Hello, and welcome. I'm Nancy Salzman.
I'm the president of NXIVM Corporation
and Executive Success Programs.
If you get involved in a group,
what's the word people usually use
to invalidate the group?
"Cult," right?
♪ (EERIE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
People use the term "cult"
because they want to devalue a group,
but they have no way of doing it
except by putting unsubstantiated doubt
in the minds of unsuspecting, non-critically-thinking people.
If this happens to you, ask,
"What are they doing that's bad?"
(RADIO STATIC)
♪ ("DREAM STATE" BY SON LUX PLAYING) ♪
♪ Days we were young We took photographs ♪
♪ Of everything we could see ♪
♪ We had to run from it Priest and prophetess ♪
♪ We were nothing We would defy ♪
♪ Invisible skin Where is the world within ♪
♪ Invincible skin It's how we all begin ♪
♪ ("DREAM STATE" CONCLUDES) ♪
♪ (SOFT EERIE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
REPORTER 1: A sensational trial is underway in New York.
REPORTER 2: The explosive trial
of NXIVM's sex cult leader Keith Raniere.
REPORTER 3: Brainwashing, sex abuse, and even branding.
REPORTER 4: Raniere faces charges including
sex trafficking and racketeering connected to a secret society.
REPORTER 5: If convicted, he could spend life in prison.
REPORTER 6: His lawyers say that his relationships
were consensual.
REPORTER 7: If you have a leader who is seen as almost mythical
and you're basically being told that you might have to sleep
with this leader of the group, is that really consent?
I don't think that it is, but again, try proving it.
REPORTER 8: This trial is very much
an attempt to try and understand which version
of Keith Raniere is true.
♪ (MUSIC CRESCENDOS, FADES) ♪
-(BIRDS CHIRPING) -(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Please be seated.
I am gathering all of you here
because I wanted to talk about some of what's going on.
You're of sufficient position in the organization
where I think you deserve to know.
And this is something that has to stay in this room
and the thing that we can't comment about
is there are criminal investigations
in multiple countries. This is not a small thing.
Supposedly there's an article that is likely gonna come out,
like, the New York Times. It's like a one-sided--
zero participation from us.
They're just writing all the hearsay.
♪ (SOFT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
So...
I guess it's hard because I keep on hoping...
You know, you plan for the worst,
you hope for the best.
And I keep on hoping that...
either people I knew who are friends
or who I thought were different or whatever,
will come to their senses and say, "This is ridiculous."
It's my belief if people knew me...
people knew the man...
there would be, I hope, no doubt
there's nothing nefarious, there's no abuse of power.
I'm a person that walks around all day worrying about,
am I abusing power by saying this, by saying that?
That is my life.
I walk around. At night, I cry for hours.
We're on the ground. We are being kicked.
There is-- There are aggressive actions
by probably a very few people coordinated against us.
The question is, how would noble people handle it?
How would-- How should we handle it?
Just because of the situation that we're in,
I would ask all of you in this room
to keep the discussion about criminal investigations
within this room.
Um, it's a-- it's a--
It is demanded of us.
Yes.
That enough?
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
OFFICER 1: (IN SPANISH)
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER) -(SIRENS WAILING)
OFFICER 1:
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
OFFICER 1:
-(BIRDS CHIRPING) -(FOOTSTEPS)
(IN ENGLISH)
REPORTER 1: The suspected head of an alleged cult
now faces charges in the United States.
REPORTER 2: NXIVM posted a statement to their website
moments ago.
REPORTER 3: In part, the statement reads,
"In response to the allegations
against our founder, Keith Raniere,
we are currently working with the authorities
to demonstrate his innocence and true character.
We strongly believe the justice system will prevail
in bringing the truth to light."
(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING)
MARC AGNIFILO: Many of the allegations,
even if true,
if you read the complaint, don't make out federal charges.
And so, we think that Mr. Raniere is-- is innocent.
We don't think there was any non-consensual criminal conduct.
PAUL DEROHANNESIAN: But no one's ever heard
the rest of the story
and the other side of what's happened.
I think this case is gonna give us an opportunity
to explain a lot more than the public has heard.
REPORTER 1: Keith Raniere made his first appearance
-in a New York court today. -REPORTER 2: Keith Raniere
appeared in front of a judge in Brooklyn.
The judge denied Raniere's request for bail.
REPORTER: He's maintaining his innocence.
To hear him say that, I mean, what comes to mind?
He's a sociopath.
Of course he's gonna maintain his innocence.
CATHERINE OXENBERG: He doesn't have a moral compass.
He doesn't know-- He doesn't-- He can't differentiate.
-TONI NATALIE: Not at all. -He'll justify any abuse.
The last time I saw Keith was April 1999,
and he said to me, "I will see you dead or in jail."
So, he got half of it right.
TONI: Goodbye!
BONNIE PIESSE: Oh, my God. It's so good to see you guys.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
TONI: I heard the chains come off, Mark.
-Oh, you did? You did? -I did,
I heard the chains drop.
MARK: So you guys were looking at him?
We were in the front row, like, eye--
-BONNIE: Did he look at you? -CATHERINE: Twice.
He is arrogant, and cocky, and believes
-that this is just another-- -BONNIE: Phase.
MARK: Do you know why he doesn't look broken?
There's nothing to break inside. He's got a fucking-- no soul.
-TONI: I agree. -BONNIE: He's delusional.
-Yeah. -CATHERINE: Yeah, I said that to the press.
BONNIE: Very delusional.
MARK: He wants to go to trial because he likes court movies
-a lot. -BONNIE: There's a lot more charges--
He likes court movies so much, and he has this vision of doing
-an argument in court... -BONNIE: Being like Atticus Finch or something.
...and being Atticus Finch.
-Sort of this 20 to 40-minute monologue. -(BONNIE CHUCKLES)
He wants desperately to have his moment.
So, he's gonna try and go for trial.
CATHERINE: To do his word salad.
MARK: What an ass. What an ass.
(CELL PHONE RINGING)
MARK: Hey.
MARK: You're worried 'cause you think his lawyers are strong.
Yeah.
MARK: I think we're all accustomed
to getting beaten up for so long,
we're just assuming we're going to lose.
-BONNIE: Yeah. -MARK: Yeah.
DOS is operating on a premise, that for so long,
women have calibrated their value in regard to men.
Let's take men out of the sentence.
Just the notion of getting branded.
Talk to all the football players who have a branding
on their arm, are they all in cults?
You know what the difference is? They're men.
Oh, are you trying to make this about--
A hundred percent I am. Am I trying to? It is.
-So this is female empowerment. -It is.
-A hundred percent. -Challenging.
It's for real, and you know what?
And it's the government and the media are coming down
on the women of DOS. Women have a secret society,
women brand themselves, and they're poor little dears
and they're victims. When men do it,
they're Marines.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MARC: We think the government's dead wrong.
We think that their premise is faulty.
And we think when the truth comes out,
Keith is gonna be acquitted.
Everyone should pay very close attention to this trial.
I believe we have information the government doesn't have.
And so everyone's in for a big surprise
when the actual trial takes place.
This is probably the most unique case
I've had in 28 years.
And being a prosecutor and being a defense lawyer both.
You know, and I've had some fascinating cases.
We worked on the Martin Shkreli trial.
REPORTER 1: Pharma Bro, Martin Shkreli,
became infamous for raising the price
of a lifesaving AIDS drug by 5,000 percent.
MARC: Shkreli was set to be the most hated man in America.
MARTIN SHKRELI: We're, I think delighted,
thank you very much, Ben and Marc,
who's a great lawyer.
MARC: I had Dominique Strauss-Kahn's case,
when he was IMF head.
REPORTER 1: Strauss-Kahn was one of the most influential
decision makers in the world, but a sexual assault accusation
from a New York hotel chambermaid
dashed any presidential hopes.
REPORTER 2: Moments ago,
a Supreme Court Judge for the state of New York
dismissed charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
REPORTER 3: They could not prove attempted rape
and sexual assault beyond a reasonable doubt.
MARC: I fortunately have a pretty good record
with my trials, and that's because I go to trial
when it's time to go to trial.
If your client's guilty
and the government can prove it, cut a deal and call it a day.
I have never had that thought in this case.
This is a trial from the door.
So, the government wants a trial
and they've got themselves a trial.
-♪ (CALM MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ -(BIRDS CHIRPING)
-(FOOTSTEPS -(TRUCK BEEPING)
MOIRA PENZA: I view Keith Raniere as a crime boss.
The same way I would view anyone
who is the head of an organized crime family.
(APPLAUSE)
MOIRA: You have somebody who's held up and revered.
I always feel funny, thank you.
MOIRA: There's this power dynamic
that's built in from day one.
Being in a room where there's a picture
of Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman.
Everybody is wearing sashes.
It was a way to indoctrinate people.
-GROUP: Thank you, Prefect. -Thank you, Vice Prefect.
-Thank you, Prefect. -GROUP: Thank you, Prefect.
(APPLAUSE)
MOIRA: With all of this power, Keith Raniere was able
to give orders and have other people
commit crimes on his behalf.
This is what
traditional organized crime looks like.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MOIRA: The eastern district of New York
has a storied history
of bringing creative novel racketeering prosecutions.
And we also have this long history of mafia cases.
REPORTER: It took prosecutors four trials
and six years to finally win
a guilty verdict against John Gotti.
MOIRA: So, I was really building off
of a lot of institutional knowledge
in terms of how to prosecute a criminal enterprise.
As we made the decisions of which crimes to charge
and who was responsible as a member of the enterprise,
it very quickly became clear who the major players were.
These are all women who did have the opportunity
to see behind the curtain.
And I certainly stand by the decision to prosecute
all of them.
(MARK EXHALES)
We got news that something's happening right now.
(BONNIE GROANS)
MARK: We assume multiple arrests.
BONNIE: Oh, my God!
-Clare, Lauren, Nancy. -I'm calling Ames right now.
Superseding indictment. What does superseding indictment mean?
These are the superseding indictments.
The additional indictments.
-Okay, that means... -AMES: (ON PHONE) Oh, my God.
...that online somewhere is the entire FBI report.
Here. Do you have it?
SARAH: (ON PHONE) Twenty-three pages, it's crazy.
"United States of America against Keith Raniere,
also known as Vanguard, Clare Bronfman, Allison Mack,
Lauren Salzman, and Nancy Salzman."
BONNIE: Organized crime, like the fucking mafia.
MARK: Ten counts of racketeering.
Identity theft.
Harboring of aliens for financial gain.
Extortion, forced labor, sex trafficking.
Money laundering, wire fraud and obstruction of justice.
It's absolutely huge, it's way bigger than the stuff
we were basically going to them about.
This is the moment.
Everything in the training
that we've been having the last few years,
tells you now's the time you show up for him.
Now is the time you go to court.
-(BIRDS CHIRPING) -(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
REPORTER 1: Arrested today, Nancy Salzman,
the co-founder and president of NXIVM,
as well as her daughter Lauren Salzman.
SARAH: Lauren on five-million-dollar bail.
Holy shit.
What must be going through her mind right now.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
REPORTER 1: Also indicted today, Clare Bronfman.
REPORTER 2: She's the heiress of the Seagram's liquor company
with assets estimated to be around 200 million dollars,
and for many years, Clare Bronfman
had been financing NXIVM
and supporting its co-founder Keith Raniere.
REPORTER 3: Well, actress Allison Mack
is set to have a bail hearing
regarding her involvement with Keith Raniere.
-(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING) -(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
REPORTER 1: Now, the actress was released today,
on a five-million-dollar bond agreement
that was co-signed by her parents.
REPORTER 2: Anything to say about the charges against you?
LAWYER: Just back off, all right.
KEITH: So, you are gonna go out onstage and you're scared
-you're going to be rejected. -ALLISON: Yeah.
What's the worst that's gonna happen?
-Really the worst. -I think in that moment, like,
I was thinking about that as we were talking,
it feels like I will be unloved forever.
REPORTER 4: Were you involved in a sex cult?
KEITH: Wait, wait, it's going a little further now.
I hear some boos coming from the audience...
-Yeah. I got it. -...and some guffaws
and they have people following you.
And they point to her like, "bad Allison," right?
-(OBJECTS CLATTERING) -(ONLOOKER CACKLING)
It just feels so, it's like such rejection, like so...
-like you've-- -What do you mean-- You're not--
-Like they know-- -They're not rejecting you.
-ALLISON: Right, that's-- -They're rejecting your performance.
You are confusing you, with what you do.
If that's removed, you come in touch
with a part of you that is...
invincible. Authentic.
(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICK)
♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
NICKI CLYNE: We were moving
when they came to arrest Allison.
This guy came up to me and shows me his badge
and he's like, "Is Allison Mack in there?"
And when she saw, I was like, "Allison,
they're here to arrest you."
And she just starts shaking.
And I was like, "What do you need?"
And they said she needed shoes without laces,
she needed to take off her jewelry.
I thought I was gonna see her later that day.
I don't even think I gave her a hug,
I was just like, "I'll see you in a little bit."
And that was it.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
NICKI: It's been a very isolating experience
without Allison and also without Keith.
NICKI: Hi, I'm Nicki. About five years ago,
my friend came back from taking this course.
We had talked about, you know, personal growth
and things before, but she came back
and this time she seemed different and I just said,
"I want what she's having," I signed up right away.
People do all kind of things to get to know themselves better.
They go backpacking in Europe, go to ashrams in India.
I happened to go to Albany.
...I trusted her and it's the best decision
-I ever made. -KEITH: Cool.
Or what?
Throw him out the airlock like a piece of garbage?
NICKI: Even though I was having success on TV,
I felt like I wasn't getting traction.
You've got to help him.
NICKI: I didn't feel fulfilled,
like, I didn't feel secure in myself...
-Yes, another. -NICKI: ...until I took ESP.
Nicki from Albany. Hi.
The way that I relate with people is a direct effect
of what I built with Keith.
And of course, you don't know how much further you can go,
but you do know you can go further.
Always can.
He helped me learn to trust and learn to love.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING, CHEERING)
NICKI: It's important to be part of a community
of people who support each other.
(APPLAUDING, CHEERING)
NICKI: I had come to rely on that support.
And I don't have that anymore.
NICKI: I was here right before Keith left for Mexico...
which he was fully intending to come back from.
That's one of the lies that the government told
in order to justify that he was a flight risk.
Oh, this is Keith's jacket, I think.
He always walked around in this big puffy coat.
I was in a physical relationship with Keith for many years.
You know, I kept it secret.
A lot of people in the community
didn't know who Keith's partners were
or if he even had any.
But I felt very clear on what I was signing up for.
I wish there was a way people could see who Keith is...
(SOBS)
...and how much he has contributed to
making this world a better place
through everyone he's interacted with.
I feel proud of my decisions.
And I stand by them.
(SOBS) And I know how hard that must be
for people to understand
considering the lens through which
this situation is being portrayed.
SARAH: I feel responsible for Nicki, because
I brought her in.
-SARAH: It was awesome. Awesome possum. -Team Awesome.
-KEITH: Your possum team is finished? -Not yet.
Almost. I'm waiting for her right now.
SARAH: I brought lots of people in,
they did a five-day and they moved on with their life,
and they're fine.
Nicki's not fine.
Nicki has a hard road ahead of her.
The first step to be on that road
is recognizing Keith is... not who he says he is.
I don't know if she'll ever accept that.
And I'm not gonna be the one to tell her
she's wrong about that.
She's gotta come to that on her own terms.
So, can't control it.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(CAR HONKING)
Hey, copy looks great for NXIVM,
um, but two things.
So, Grandmaster is one word and it should be capitalized.
So I started covering Brooklyn federal court
for the New York Post.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
EMILY: We're known for our headlines.
My understanding when I first started was that,
what drives a story is it's supposed to have,
like, a "Hey, Martha," kind of quality
which apparently... (CHUCKLES)
...is this sort of quintessential,
like American couple
who's reading the paper in the morning at the table
and you're supposed to have...
as it was told to me, the husband, like,
put down his paper as his wife is making him breakfast
and go, "Hey, Martha, you won't believe
what I'm, like, reading in the paper."
And this story just has-- is only that.
It's like, every detail of it is "Hey, Martha."
The press loves Allison Mack.
But, I mean, in terms of who
I personally find the most interesting,
it would be Keith Raniere.
Self-proclaimed "smartest man in the world."
But we all have our own tastes. (CHUCKLES)
I have done trials before, I did Chapo.
Bill Cosby's first trail. Bill Crosby's second trail.
It sounds so callous because like,
this is a trial where you have people
who were severely victimized,
but I enjoy the lurid aspect of, like, some of these things.
I've sent my story.
As many people do.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
MARC: You know, it's two great words,
"sex" and "cult."
You can't beat that for a headline.
REPORTER 1: Keith Raniere, the Superman
in what many believe is a sex cult.
REPORTER 2: New details just revealed
on the secretive sex cult.
MARC: The media captured public imagination,
and unfortunately captured the government's attention.
The problem is, I then have to speak
for a week, you know, to explain why it's not a sex cult
and why these, you know, these are adult women
making the decisions that adult women make,
you know, for their own lives.
And the government knows that, you know, and the government's
leveraging that to try to kinda keep this thing going.
MOIRA: It was very important to show
that sex was a major part of this.
I can't get into Keith Raniere's head
and talk about whether it was really about the sex
or really about the power, whatever it was
it doesn't matter. The fact was sexual abuse
of women was part of this enterprise.
MARC: Keith makes no apologies for the fact
that he has multiple long-term partners.
Now, some of these women he has sex with,
some of these women he doesn't.
And these women know this about him.
To be in love with Keith is to accept Keith
on Keith's terms,
and they can't possibly say the women didn't consent.
Well, I think when you talk about consent,
the idea is informed consent.
(PHONE PINGS)
MOIRA: Within DOS, the women, once they were collateralized,
can never get that stuff back,
so you have to do whatever is being asked of you.
It's very clear that none of the women
were told what they were signing up for.
It's a fascinating case, not because of the allegations,
in my opinion, it's a fascinating case
because it's a case that's criminalizing choices
that adults are making to be happy.
And I think once the federal government
gets in that space, man, that's dangerous.
Back off.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MARC: So, the only way to rectify it
is to hear from these DOS women firsthand
and set the record straight.
And say, "Listen, I joined DOS for my own reasons,
they were good reasons, it's a commitment for life."
You know, even the power and might
of the great federal government,
you know, hasn't shaken these women from that belief.
I have the authority to shine a light
on various things about DOS that have been misunderstood...
because I helped create it.
Sex was not the focus of anything.
Like, people are so obsessed with sex.
It was also a walking group.
It was also a go-for-coffee group.
We were people who had relationships
that were incredibly important and meaningful to us
that we planned to have for the rest of our lives.
MICHELE HATCHETTE: People think,
"Anyone who's still around are just
brainwashed bitches of Keith doing his bidding."
How insulting.
-(BIRDS CHIRPING) -♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MICHELE: When I was 24,
I had gone through a pretty intense breakup.
I was suicidal for a while.
And I needed a way of processing a pain
I'd never experienced before.
And I became a seeker because I was like,
"I don't know how to do this."
So, I was like, "Ooh, Bikram Yoga every morning
at six o'clock? Yep, I'll be there."
Church, I was shopping for churches like
shopping for shoes or a boyfriend.
(INDISTINCT)
MICHELE: So, before I came into ESP,
I was already on this path.
I've always been a dreamer.
And the question has always been,
"How do I actualize a dream?"
And then I did this and it was amazing,
it's like, it just opened up.
I wanted to be the best of me,
I wanted to do everything excellent.
So when Allison came to me and said,
"There's something that I've been a part of,
it's just for women,
and I'd love to share more with you about it,
but that's all I can share for now,"
I was like, "Okay, if this is just for women
and she's a part of it,
I know there's some dope sisters a part of this too."
DOS was not kid-glove stuff.
This was hardcore life.
DOS for me was where I got to figure out
what I was made of.
We were simulating situations that would call
for more discipline, character, and commitment.
Allison wasn't there to affirm things in me,
like, "Oh, you're so nice, you're so pretty."
She would give me feedback to help me see my blind spots.
I'm, like, at the edge of my greatest fear,
and she's just like, "Keep going."
And I'm like, "You're so mean," and like, "You're an asshole."
It's like, I gave her permission to push me
because I told her I wanted to be the best.
It changed my life.
There are many people who have asked me,
"Why didn't you just walk away?"
I did walk away.
After everything fell apart,
I ended up working
for this incredible restaurant company.
No one knew where I came from,
and I felt like I had a second chance.
But then Frank Parlato puts out an article
in the Frank Report and says that I brought Nicki
to my job under the guise of a restaurateur,
but really why I had her there was to recruit women
into a sex cult.
(SIGHS) Okay.
And then I got a phone call
saying that I was terminated effective immediately.
That's when it got real for me.
How can I run?
This is coming to my doorstep no matter where I am.
My involvement with DOS
is not what has brought hardship to my life.
People saying...
that this was a sex trafficking operation,
is why there's more hardship in my life.
AUTOMATED VOICE: (OVER PHONE) ...an inmate at a federal prison.
AUTOMATED VOICE 2: Raniere.
(OVER PHONE)
MICHELE: I'm good, how are you?
(KEITH CHUCKLES)
(MICHELE LAUGHS)
KEITH:
The experiences that we've been having
and what we've been going through
has made it possible for me to,
you know, test what I really believe in
and see if I'm willing to...
stand, you know, stick up for what I believe in and...
KEITH:
Hmm.
KEITH:
Oh.
Well, it's-- Yeah, I'm glad to hear that and it's--
Yeah, it's important to me, so... (CHUCKLES)
We're fighting for you.
KEITH:
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
VERO: Those friends of mine,
that are defending him with their lives...
they are harming themselves in a way
that I truly hope they can recover.
They need to see for themselves something.
And I think there is so much out there
that if they don't see it's because they truly
don't want to.
Yes. Oh, hey. Hi, how are you?
My name is Veronica. I am happy to be here
because I believe there's a lot of work to be done.
I have faith and I have a lot of hope
and I'm ready for the hard work.
-Well, good. -Yeah.
When I joined ESP, I was really in a good place.
I've been a professional actress since I was 22 years old.
And I had just come back
from shooting a pretty successful show.
But I'm pretty much a seeker, you know.
KEITH: Let's create a better world.
VERO: When I joined Executive Success Programs,
I thought I had found what I had been looking for.
KEITH: Thank you for your participation,
everything that you've done.
I was there for ten years, when I was invited into DOS.
We were supposed to be like, the closest, the most loyal,
the most committed women, you know, upheld our values.
Understand that all this, seen from a good perspective,
it empowers you, and it was misused.
It was tremendously misused.
It was so hard to see the wolf behind the lamb suit, you know?
It's such a betrayal.
How could I have allowed myself to be there?
♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪
(CARS HONKING)
(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)
MARK: We're on our way to meet with Diane Benscoter.
Uh, Diane herself was in a cult, and she really understands
the difficulty of leaving.
We're basically facing so much anger
-from the inside... -DIANE BENSCOTER: Yeah.
-...for what we did. -DIANE: Yeah.
Even the people that say, "Okay, so he's bad,"
but then, like, "The way you did things is bad,"
and "Why did you have to destroy the tech?"
They are so angry at us for what we did.
Usually, an individual will leave an existing group,
they'll figure it out and walk away,
get help, support, but when the thing
crumbles around you,
these people didn't make the choice necessary to leave,
and the philosophy or the teaching
that people are still clinging to
is higher than everything.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
They're not mad at you.
They're mad because their world is crumbling.
And so all they can do is "us" and "them."
-MARK: Right. -Because that's one of the main components
of these intense groups,
is that there's always a "them" and an "us."
So there has to be a crack.
And then they start thinking, "Oh, I see."
And all of a sudden, things start making sense.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
MARK: In order to free everybody,
everything had to be burnt. And that was hard.
If you hadn't taken the attitude that you had to kill the king,
you wouldn't have gotten me out.
You needed it to be that big for someone that had been...
gaslighted as long as I had to be able to get out.
I mean, I was working toward it, but I'm already 60,
I would've been 80 before I actually made it out.
KEITH: I've known Karen almost 30 years.
All these people, women, whatever,
that I interrelate with,
why is it that I can have a relationship
with multiple women for a long time?
They stay.
There are a lot who left, but more who stay.
Well, why are you here?
MARK: So you meet him when you were 18?
-Mm-hmm. -MARK: And like--
-KAREN: Week after my father died. -Week after your father died.
I didn't know that.
-BONNIE: And he knew how to use that. -That's how he spotted me.
He knew there was something wrong.
MARK: Oh. And then you guys became thick as thieves.
Yeah, very quickly.
KAREN: I came to Keith with the belief that I was defective.
And he just enhanced and utilized the belief.
He helped you believe
that you couldn't survive without him.
I did meet his mom. She was very eccentric.
He did talk about how she was manipulative with him.
And Keith said she would make herself sick
to punish him, which is the very thing
he would claim
we were doing to him, you know.
He would make himself sick
to get us to stop asking him questions.
His mom's up in that orange thing up above.
That's one of the things I forgot--
-MARK: Which orange thing? -See on top of my shelf.
-In there is a canister. -MARK: She's in there?
Can I see that?
I think that's Cuddles,
-the cat. His cat. -That's his cat?
KAREN: And this is Vera.
-MARK: What the fuck? -KAREN: Vera Raniere.
This is his mother.
But it's been up there for 20 years, or 30 years,
I completely forgot about it.
Oh, I have something else.
KAREN: So, this is a cleaned-up version
of a list we were keeping
of who's in, who's out, and who we don't know.
We were concerned about people doing something to our database
or something else.
MARK: So it was what we thought,
which is everybody's just spying on everybody.
KAREN: And we did report everything to Keith.
I would tell Keith things that I had found out.
Remembering that I helped build this spreadsheet
about people leaving.
I have more empathy
for the people that are still in.
(CAT PURRS)
I see people that are still following Keith
and I feel that pull to want to just go like...
"Wake up!
This is... No, it's not what you thought it was."
Once the truth about DOS came out,
someone I knew shared with me that she had been approached
to get into DOS and had at the time
gone to Nancy and told her about it.
So, Nancy had some idea of something.
Like, Nancy knew all of this.
I don't know how much she knew because what she was telling me
kept changing. Keith gave her some...
"Oh, it's just some girls doing some things" explanation,
and I don't think she questioned things
as much as some of us did.
-For her he was a mentor... -MARK: Hmm.
and a god in some ways.
(TRAIN RATTLING)
-(CAR HONKS) -(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
REPORTER 1: It's an update on the NXIVM case.
REPORTER 2: Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman will be joined
by other co-defendants today in Brooklyn court.
REPORTER 3: This is the first time we're seeing
what's being called NXIVM's "inner circle"
in a room all together since this all began.
MOIRA: For the first time at the defense table,
it was Keith Raniere and the other defendants.
They had so many lawyers on the other side,
and you had Marc Agnifilo
saying, "I'm speaking with one voice."
Loyalty among the inner circle
might be an additional challenge,
but this type of loyalty is not something
that is foreign to other criminal organizations.
When you have this understanding
that it's us against the world, us against other people
who are trying to harm us.
That is a very powerful motivator.
This level of loyalty might be something
that I am never able to cut through.
Some of these women may have made a lifetime commitment.
Yeah.
Hmm.
So.
(SOBS)
(RADIO STATIC)
I'd like to destroy the concept of destruction of value,
and I'd like you to consider...
-CREW MEMBER 1: You'd like to destroy? -(LAUGHS) Did I just say that?
CREW MEMBER 2: Okay, it's ten more minutes.
Don't lose it on us now.
-Did I say I'd like to destroy the concepts? (CHUCKLES) -CREW: Yes!
I think it was a Freudian slip. (LAUGHS)
KEITH: Nancy, initially, Nancy was replaceable.
We could've partnered with Anthony Robbins
and other people,
and I didn't feel they were appropriate.
Personality-wise and things like that.
(LAUGHS) It just-- I feel like my mouth just isn't working.
KEITH: She was a good student,
and she was willing to learn the stuff.
Number of disintegrations...
-KEITH: And she practiced diligently. -And we have what's called
an inner deficiency.
Anger is fear, but it's hidden.
What is self-esteem?
KEITH: 'Cause I'd give her one thing
and she'd go and she'd work it and practice it, practice it.
You can even draw the diagram that I draw of the world.
What are the problems that exist in the world?
-Strave. -NANCY: Hunger.
-This is starve. -Okay, what else.
-The whales. -NANCY: The whales, of course.
The problem's right here, blow it up.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING) -NANCY: How's that?
I take every chance I can to shadow Nancy Salzman.
You represent such a warrior woman.
And we follow behind you, bravely carrying our flag.
GROUP:
(APPLAUSE)
KEITH: So now, Nancy's not replaceable.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
Thank you.
KEITH: And ultimately that's my goal,
to create a thousand Nancys in the world.
NANCY: What would happen if each of my secrets came out?
The upside of letting go of your secrets
is that you will have a lot more freedom.
The downside of your secrets coming out is punishment.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
REPORTER 1: Huge developments in the NXIVM case.
REPORTER 2: Nancy Salzman pleading guilty
to one count of racketeering conspiracy
in Brooklyn federal court.
REPORTER 3: Up to this point, it seems that there was a unity
between all of these defendants,
but now that you've got the first guilty plea,
you start to see the divide and kind of the cracks.
SARAH: My first reaction to Nancy pleading guilty
is like that's the beginning of the dominos falling.
(REPORTERS CLAMORING)
The fact that the Prefect did this.
BARBARA: (INHALES) Oh, wow.
-(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICK) -(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
MARK: I wonder if she's really waking up,
or just trying to save herself and her daughter.
(DRUMS BEATING)
MARC: I met Nancy many, many times.
-She's really a special person. -(INDISTINCT TRAIN ANNOUNCEMENT)
MARC: You know, a sweet woman, a smart woman.
It's a sad thing.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
AUTOMATED VOICE 1: ...an inmate at a federal prison.
AUTOMATED VOICE 2: Raniere.
(PHONE BEEPS)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
MARC: We had a long talk about Nancy's plea.
You know, he's taking that kinda hard.
He takes it as almost as, like, the death of a family member.
Something that's really ripping his world apart.
And he thinks it's a world that's worth preserving.
And I think he is really grieving the fact
that it's all coming to an end.
And he is wondering if other people
are going to plea, and I said, you know, "I really don't know."
REPORTER 1: New updates in the case against the
the alleged cult NXIVM.
REPORTER 2: Lauren Salzman
now pleading guilty to two counts,
racketeering conspiracy and racketeering.
REPORTER 3: Part of Lauren Salzman's plea
was redacted.
There is a suggestion that she very well could testify
at the trial.
EMILY: To plead guilty
and to decide to leave somebody behind
and not proceed to trial with them, I think is--
just must be a very difficult decision.
It just makes for high drama in the courtroom.
I think they all thought they would go to trial together.
-(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS) -(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
REPORTER 1: Allison Mack cracks.
REPORTER 2: Mack tearfully confessing
in a Brooklyn federal court.
REPORTER 3: Did she agree to testify
against Keith Raniere or Clare Bronfman?
REPORTER 4: Mack will be the third defendant
to plead guilty ahead of the trial.
She faces a maximum of 40 years in prison.
Any comment, why do you think you were misguided
by Raniere?
REPORTER 5: In the next hour, we expect to hear guilty pleas
from the heiress to Seagram's Liquor,
39-year-old Clare Bronfman.
She's charged with money laundering
and identity theft.
Oh, that might... Is that Clare?
I think that's the other Clare.
Okay, let's go.
Sorry.
Good morning, how are you?
All right.
I will give you some time with your client.
LAWYER: Thank you.
REPORTER 6: Seagram's heiress, Clare Bronfman,
admitted to charges,
leaving just the secretive group's leader.
REPORTER 7: Keith Raniere will no longer
have his inner circle
sitting beside him as he faces his trial.
MOIRA: Once one person had pleaded guilty,
it did change the dynamic.
The question is, will they cooperate
with the government and turn against Keith?
BARBARA: Keith, I can rationalize that he's crazy,
maybe a psychopath,
but Nancy wasn't crazy.
Honestly...
she puzzles me more than Keith.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
REPORTER 1: FBI crews raid a home in Waterford
with apparent connections to the alleged cult.
(SIRENS WAILING)
REPORTER 2: The FBI raiding the home Nancy Salzman,
who helped co-found NXIVM.
NANCY: You have 12 FBI agents raid your house for 11 hours.
And then you get arrested and put in a cell.
You feel like you must have done something wrong,
because how else does something like this happen to you?
The world is left with this view of you,
that you know isn't you.
Or how could it have been?
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
♪ ("BEHIND HER SMILE" BY BETSY PLAYING) ♪
♪ In the window, there's a girl She screams to the gods above ♪
♪ She begs please To be released ♪
♪ But she's just left Shouting louder ♪
♪ Maybe she knows That life is a joke ♪
♪ So she spins like A whirling dervish ♪
♪ For love In a stranger's eyes ♪
♪ She drinks till The morning light ♪
♪ 'Cause behind her smile There's a clown and he laughs ♪
♪ With an evil That swallows you whole ♪
♪ Making fun of her every day ♪
♪ But there's nowhere To run away ♪
♪ Behind her smile ♪
♪ There's a demon Who'll dance ♪
♪ On the pieces left Of her soul ♪
♪ Keeps reminding Her every day ♪
♪ That it'll always Be this way ♪
♪ She turns on the taps ♪
♪ And wonders How to drown herself today ♪
♪ Wonders if she'll Make it out okay ♪
♪ Hopes that The cold will soon be over ♪
♪ ("BEHIND HER SMILE" CONCLUDES) ♪