Cult Leader Charged with Sex Trafficking
March 29th, 2018Via: BBC:
Keith Raniere, the leader of an elusive US self-help group, has been arrested by the FBI in Mexico and charged with sex trafficking.
Federal prosecutors allege Mr Raniere oversaw a “slave and master” system in his group called Nxivm, where female members were expected to have sex with him and were branded with his initials.
He is expected to appear in court on the charges in Texas on Tuesday.
Mr Raniere left the country last year after former members spoke to US media.
A number of women came forward for an investigation published in the New York Times newspaper in October, which led to the United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn opening an investigation into the group.
After the piece, a letter by Mr Raniere denied any such practices were sanctioned by the group and said an independent investigation found “no merit” to the allegations.
What is Nxivm?
On its website Nxivm (pronounced nexium) describes itself as a “community guided by humanitarian principles that seek to empower people and answer important questions about what it means to be human.”
Based in Albany in upstate New York, the group was founded as Executive Success Programs in 1998 and says it has worked with more than 16,000 people.
Members of the group are reported to include wealthy heiresses, the son of a former Mexican president and Hollywood actresses.
Research Credit: Eileen
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