP,

and also, I considered him to be a friend.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I really don't.

I'm not angry at the people still in. I understand it.

I've been on that side of it.

Jim and a couple other friends are the ones that, like,

as I'm sitting here, I'm struggling to...

you know, I, I still feel...

I still feel like they're my buddies, you know?

And I feel...

You know, I spoke to him and Mark,

you know, almost every other day.

And he showed me

a level of compassion that, you know, from a guy,

you might even think is somewhat uncomfortable.

But, you know, he showed me love,

uh, in a way that, you know, another guy hadn't.

He, he hung in there with me,

and he really helped me, where I just didn't have

certain skill sets in certain areas,

and he goes, "I know you to want these things,

"and when you behave like this,

you undermine the things that you want."

You know, he was the kind of guy who could tell me that,

much like a brother could.

I think a lot of times, we're doers.

And men, we like to accomplish things.

And sometimes, that gets in the way

of our relationships with each other

and standing up for each other.

And there's nobody that I know

that does that and represents that more

than Keith Raniere.

So, I give you Keith Raniere.

And that's the hard part of this whole thing.

He's, you know, loyal to Keith, I think to a fault.

We kept getting information through people that were

on the inside, straddling things,

that realized things were bad, but didn't wanna,

y ou know, make a big fuss. That basically said, you know,

message is the legal dogs have been released,

and that I am going to be considered the enemy.

Well, he's gonna find a way to get us.

He has an army of people, about a hundred strong,

who are so devoted.

They will sell us out. They will lie about us.

They will make up stuff about us.

They will do everything they possibly can

to try to convince the world that we're criminals.

So we're up against not only him,

but all of his agents, as well.

When other people were leaving...

It was like he didn't want to get contaminated

by the evil, right? - Yeah.

At that point, I trusted Keith completely.

You think they're, like, the most ethical...

- Completely. - ...noble people in the world.

Hello?

- Hey. - How's it going?

Good.

Mm-hmm.

Kristin Keeffe was a proctor in ESP.

And she was the legal liaison for a long time.

In fact, she worked with the lawyers on all of the lawsuits.

"I'm thinking of sit, like, doing, like, belts, like martial arts,

but instead of judo, sashes."

And I was like, "Keith, you can't do that. That's so queer."

But like, that... I remember that very specifically.

You were like...

Yeah.

She seemed very close to Keith Raniere, as well.

But then she suddenly just disappeared,

and I didn't know why.

And I found out later she ran,

because she had a baby with Keith Raniere.

Anywhere in your body that there's a sensation

that you try to... try to ignore, or try to suppress,

it just gets stronger and stronger.

And perhaps there are areas in your body you haven't noticed before.

Like certainly you've noticed your stomach, at times.

And maybe the sensation in your stomach now

is changing,

but not going away. Maybe intensifying.

Maybe not. But probably intensifying.

You may even be coming less comfortable.

But that's okay.

I guess you're not gonna let me finish my report.

- No, you're almost done. - I'm, I'm trying to read.

- Yeah, that's okay. You can finish your report. - Can you... can you stop?

I, I can stop, and you wanna know what else?

I will stop.

Right.

Sorta.

Right.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

What I was told was,

when you officially resign,

give it a few weeks. She'll reach out to you.

It's fuckin' full espionage shit.

And she does.

And it's burner phones, man.

Fuckin' different numbers every week.

Just fuckin' never know where she is, and like,

we're talking all the time.

And so that's when she says to me,

"I can help you." And a few days later, we called Sarah.

Hmm.

Clare Bronfman, heir to the Seagram's fortune,

is the financier of NXIVM.

But when I first came in, she was a coach.

Right.

But, she eventually took control of legal.

She's on the executive board. So she had more and more power,

you know, as the years went on.

At this point, in essence, she's funding a lot of the lawsuits

against the perceived enemies of ESP.

She was probably told it was the ethical thing to do.

Okay, so a number of things were happening

in ESP and the company that weren't necessarily good.

Did you guys have a chance to do any research on NXIVM?

This is like Scientology.

It is a cult, where the leader

is keeping people through fear and dependency

and now, blackmail.

I can't spell NXIVM for the life of me.

ESP has had about 15,000 people go through it.

In terms of permanent members,

it's probably 700 to 800 people.

What happened was, I was invited into this women's group...

The secret society is called DOS.

DOS. D-O-S.

Dominus obsequious sororium.

Which I believe means "dominant over submissive" or something like that.

By the way, DOS does not stand for "dominant over submissive."

I made one error.

That means "dominant submissive sorority."

I think there are about at least 50 women in this secret society.

You are aware, I'm sure, that my daughter is a DOS slave at this point.

The girls were branded in a branding ceremony.

This business was ESP, right?

N-X-I-V-M? - Yes.

Just point me in the right direction. I'm, like, a distraught mom.

I will... I will knock on anybody's door.