ANCHOR 1: Now, remember, Keith Raniere was arrested
with five other women, all part of his inner circle.
And now, all of the women have pleaded guilty.
ANCHOR 2: And do we know if we'll be hearing
from any of these women as witnesses during the trial?
ANCHOR 1: We don't know yet, but any of them could testify.
(CHIRPS)
NANCY SALZMAN: I plead guilty to one count
of racketeering conspiracy.
And after Keith's trial is over and he's sentenced,
I'll get my sentence from the judge.
Come on, Mouse.
-(CLICKS TONGUE) -(MEWLS)
(METAL CLANKING)
NANCY: When I was first arrested,
I wasn't allowed to leave the house at all.
Recently, I got permission
to be able to speak to my family.
So, at least, Lauren and I,
we are able to talk to each other.
I was told that this is a privilege.
I could be in jail.
This is crazy.
Imagine you spent... 22 years trying to build something
that you fully believed in and you thought was good,
and everybody thinks...
it's the devil's work.
♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING, FADING) ♪
♪ ("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 ♪
(VOCALIZES)
♪ Invisible skin Where is the world within? ♪
♪ Invincible skin It's how we all begin ♪
♪ (SONG CONCLUDING) ♪
NANCY: I really have not looked at this in a very long time.
It's running, let's see what's in it.
Have you ever had an experience where you were called upon
to do something
but you really didn't know how to do that thing?
How do you feel when you have such an experience?
♪ (MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
NANCY: Most people say "fearful," "insecure,"
like they're on shaky ground.
Because we are.
But children have that experience all the time.
And they are forced to come up with an understanding
so that they can function very quickly.
The beliefs that we formed when we were small children
stay with us.
(STATIC HISSING)
NANCY: I think the reason that Keith chose me
is because of my background.
I did a lot of work with patients with chronic pain
and chronic illness.
My mother had a chronic pain problem
when I was growing up,
and many times, my mother was in so much pain
that she couldn't get out of bed.
I always felt so terrible
when I saw how much pain my mother was in.
I remember her crawling.
And so, I became a nurse.
Early in my career,
it was the heyday of chronic pain clinics.
So, I started studying about chronic pain.
And I started to understand
that there was a mind-body connection.
And I learned to teach people self-hypnosis techniques,
and do neuro-linguistic programming, or NLP.
NLP is a model of language patterns
to create behavioral change.
I used it in my work with pain management
and it was very, very successful.
What I found was that I was able to work with people
for like six to ten sessions, they would resolve their issue,
but like in two years, or three years,
they would come back with another issue
that was amazingly similar to the first issue. (CHUCKLES)
I was always looking for something that I could use
to help people create change that would be permanent.
And so, most of my career was trying to find that.
So, um...
Keith was trying to meet me for ten years.
He wanted me to train his company
in neuro-linguistic programming,
but I actually didn't have the self-confidence to do it.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
NANCY: Ten years later,
both of my kids had gone away to college.
I was divorced, I was alone.
So I decided to meet Keith Raniere.
I don't even know how to describe what it's like
when you-- you meet someone like Keith.
He understood the human psychodynamic in a way
that I have never seen anyone understand it.
He understood it and he worked with it.
We all want to be in sync with people,
we wanna feel connected,
and that's a feeling that we call rapport.
And when we're in rapport with people,
we have a tendency to feel an unconscious trust for them.
In order to establish rapport, you mirror the other person.
Like, if you and I are chatting
and you're speaking in a certain volume,
I can mirror that volume, or match it.
Yeah, let's suppose you have some-- someone who's sitting
and thinking or whatever.
Suddenly, I'm closer and everyone sort of sees it
but the person who's sitting like this
will feel more in touch with me like that...
NANCY: We fall into a certain rapport
when that happens, Keith was a master of that.
He told me that he had this idea for a model
for behavior change.
Go into this organization with four bronze bonuses.
NANCY: And he said, "You know, I just thought NLP
would be a good basis to do this project that I wanna do."
He took me into his office and we were drawing
charts of perception
and it was the most compelling conversation I've ever had.
♪ (SOFT PIANO MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
NANCY: We talked for five hours.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
KEITH RANIERE: Humility and vulnerability
is fearlessness.
If you're completely vulnerable,
you have nothing to lose.
-That make sense? -NANCY: Yeah.
For several weekends in a row,
we would have conversations.
-You do? -KEITH: Oh.
NANCY: As if you're getting shit for it?
Sometimes I would cry, sometimes I would laugh.
KEITH: So, what does materialism bring?
Sometimes I would be walking around...
and I would feel like the ground wasn't steady.
KEITH: Your sense of self is different than self-esteem.
Your sense of self is...
I realized that the conversations we had
had somehow shifted my perspective.
And I was far more positive than I was
when I met him. Like, far more positive.
♪ (MUSIC FADING) ♪
At a certain point, I said to him,
"Can I watch you use this model?"
And he said, "What do you mean?" And I said, "Like on a person.
Can I, like, watch you use this on a per--
Could you get a person
and let me watch you do a session?"
And he said to me, "You mean other than you?"
♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
NANCY: I had never seen anything like what he did before.
And I'd never experienced anything like what he did before, myself.
If I could help people in that short amount of time,
the way that he does, I would do anything.
He said, "If you want me to mentor you,
you have to agree to work with me
for the rest of your life."
And I said to him, "Under what conditions would we not
work for the rest of our life?" And he said,
"If I ever believe that you are using the curriculum
in an unethical manner,
then that would be the end of our relationship."
And that's what I signed up for.
-(SIRENS BLARING) -(TRAFFIC WHOOSHING)
♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
EMILY SAUL: Maybe in the beginning, NXIVM helped people.
So then what happened that, like,
suddenly pushed that envelope?
There's something in this that lead Raniere
to believe that he needed, you know, followers,
or that he needed, you know,
this society that just really, like,
enveloped and protected him.
It's like, was he suddenly there without realizing it?
Or was that the goal?
-Okay. -♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
EMILY: Prosecutors still haven't said
who their initial witnesses are gonna be.
I'm just super curious.
They could either start, like, with a bang
right out of the door, with, like, a big witness.
Allison Mack, Lauren Salzman...
It's also possible Nancy could testify.
She's someone who was very close to him
and has intimate knowledge of what was happening.
Or we could slowly build.
We know we're getting Mark Vicente.
You know, he's one of the closest men to Keith.
It'd be a really tough thing to live with to, like,
suddenly have your world fall apart
and also to have it be like, "Oh, this person
I looked up to so much...
is actually just victimizing everybody around me."
♪ (MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MARK VICENTE: I will be the witness against Raniere,
facing him for the first time in about two years.
I'm terrified.
If he gets off, then it's back
to just full-blown battle stations.
And then they're coming after us.
(TRAIN RUMBLES)
(DIAL TONE RINGING)
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
EDUARDO ASUNSOLO: When we got that call, you know,
I never imagined we would be here right now.
♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
EDUARDO: The next time I talked to Nippy,
he was scared like I've never seen him before.
And I was his best friend for a decade.
He kept texting me, "Dude, this is bad.
You have to hear this."
(DIAL TONE RINGING)
EDUARDO: Mark called me.
The first thing he said is like,
"This is gonna turn your world upside down."
He told me in that phone call Sarah had a brand.
And he basically invited me, in a sense,
to the campaign that they were gonna conduct
to go after Keith.
And then I called Sarah, and said, "I'm sorry that
something like this happens to you."
Where I grew up, if there's women being abused
and held down, you run towards where they are.
-How you doing? -KEITH: I'm good. How are you?
Then I flew to Albany to investigate,
to talk to Keith, to talk to Allison,
to talk to Lauren, to talk to everyone.
I found a sorority, I found things that were not only
not criminal, but maybe even good.
Yes, edgy, but all these women are women that I respect.
So I was working on people that are ready to die
for a principle.
And as I practice it,
-I felt, like, determination. -KEITH: Very good. Yeah.
They perceive themselves going against adversity.
They perceive themselves going into the fire.
EDUARDO: The curriculum of ESP
that Keith and Nancy has created...
My life has been amazingly bettered by them.
You know, Nancy, I don't think I would be a father
if it wasn't for her.
My wife and I, we're trying to get pregnant,
there was some personal stuff and physical stuff
and, you know, she walked us through it and I,
you know, I honestly...
I think, I mean being a dad is the best thing
that has happened to me and...
I don't think without Nancy and Keith,
I would be the loving father and husband that I am,
and there's thousands of people
that would tell you similar stories.
So, when these people started getting arrested...
Um, I don't know, it's like...
it's like, the whole world is upside down.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
♪ (MUSIC FADING) ♪
NANCY: After a year of home confinement,
I'm in a situation where I have a curfew.
I'm allowed to leave the house from 7:00 in the morning
until 9:00 at night.
But I can't go anywhere without asking permission.
So, we're going to my old house.
I lived in this house for, uh...
What did I live there for? Thirteen years.
(CAR ENGINE DECELERATING)
(KEYS JINGLING)
(DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE)
-(DOOR CLOSING) -I used to see my a.m. clients in this room.
♪ (WISTFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(SIGHS)
-Hiya. -(NANCY CHUCKLES)
NXIVM MEMBER 1: That's a problem.
With the statistics and all the other stuff.
I get a whole load of shit from Twitter.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
It's the first time I've seen it.
-Did I write that? -NXIVM MEMBER 2: You wrote that.
I don't say that, but...
♪ (EMOTIONAL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
NANCY: Never in a million years would I have ever imagined
the life I lived, being the prefect of ESP.
♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
NANCY: He was very kind in the beginning,
and he gave me everything I wanted.
Like, he gave me a company.
He gave me tools.
He let me teach, he let me do everything I loved.
This is the world the way I want it,
and this is the world the way it is.
If these line up, remember what we call that?
(AUDIENCE CHUCKLING)
NANCY: We started really small with 20 students
in my old office in Albany.
And we had 100 students within a month.
Okay.
How about we start with parasites?
I really believed in the education.
And that's why my daughters joined our organization.
So, we wanna grow the organization.
So what starts out, maybe, with ten people,
becomes 100, becomes 1000.
NANCY: We have opened up centers all over the world.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
(ALEX BETANCOURT SPEAKING IN SPANISH)
-(INDISTINCT) -(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
NANCY: (IN ENGLISH) When I first went to Mexico, on day two,
Alex says to me,
"I don't wanna hurt your feelings
but I need to tell you something
because I really want you to be successful
here in Mexico."
And he says, "Honestly...
you look like a middle-class American woman."
And I say,
"Alex, I am a middle-class American woman."
And he says, "I have to take you shopping."
So, he puts me in a dressing room with a woman,
who starts handing me 2200 and 2500-dollar jackets.
I just started my company,
I'm having a panic attack in the dressing room.
I remember, I called Keith and Keith says,
"Nancy, if Alex says you need to spend 20,000 dollars
on a wardrobe, you spend 20,000 dollars on a wardrobe."
And I'm like...
Like, I'm a little Jewish girl from New Jersey,
whose mother taught her how to shop. (CHUCKLES)
Five suits, 20,000 dollars. I buy 'em.
-(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING) -♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
NANCY: I wanted to affect as many people as I could,
and I got really busy with that.
I slept three or four hours a day.
(ALARM BEEPS)
For 20 years, I had studied human potential
and I couldn't understand what would motivate people
to want to change.
And this is what's very different
about our attack.
We are going all the way down.
Down here we call this the "deep structure."
And we have been an organization that is maturing
and a stability, that I think can withstand
what comes against us in the world.
This is funny, this is in O magazine,
I coached the art director.
It says, "Nancy Salzman, president of NXIVM Corp,
offers the coaching and motivational workshops."
Keith wanted us
to get to the highest areas of entertainment.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
NANCY: The highest areas of government.
Hello. My name is Emiliano Salinas.
I come from a political family.
I mean you have so much, it's such a rich country...
The highest level of every area of human endeavor.
Thank you.
NANCY: I thought that if people could understand each other
and the human struggle, we could resolve any problems.
Any problems in the world.
-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) -AUDIENCE MEMBER: Whoo!
NANCY: And for people to believe
it was just a big scam of a sex cult.
It's so horrendous.
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
(SIRENS WAILING)
(KEYBOARD CLATTERING)
MARC AGNIFILO: I mean this case is a highly sexual case.
There's a lot of very intense sexual conversations.
I'm really worried about people pre-judging Keith
because of his lifestyle.
I need jurors to come into this with an open heart
and listen to this story.
(CAR ENGINE HUMMING)
MARC: Keith said something today that I thought was very smart.
He's like, you know,
he's like, "This is like a-- like a family feud,
and everything that the government says is bad
was all us doing stuff to each other.
You know? I mean we didn't--
You know, we didn't hurt anybody else.
And then there was a division within the family.
And now, the family is destroyed."
♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MARC: This trial's kinda terrifying
because the stakes are so high.
I feel his life is in my hands.
I feel like his life's work is in my hands.
I only got one chance to do this.
And I just have to do it a hundred percent.
(SENSOR BEEPS)
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MOIRA PENZA: There has not been a case
that measures up to this
in terms of personal importance to me.
I believe that Keith Raniere is a very dangerous man.
He victimized so many people.
It was really the psychological torture
of women in a systemic fashion for decades.
I really think that this case can shine a light
on some really dark things
that had happened for a very long time.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
NEWS REPORTER 1: This is the beginning
of what is turning out to be one of
the most sensational trials
as prosecutors paint Keith as a predator
who preyed on women.
(SPEAKS IN SPANISH)
NEWS REPORTER 2: (IN ENGLISH) Keith Raniere is facing a total
of seven charges.
(NEWS REPORTER 3 SPEAKING SPANISH)
NEWS REPORTER 4: (IN ENGLISH) Prosecutors say the organization is actually
a cult involved sex slavery, branding its members,
and recruiting celebrities.
We hear about some of these things happening sometimes
and we think, "Oh, it's so horrifying.
This is awful. How does this happen?"
But it doesn't necessarily mean it's criminal.
Coercion, that's what really important
from a legal perspective.
EMILY: You just need one person for a hung jury.
I don't know what the defense is thinking but sometimes
that's all you can hope for.
We'll just see what happens.
♪ (MUSIC FADING) ♪
NIPPY AMES: So yeah, we're here, day one, trial.
I'm just kind of interested in the process
as well as what the, uh, defense is gonna try.
His supporters were all there today.
Whatever happens, they're gonna make work
for their narrative.
They're just gonna go, "See, we told you,
they're out to railroad him."
♪ (TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
JUDGE GARAUFIS: Ms. Hajjar, you may proceed
with the government's opening statement.
TANYA HAJJAR: The defendant, Keith Raniere,
claimed to be a leader. But he was a con man.
He targeted people
who were looking to improve their lives.
He drew them in slowly with promises of success,
money, better relationships.
And once he gained their trust, he exploited it.
The defendant was the leader of a criminal organization
in Upstate New York.
And he relied on an inner circle of followers who supported him
and promoted him, and committed crimes for him.
He said this was all about women's empowerment.
But during this trial, the evidence will show
that what the defendant wanted had nothing to do
with empowering women and had everything to do
with enslaving them.
♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MARC: Seventeen thousand people
took NXIVM courses.
Successful people, CEOs, executives, actors.
And not because they were bamboozled or fooled.
They took them because they got something out of them.
There's going to be evidence Keith Raniere
had multiple intimate partners over a very long period of time.
And you might say, "I don't like that.
I think it's morally wrong."
You're absolutely entitled to that opinion
but that's not one of the charges.
You're gonna find parts of this case distasteful
and inconsistent with your own morality.
And that's okay.
You see, I don't have to defend everything to win this case.
But one thing I am gonna defend is his intentions.
I'm gonna defend his good faith.
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Agnifilo seems to have the mind
where he can take things out of context
and water you down in content points
and forget that this is someone with an agenda
that's clandestine.
So, yeah, he basically preempts everyone,
admits that there's gonna be salacious stuff coming.
I think in a hopes to disarm or normalize egregious behavior,
I can see how he might convince the jury.
You can see how people get off.
You know?
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JUDGE GARAUFIS: The government may call its first witness.
MOIRA: The government calls
the witness who'll be identified as Sylvie.
What was really important about Sylvie as a first witness
is we got right to the heart of the allegations about DOS,
which is Sylvie being brought into
what she believes to be a women's empowerment group
and how very quickly it turned so very dark and disturbing.
Okay, Sylvie, how long were you a part
of the organization named NXIVM?
Thirteen years.
(CHEERING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
KEITH: Till next year.
-SYLVIE: Next year, I'm gonna beef up. -NANCY: We're gonna feed you.
-Yeah. -(BOTH LAUGH)
Even... even an extra pound makes a difference.
We will train you.
SYLVIE: Yes. I really wanna-- No, I do really wanna do that.
Okay.
-SYLVIE: Sick. Let's do it. -♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
SYLVIE: Growing up,
-I always wanted to be an equestrian. -(HORSE WHINNIES)
SYLVIE: At a competition in Helsinki, I met Clare Bronfman,
who was an elite rider at the time.
Clare encouraged me to take the curriculum.
And in my mind, I thought I could become a coach.
That would show Clare that I was committed to my growth
and potentially put me in her good favor.
So, I signed up to take the five-day intensive.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
SYLVIE: The first day was quite overwhelming for me.
The first thing you see when you walk in the door
are these rather large pictures of Keith Raniere
and Nancy Sulzman.
Everyone was very enthusiastic about Keith.
That kind of idealization of any one individual
was so far outside anything I've ever experienced before.
MOIRA: Okay, Sylvie,
are you familiar with this document?
SYLVIE: Yeah, that's the mission statement.
(NXIVM MEMBERS READING IN UNISON)
SYLVIE: This was something that was taught a lot.
The idea is that there is really no such thing as victims
and anything that happens to you is created by you.
In the entire organization, you have this concept
of being at cause.
Which is the main concept
for it to work the way it does.
It's like you are responsible, not only responsible
but you're at cause in your emotions.
You're at cause in your life.
I am causing my own emotions, I am not a victim of anybody.
You wanna be a victim? No, I don't wanna be a victim.
Good. There's no ultimate victims.
Therefore, I will not choose to be a victim.
I am committed to my success.
What I was hearing from so many of the people
that I was speaking to was this concern
that they had done something to cause the situation
that they had ended up in
based on the idea that you're being a victim.
Which really was a key tenet of the NXIVM curriculum.
Okay, Sylvie,
I wanna show you government exhibit 1005.
Most people scream abuse and they have no idea
of the morality of what they are talking about.
A lot of times, the screaming of abuse is abuse in itself,
'cause we're talking about abusing abuse.
Because they have no idea what they are talking about,
there's some inconvenient thing happening
and they wish it were different and they yell "abuse."
It is not necessarily abuse so they abuse.
It's very powerful, right?
MOIRA: Was that type of concept
something that you were familiar with?
SYLVIE: Yeah. Definitely.
MOIRA: And how did you understand it?
SYLVIE: That anything that happened to you
is your own fault.
And if you call it abuse,
then you're just trying to get out of the responsibility
that it was your fault somehow.
That women are kind of yelling "abuse"
and wanting to be victims.
MOIRA: Do you believe that that type of teaching
impacted you in any way in the decisions you made?
SYLVIE: Definitely.
I just felt like I couldn't trust myself...
with what I thought was right and wrong.
MOIRA: Okay, Sylvie, did a fellow NXIVM member
approach you about participating in a secret project?
SYLVIE: Yes.
She said to me, "You seem really unhappy."
She told me that she had this special project
and that it had nothing to do with ESP or NXIVM.
It was something that could really help me.
She was someone that I felt I could trust.
But she couldn't tell me what it was
unless I was willing to provide some collateral.
♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
EMILY: So, she tries to work out, like,
collateral that's damaging enough.
And finally, they agree that it would be damaging enough
for her to write a letter to her family
saying that she is a prostitute.
And she puts lots of details in that letter.
She-- I mean, from her testimony,
it sounds like she wrote a sexually explicit letter
to her parents about, you know, her days spent as a sex worker.
Her understanding, so she testified,
was that if she said "no"
to being part of this great, new, self-help project,
the letter would be immediately mailed
to her parents because it was conveniently ready to go.
(CAR HORN BLARING)
First, I was very proud. I was very proud to be invited.
Until I was threatened to have my collateral out.
When you choose to be a part of the vow...
that is your ultimate choice.
Because you are giving a vow of absolute obedience
and you're giving collateral.
This is-- This is an important piece.
So, any moment in the middle of the--
Like, "I don't want this. I don't want it!"
"You chose it. And we have your collateral."
It's a trick.
I was willing to have that collateral out
because I was not going to be blackmailed.
And that's why I left DOS.
MOIRA: Okay, Sylvie, what happened next?
SYLVIE: Well, shortly after I turned over my collateral,
I was told my assignment was to seduce Keith.
And I was like, "What do you mean, seduce him?"
This is not what I want to do.
But it was the first assignment for my master,
so I didn't really have a choice.
Eventually, I sent Keith a text saying,
"You look hot in your glasses."
And he replied, "You're going to have to do better than that."
He suggested I send him a picture.
So, I sent him a picture of my face.
And then he started prompting me to make the pictures lower
and lower, suggesting I become more and more vulnerable.
And before long, I was texting him nude photos of myself,
posing in provocative ways.
So, any, uh, thoughts, questions?
STUDENT: I was wondering, like would you talk a little bit
about the difference between vulnerability and fear?
KEITH: Vulnerability and fear.
They're bed partners to some degree.
You learn to separate 'em though.
Whenever you go toward vulnerability,
this fear comes up.
And you know how there's some little kids
who like to be scared?
You almost have to do that with the vulnerability.
You almost have to look at where you're scared,
because fear itself is just something in the body.
You can feel tremendous fear and literally push yourself
to do something.
We think of vulnerability as being our lowest state of...
(CLICKS TONGUE) ...being able to have anything.
Gosh, if we're completely vulnerable and naked,
our very soul will be taken from us
and we will be valueless, dying alone.
No one will look at us.
We'll have no connection, no love.
And the truth of the matter is, the more you become acquainted
with vulnerability, the more you realize
you're not gonna dissipate.
And then, it's "Oh, my goodness.
I've been living a myth."
It's a-- So, suddenly, you realize the very thing
that you're scared of is the thing that is strength.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MOIRA: Did you want to send those pictures to him?
SYLVIE: No. (SIGHS) I had to do it. It was like
this weird assignment, turned quite dark.
And it was really affecting my psyche.
I begged Keith for permission to stop sending the pictures.
He said "Okay,
but the next assignment will be in person."
When I got to Keith's house, he was waiting outside.
He took me to his room,
that had a big bed with dirty white sheets on it.
I was absolutely terrified.
(HEART THUMPING)
SYLVIE: He told me to get undressed
and to lie back on the bed.
So, I did.
And then he went down on me.
-(HEART THUMPING STOPS) -♪ (MUSIC INTENSIFIES, FADES) ♪
MOIRA: How did that experience compare to what you thought
you were joining with DOS?
SYLVIE: It just felt like a whole different realm
of darkness.
I felt so much shame. And still do, honestly.
These women who are saying that they're victims,
you have to see how do they speak to Keith.
You know, what do they say to him, you know?
And what do they want?
What do they say that they wanted?
That's when the jury's gonna start seeing
what this case is really about.
When we actually get to the evidence.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MARC: Earlier, you said you started sending Keith
naked photographs, correct?
SYLVIE: Yes.
MARC: And in this particular message,
that's you with a naked torso and under it, you write...
(READS PROMPT)
SYLVIE: That's correct.
MARC: And when you asked him,
"Do you think we can spend time this week?"
You wanted to see Keith, correct?
SYLVIE: It looks like that's what I'm saying, yeah.
MARC: And you agree with me, you're asking this to Keith
on a pretty regular basis?
SYLVIE: I was just following the instructions of my master.
MARC: All right, so on August 9th, you say...
(READS PROMPT)
-That's what you write, correct? -SYLVIE: Yes, that's correct.
MARC: And under it, there's a naked picture of you,
and you write...
(READS PROMPT)
SYLVIE: I would say whatever
I thought was most pleasing to him.
MARC: So, when you said that you dreamt about him,
you were making that up?
SYLVIE: I may have dreamt about him.
If I say I did, I'm sure I did.
MARC: Have you told my client that you love him?
SYLVIE: I tried to be the best slave I could be
so that things would work out for me.
I'm not saying that was the right way to do things.
But that's what I did.
MARC: I have nothing else, Judge.
♪ (MUSIC FADING) ♪
(DRILL RATTLING IN BACKGROUND)
NIPPY: I think Sylvie did one of the bravest things
I've ever seen anyone do
and it sucks that she had to do that.
You know, it's fucked up.
But I feel like what Keith's abuses were,
weren't exposed today.
I can see how a jury member sitting in there going,
"Well, yeah, you know, that was her decision.
You know, she chose to stay and she communicated,
and she encouraged him." And that's just not the case.
Regardless of what their texts back to him are, or whatever,
they need to understand that the system
and the indoctrination these women have gone through,
which set Sylvie up
for a vulnerable moment like that.
Some of our viewers may be wondering why any woman
would subject themselves to this and why they would not just
walk away from this situation
or simply say no to these requests.
Former NXIVM member, Barbara Bouchey,
giving some insight into this, just after court.
Let's put these messages in context,
and let's establish how she felt manipulated.
And specifically, how he does that.
I don't feel that they established that.
Yes, Sylvie did say, "I felt I needed to
and I was ordered to." But it's just gotta leave
the jurors wondering like, "Wait a minute,
something here is not sizing up." You know?
So Keith's attorney
has won the one on Sylvie, unfortunately.
(DISTANT TRAFFIC RUMBLING)
-SARAH EDMONDSON: Hi. -Hey.
So, Eduardo and all those people saw Sylvie talking about this...
Yes, and they walk out, yeah.
So, like, they don't wanna take in the information.
-Like if that's what-- -Well, if they're there,
and Sylvie is saying this, this is not--
this is not me or Mark Vicente...
-Yeah. -...with Sylvie.
-Yeah. -It's gotta get in.
It's gonna get in somehow.
-I'm telling you. -Sarah.
Sarah, we're still the enemy.
They're in the same diner we are.
They're in the other room right now.
Fuck me, I'm gonna call Eduardo right now.
-I'm gonna call him. -No, no.
-Yeah, I'm calling him. -Shit, pump the brakes.
At this point, if you don't see that the thing that Keith sold
and pretended he was upholding is a fucking con,
you are supporting something that is undermining
the principles that you pretend to uphold.
So, either they're willing to embrace more information,
"get all the data," as they say, or maintain their narrative
and good luck, see where that gets you.
♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
Just gonna make sure the judge doesn't think I'm a slob.
Okay?
Terrified.
Fucking terrified. And I hate suits.
With a passion.
I vowed I never wanted to wear them again after ESP,
and here I am about to, in some ways, do an ESP intro,
explaining how it all works and what it is and...
why I liked it.
They all told me, like, once you get inside of it,
it's fine. It's just the beginning.
You know, it's a new environment and...
it's kind of nerve-wracking.
It's just the beginning that I'm the most worried about.
-Bye. -BONNIE: Bye.
As far as I understand, if one jury member
doesn't think he's guilty then he's pronounced not guilty,
I think. Like it needs to be across the board.
So, if he manages to brainwash one jury member then...
I think he goes free.
And then he'd come after us, 100 percent.
Like, he's a vengeful bastard, he doesn't--
he doesn't, like, get on with his life
and be like, "Oh, maybe I've had enough."
His whole life's purpose seems to be coming after people.
Especially people who were loyal to him who are now not.
♪ (MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(LIGHTER CLICKS)
BONNIE: I don't wanna be in the courtroom
because it wouldn't be good for Mark if I was in there
when he's testifying,
'cause I'm worried about me having panic attacks and stuff.
But I wish I could be a fly on the wall.
(GAVEL THUDDING)
Good afternoon, Mr. Vicente.
Good afternoon.
How long were you involved with the organization?
I was with the organization for about 12 years.
MARK LESKO: During your 12 years at NXIVM,
did you come to know Mr. Raniere?
MARK: I did.
And what was the defendant's role at NXIVM?
MARK: He was considered the philosophical founder.
The driving, ethical, moral and humanitarian force
behind the entire company.
I'd like to have you look around the courtroom.
And let us know if you see Mr. Raniere here today.
I remember shaking, and I remember saying to myself,
"I'm not going to look at him."
Like, "I'm not looking at the defense table."
But I had to say the defendant's name,
like, "Keith Raniere."
And then they say, "Can you point to him?"
I pointed at him and I held-- I just held it.
♪ (EMOTIONAL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MARK: And the thing that was just fucked up
was that the way he looked at me when I pointed at him
was sort of this, like, "I'm here for you.
I'm still on your side. I still love you."
And I made the decision, like, "Fuck you.
You're not getting in my head."
But later on, I had this, like, sudden thought,
it was bizarre, it like just floated through
and it was like... It was sort of like,
"What if he's right?
What if he actually is a good guy?"
Okay. You wear the headphones and I'll--
Let me hear how it sounds.
(BOTH LAUGH)
Wait, how'd you do that?
MARK: And I was like,
"What the fuck is that thought doing there?"
I was so horrified.
Not so much that the thought had taken root,
but that I had the thought.
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
LESKO: Okay, Mr. Vicente. Let's turn back to 2005.
-♪ (SOFT PIANO MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ -LESKO: In that year,
did you participate in an ESP program?
MARK: I did. It was a 16-day training.
And pretty early on, a number of the philosophical ideas
began being introduced.
In one particular module,
they talked about speaking with honor.
And that if you were unable to speak with honor,
it suggested you had a problem with pride
and that you were what was termed "suppressive."
And what was interesting to me is that
it seemed quite okay
to speak dishonorably about other people,
but not Vanguard, not Raniere.
One could never speak dishonorably about him
because then you would be considered to be prideful.
So, there was a trap that seemed to be built in.
They even brought up the word "cult" and said, "Look,
the word doesn't exist, there's no definition for it.
And anybody who uses the word is clearly suppressive as well."
So, in essence, I began to realize
that if you said anything against the curriculum,
against the educational model, or against the founder,
you were considered suppressive.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
MOIRA: People who would be labelled as suppressives
would be people who actually challenged
the abuses within the NXIVM system.
The idea would be that you are
somebody who doesn't want good in the world.
You are actively fighting against this really great thing
because you are somebody who destroys.
BONNIE: "It was a horrible, twisted idea," he said.
Vicente told the jury that looking back he feels
Raniere's teachings about overcoming fears
to achieve self-fulfillment was a fraud and a lie.
(GROUSES) Says he broke down crying.
And he needed to compose himself on the witness stand.
♪ (EMOTIONAL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(CLICKS TONGUE) I'm done.
♪ (MUSIC FADING) ♪
-BONNIE: (SOFTLY) Yeah. -(BREATHES DEEPLY)
It's okay, baby.
I feel like the greatest thing that could've happened
is I got to face off this monster
and then see that I have any more like...
Was there anything holding me back
from seeing the truth? And I found, in the end,
there was nothing. Nothing holding me back.
I could-- I could face him.
But I'm free from him.
You know? He's not in my soul anymore,
he's not in my head anymore.
♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
NANCY: You know, I really loved Mark.
And I felt like we were really friends.
MARK: This could not have been built,
had prefect Nancy Salzman not existed.
And some of you have heard that I was pompous beyond belief.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
MARK: She broke my pride,
she broke my arrogance but she did it with love.
We are standing on the shoulders of giants.
And to me, you are a giantess.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS)
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
NANCY: When he left,
it was very painful for me what he did.
I'm just gonna say thank you, Mark.
(AUDIENCE CONTINUES APPLAUDING)
NANCY: They were so destructive.
Sarah went home and disenrolled everybody she enrolled
and gave them refunds out of our money.
She didn't have a right to do that.
And the call that she finally did make to me
was so horrendous.
-♪ (MUSIC FADING) ♪ -(CELLPHONE BEEPS)
So, that was how I-- (CHUCKLES) That was my call from Sarah.
Would you respond to a message like that?
I think I probably feel angrier at Sarah than I do at Keith,
which is not rational, I guess but...
I mean, I think Keith is just the way he is.
We're not really here, this is a video of a meeting
that happened long ago.
Do you-- Sir, we're connected up.
NANCY: I think everybody just assumes.
You know, I knew everything
and I should've known everything.
But when everything started to blow up...
I didn't know why really.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
NANCY: In 2017, during my birthday party...
a very dear friend of mine came to me
thinking I knew about DOS.
I had no idea what she was talking about.
Meanwhile, Nippy is having some kind of tantrum.
I called Keith and I said, "What's going on?"
And he said, "Nothing." And I said, "Keith,
something is going on."
And I said that I'm really upset.
It's very clear that everyone in that room knows something
that I don't know.
And finally, Lauren is sent to take me for a walk.
And she says to me, "Mom, I don't want you to be upset.
It's nothing bad."
And I said, "Well, why isn't anyone telling me?"
And she said, "Well, Mom,
there's this secret organization.
It's like a sorority."
And I said, "And Keith is running this thing?"
And she said, "No. It's the women."
And I went to Keith, and I said, "You're doing this, aren't you?
You're running this, aren't you?"
And he said, "No, no, no, no, no."
He said it was the women's idea.
I was so angry at these women.
It seemed like they were just very thoughtless
about how what they were doing was going to affect
everything I had worked for for 20 years.
And then, he stood up in front of the whole organization,
and told the whole organization what he had told me
and I still believed him.
The connection with the sorority between myself, between NXIVM,
between Jness has been... (SIGHS)
...ridiculously, not only exaggerated,
but even fabricated.
The sorority is not a NXIVM thing.
It is totally separate.
In fact, there are people in this sorority
that aren't in any of our companies at all.
The sorority is not a company.
Most of the things about it are not really true.
And then my whole company was destroyed...
and my whole life fell apart.
There were bad things that happened...
but it doesn't mean that everybody
who's getting blamed for the bad things
actually did the bad things.
The sex cult was DOS, it was over here.
It was Keith's thing.
My company didn't need to be destroyed.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
But it was.
That's not right.
I spent 20 years trying to make the world a better place
and this is where I ended up.
Actually, I spent 40 years
trying to make the world a better place
because I started before I knew Keith Raniere.
And the other thing I don't understand is...
17,000 people got good results.
Where are they?
Why aren't they standing up for us?
♪ (MUSIC INTENSIFIES, CONCLUDES) ♪
♪ ("MY HANDS" BY TATUM PLAYING) ♪
♪ I stitched together All my happy moments ♪
♪ In this lace So I never had to look ♪
♪ At the in betweens ♪
♪ I used my smile as a mask ♪
♪ So no one would ever ask ♪
♪ What happened? ♪
♪ How did I break? ♪
(VOCALIZING)
♪ I buried you ♪
♪ My hands were shaking The day I became brave ♪
♪ I roped back the layers I faced all, all of my horrors ♪
♪ I found I am stronger ♪
♪ Stronger than the monsters ♪
♪ My hands were shaking ♪
♪ The day I became brave ♪
♪ (SONG CONCLUDING) ♪