Salzman told her about the secret sorority. Edmondson wrote a letter detailing past indiscretions, Ms. The proposition seemed like a test of trust. “It is kind of strange and top secret and in order for me to tell you about it you need to give me something as collateral to make sure you don’t speak about it,” Ms. Salzman said she had something “really amazing” she wanted to share. Edmondson, an actress who joined Nxivm about a decade ago.ĭuring her visit, Ms. “Lauren was someone I really looked up to as a rock star within the company,” said Ms.
The women, both in their early 40s, were close and Ms. Raniere wrote, (“if it were abraham lincolns or bill gates initials no one would care.)” “Not initially intended as my initials but they rearranged it slightly for tribute,” Mr. Raniere sent to a female follower indicates that he knew women were being branded and that the symbol’s design incorporated his initials. It is not clear how many women were branded or which Nxivm officials were aware of the practice.Ī copy of a text message Mr. Porter also did not respond to inquiries.įormer members said that, inside Nxivm, they are being portrayed as defectors who want to destroy the group. Raniere and other top Nxivm officials, including Lauren Salzman, did not respond to repeated emails, letters or text messages seeking comment. Porter did not meet the agency’s definition of “medical misconduct,” their letter shows. Kobelt they concluded that the allegations against Dr. “Please look into this ASAP,” a former Nxivm member, Jennifer Kobelt, stated in her complaint. The women said they were not warned that some of the clips were violent, including footage of four women being murdered and dismembered. Porter, as part of an “experiment,” showed women graphically violent film clips while a brain-wave machine and video camera recorded their reactions, according to two women who took part. State medical regulators also declined to act on a complaint filed against another Nxivm-affilated physician, Brandon Porter. Edmondson and two other women that officials would not pursue their criminal complaint against Nxivm because their actions had been consensual, a text message shows. Separately, a state police investigator told Ms. Edmondson’s doctor when the branding is said to have happened. Roberts because she was not acting as Ms. In a letter, the agency said it would not look into Dr. Raniere, who performed the branding, according to Ms. Edmondson filed a complaint with the New York State Department of Health against Danielle Roberts, a licensed osteopath and follower of Mr. Several former members have asked state authorities to investigate the group’s practices, but officials have declined to pursue action. “I said, ‘Whatever you are doing, you are heading for a blowup,’” Mr. Mark Vicente, a filmmaker and former top Nxivm official, said that after hearing about the secret society, he confronted Mr.
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.