Latest / The Burros of Berea Podcast / Episode 326- Of Sashes and Slaves- Part 2

Transcript

Episode 326- Of Sashes and Slaves- Part 2 · The Burros of Berea Podcast

• 0:07
  Last time, we met Keith Ranieri, a self -declared
• 0:11
  genius with a messiah complex, and Nancy Salzman,
• 0:15
  the trauma nurse turned mindhacker who believed
• 0:17
  she could heal humanity through a mix of hypnotism,
• 0:19
  pseudoscience, and obedience. Together, they
• 0:22
  built Executive Success Programs, ESP, a so -called
• 0:26
  self -help organization with titles, rituals,
• 0:29
  and ranks. White sashes for beginners, orange
• 0:33
  for leaders, a soft -spoken hierarchy wrapped
• 0:36
  in velvet words. Behind closed doors, Keith was
• 0:39
  already crafting a deeper structure, one that
• 0:41
  demanded submission, reshaped identity, and punished
• 0:44
  dissent. Nancy built the scaffolding, Keith built
• 0:48
  the ideology, and the system began to grow. But
• 0:52
  movements need more than method, they need money,
• 0:55
  status, legitimacy. And in the early 2000s, two
• 0:59
  sisters, wealthy, lost, and looking for purpose,
• 1:02
  stepped inside the Albany Training Center and
• 1:04
  changed everything. This is the story of how
• 1:07
  executive success programs became Nexium, how
• 1:11
  sashes became power, and how the gate opened
• 1:14
  for a cult to go corporate. I'm Rick Welch, and
• 1:18
  this is of sashes and slaves. Before Nexium had
• 1:24
  brand recognition, a website, or even its first
• 1:26
  lawsuit, it had the Bronkman sisters. Claire
• 1:29
  Bronkman and Sarah Bronkman were heirs to the
• 1:32
  Seagram's liquor fortune. the daughters of billionaire
• 1:35
  businessman Edgar Brompton Sr., one of the most
• 1:38
  influential Jewish philanthropists in North America.
• 1:42
  They had money, they had access, but what they
• 1:44
  didn't have, at least not in their eyes, was
• 1:47
  meaning. Claire had been a competitive equestrian,
• 1:50
  Sarah had dabbled in spiritual retreats and alternative
• 1:53
  health. Neither had settled on a life path that
• 1:56
  fell whole. When they heard about a leadership
• 1:58
  seminar in upstate New York that promised transformation,
• 2:01
  growth, and elite mentorship, they signed up.
• 2:04
  They arrived at an ESP intensive in 2002. It
• 2:07
  was five days long, 12 hours a day. They wore
• 2:11
  white sashes, sat cross -legged in carpeted rooms,
• 2:14
  and listened to facilitators explain how their
• 2:16
  past traumas and limiting beliefs had shaped
• 2:18
  everything they feared. Nancy spoke gently with
• 2:21
  a therapist's cadence. Keith appeared only briefly,
• 2:24
  enough to offer a parable or question that lingered
• 2:26
  for hours. He asked, quote, what if your suffering
• 2:30
  is a story and you could rewrite it? That was
• 2:35
  all it took. Claire and Sarah fell in love. Not
• 2:38
  romantically, but ideologically. They saw ESP
• 2:42
  as a tool for healing, for discovering who they
• 2:44
  really were beneath their privilege and expectations.
• 2:47
  And most importantly, they saw Keith as the rare
• 2:50
  man who could guide them there. What Keith saw
• 2:52
  was different. He saw leverage. The Broughmans
• 2:56
  weren't just students. They were a pipeline into
• 2:58
  wealth, celebrity, and high society. And within
• 3:01
  weeks, Keith moved in close. He invited the sisters
• 3:04
  to private meetings. He praised their curiosity.
• 3:07
  He told them they had rare ethical potential.
• 3:11
  Sarah was the first to deepen her involvement.
• 3:13
  She offered to host intensives at her home in
• 3:14
  New York. She brought friends, contacts, and
• 3:17
  eventually employees. Claire followed soon after,
• 3:20
  investing time, attention, and then money. A
• 3:23
  lot of money. Within a year, Claire and Sarah
• 3:26
  had become two of Nixxiom's most important donors.
• 3:29
  They underwrote training centers, covered operational
• 3:32
  expenses, and helped fund legal defenses. They
• 3:35
  also brought protection. When journalists began
• 3:37
  sniffing around the edges of ESP, the Bronfen
• 3:40
  name served as a kind of cultural armor. It couldn't
• 3:43
  be a cult, some said, not if the Bronfen girls
• 3:45
  were in it. Behind the scenes, the sisters were
• 3:48
  growing more involved and more isolated. They
• 3:50
  distanced themselves from former friends, stopped
• 3:53
  answering certain family members, and began deferring
• 3:56
  major decisions to Keith and Nancy. Claire, in
• 3:59
  particular, began to change. She withdrew from
• 4:02
  the equestrian world and poured herself into
• 4:03
  NXIVM's internal logistics. Budgets, staffing,
• 4:07
  accounting. She once said, quote, I've never
• 4:10
  felt more aligned with my purpose, end quote.
• 4:13
  Sarah, meanwhile, continued to serve as a kind
• 4:15
  of cultural liaison, hosting dignitaries, arranging
• 4:18
  international connections, and reinforcing the
• 4:21
  group's image as a leadership movement, not a
• 4:23
  spiritual sect. The money kept flowing. By some
• 4:26
  estimates, over the next 15 years, Claire and
• 4:29
  Sarah Ruffin would contribute more than $100
• 4:31
  million to Nexium in loans, donations, and legal
• 4:34
  spending. And as the money flowed, the organization
• 4:37
  transformed. Somewhere between 2002 and 2003,
• 4:42
  something changed. Not in the curriculum, not
• 4:44
  yet, but in the image. Keith Raniere and Nancy
• 4:48
  Salzman were no longer satisfied calling their
• 4:50
  system Executive Success Programs. It sounded
• 4:53
  too corporate, too 1990s. They needed something
• 4:56
  new, something with mystery, with weight, something
• 4:59
  that sounded like it belonged on a stone tablet
• 5:01
  or a secret society charter. And so, they invented
• 5:04
  the name, Nexium. No one quite knows why they
• 5:07
  chose that exact configuration. Some believe
• 5:10
  it was meant to mimic Latin or Greek roots. Others
• 5:13
  say Keith wanted to emulate pharmaceutical branding,
• 5:15
  names like Paxil, Zoloft, and Lexapro, which
• 5:18
  sounded both sleek and sacred. Whatever the reason,
• 5:21
  Nexium stuck. It was harder to pronounce than
• 5:24
  ESP. harder to spell, and that was exactly the
• 5:27
  point. It created an in -group, a sense of elevated
• 5:30
  knowledge. If you knew how to say it, you were
• 5:32
  already on the inside. The name rolled out slowly,
• 5:35
  first in emails, then on forums, then in conversation.
• 5:39
  The change wasn't announced, it simply took hold.
• 5:42
  Before long, executive success programs became
• 5:44
  a curriculum offered within NXIVM, and NXIVM
• 5:48
  became the movement. It wasn't just branding,
• 5:50
  it was redefinition. And as the name changed,
• 5:53
  so did the energy. ESP had been about self -improvement.
• 5:57
  NXIVM was about ideology. It wasn't enough to
• 6:00
  improve yourself. You now had a duty to help
• 6:03
  transform humanity. Students weren't just students.
• 6:06
  They were initiates, builders, ambassadors of
• 6:09
  ethics. The shift was visible in the sashes.
• 6:12
  Keith and Nancy refined the color system. White
• 6:14
  remained for beginners. Orange became the new
• 6:16
  goal, coach level. Green was reserved for high
• 6:19
  -ranking facilitators. Gold was introduced, though
• 6:22
  few ever saw it. Rumors circulated about even
• 6:25
  higher ranks, red, purple, even black. But advancement
• 6:29
  wasn't just symbolic. They required hours, testimonials,
• 6:32
  recruitment, and demonstrated behavioral alignment.
• 6:35
  You couldn't just be smart or charismatic. You
• 6:37
  had to speak the language, live the teachings,
• 6:40
  and defer to the structure. Ranks came with privileges,
• 6:43
  access to exclusive trainings, private dinners
• 6:45
  with key, advanced modules. But they also came
• 6:48
  with scrutiny. The higher you climbed, the more
• 6:50
  your loyalty was tested. Every misstep, Every
• 6:53
  doubt, every challenge was logged, flagged, and
• 6:56
  addressed. If you slipped, you were told you
• 6:59
  were in disintegration. If you asked too many
• 7:01
  questions, you were pulled aside for a one -on
• 7:04
  -one with Nancy, or worse, Keith. And those one
• 7:07
  -on -ones? They weren't chats. They were recalibrations.
• 7:11
  One former member said, quote, Talking to Keith
• 7:14
  felt like being interrogated by a monk. He'd
• 7:16
  smile, ask you five questions you couldn't answer,
• 7:19
  and suddenly, you'd be confessing things you
• 7:21
  hadn't even admitted to yourself. End quote.
• 7:24
  Another remembered quote. He asked me if I was
• 7:26
  afraid of becoming great. I said yes. He said
• 7:30
  that's your pathology. That's what you're addicted
• 7:33
  to. Fear of your own brilliance. And then he
• 7:35
  offered to help me fix it. End quote. It was
• 7:38
  seduction through philosophy. And it wasn't just
• 7:41
  Keith. The entire organization was beginning
• 7:43
  to speak in riddles. Coaches repeated phrases
• 7:46
  like there are no ultimate victims. Struggle
• 7:49
  is a choice. Pain is just an interpretation.
• 7:52
  Emotion without reason is a parasite. These weren't
• 7:56
  just slogans, they were weapons. Each one could
• 7:59
  be turned inward, used to suppress doubt, justify
• 8:01
  discomfort, or silence criticism. And they worked.
• 8:05
  Students who cried during workshops were praised
• 8:07
  for breaking through. Students who resisted were
• 8:10
  assigned more hours, more modules, more mentorship.
• 8:13
  Everyone was moving towards something, but few
• 8:15
  could define what it was. At all the while, Keith
• 8:18
  watched from the center, not as a CEO or a coach.
• 8:22
  but as a philosopher king. He rarely taught large
• 8:25
  classes. Instead, he drifted between private
• 8:27
  salons and late -night walks, offering insights,
• 8:30
  corrections, and tests. His presence was scarce,
• 8:33
  but his influence was constant. Every new policy,
• 8:36
  every new title, every new phrase was either
• 8:39
  directly approved by Keith or designed to imitate
• 8:41
  his voice. The growing organization also needed
• 8:45
  a home base, so in Clifton Park, just outside
• 8:48
  Albany, Nexium opened what it called the Training
• 8:51
  Center. On paper, it was an office. In practice,
• 8:55
  it was a temple. Students removed their shoes.
• 8:57
  They lowered their voices. They waited for instruction.
• 9:01
  Rooms were sparsely decorated. White boards,
• 9:03
  chairs, lighting tuned for alertness. Every detail
• 9:07
  was curated to optimize integration. In reality,
• 9:11
  it optimized submission. Some rooms were dedicated
• 9:14
  to specific exercises, EMs, goal -setting feedback
• 9:18
  sessions. Others were used for coaching drills
• 9:20
  or video reviews. Surveillance was subtle but
• 9:23
  constant. Coaches took notes. Conversations were
• 9:26
  monitored. Loyalty was tracked. And through it
• 9:29
  all, Nancy ran the floor. She monitored students'
• 9:33
  emotional states, corrected tone, mediated conflict.
• 9:36
  If Keith was the soul of Nexium, Nancy was its
• 9:39
  nervous system. And as the ranks filled and the
• 9:42
  names spread, Keith prepared for the next step.
• 9:46
  Taking Nexium Global. By 2003, Nexium was no
• 9:50
  longer just a name, it was a presence. A growing
• 9:53
  network of training centers, coaches, and students
• 9:56
  that spanned upstate New York to Mexico City.
• 9:59
  The plan had always been slow, strategic growth,
• 10:01
  no marketing blitzes, no public rallies, just
• 10:04
  word of mouth and the allure of transformation.
• 10:07
  It started in Albany, where Keith and Nancy operated
• 10:11
  out of an office park in Clifton Park. The building
• 10:13
  was ordinary, rows of beige cubicles and dropped
• 10:16
  ceilings. But inside, something unusual was happening.
• 10:20
  Every day, students arrived for 12 -hour intensives.
• 10:23
  They sat on the floor, they took notes, they
• 10:26
  cried, and they called it growth. The sashes
• 10:29
  came off at the door, not out of disrespect,
• 10:31
  but reverence. You didn't bring your color into
• 10:34
  the training space unless you'd earned it. The
• 10:36
  room was sacred, and everything inside it, from
• 10:38
  the whiteboards to the breathing exercises, was
• 10:41
  part of what they called the tech. The curriculum
• 10:44
  was scripted. Every coach followed Keith's modules
• 10:47
  word for word. Deviating wasn't just discouraged,
• 10:51
  it was forbidden. Nancy monitored sessions personally,
• 10:54
  walking between chairs, correcting tone, posture,
• 10:57
  even facial expressions. She would say, quote,
• 11:00
  Your energy affects the room. If you're not integrated,
• 11:04
  no one can be. End quote. Outside the training
• 11:07
  rooms, the real structure was being built. Keith
• 11:10
  had begun dividing Nexium into multiple arms.
• 11:13
  Shell companies with names like Ethical Science
• 11:15
  Foundation, Jeunesse, and the Society of Protectors.
• 11:19
  Each had a public -facing mission – gender dynamics,
• 11:22
  child development, ethical philosophy – but all
• 11:25
  were designed to channel influence back to Keith.
• 11:28
  Behind each front was a small team, devoted followers
• 11:31
  tasked with managing finances, recruiting, and
• 11:33
  administering the flow of information. One former
• 11:35
  member called it a cult run like a law firm.
• 11:39
  Central to this structure was Karen Unterreiner,
• 11:41
  Keith's longtime associate from his RPI days.
• 11:44
  Karen was the data vault, handling enrollment
• 11:46
  spreadsheets, attendance logs, financial records,
• 11:49
  and coaching evaluations. She was quiet, loyal,
• 11:53
  and utterly without ego. Alongside Karen was
• 11:56
  Lauren Saltzman, Nancy's daughter. Lauren was
• 11:58
  bright, soft -spoken, and, as many noted, visibly
• 12:02
  eager to please both her mother and Keith. She
• 12:04
  led trainings, coached students, and enforced
• 12:06
  standards. One student said, quote, she had this
• 12:10
  calm authority. You didn't want to disappoint
• 12:12
  her, end quote. Nancy and Lauren's relationship
• 12:15
  became a kind of template for hierarchy. Nancy
• 12:18
  taught, Lauren obeyed. It was respect, but also
• 12:21
  example, proof that even within bloodlines, the
• 12:24
  system came first. At the top of the pyramid
• 12:27
  sat Keith. Rarely seen during intensives, he
• 12:30
  preferred the shadows, appearing in the evenings
• 12:32
  or during special events, offering parables,
• 12:35
  posing questions, and leaving just enough space
• 12:37
  for interpretation. His presence was meant to
• 12:40
  feel earned. Not everyone got access. If you
• 12:43
  did, It meant something. Meanwhile, Nexium centers
• 12:46
  were opening beyond Albany. Vancouver, Los Angeles,
• 12:49
  and Mexico City became major hubs. Each operated
• 12:52
  under the same guidelines. Approved scripts only.
• 12:56
  Keith's teachings are final. Coaches must log
• 12:58
  feedback after every session. Reports must be
• 13:01
  sent back to Albany. The curriculum wasn't about
• 13:04
  teaching. It was about surveillance. Students
• 13:07
  were evaluated on emotional openness, resistance
• 13:09
  to correction, and loyalty. Coaches took detailed
• 13:12
  notes, some of which were reviewed by Nancy or
• 13:14
  Keith personally. This wasn't accidental. Keith
• 13:18
  believed that every person had an ethical map,
• 13:20
  a psychological profile that, if tracked properly,
• 13:23
  could reveal where they were weak, deceptive,
• 13:26
  or disloyal. So Nexium created files. Each student
• 13:29
  had one. Every coaching report, every EEM session,
• 13:34
  every moment of growth or disintegration went
• 13:36
  into the system. Students didn't know the full
• 13:38
  extent of what was being recorded. They thought
• 13:40
  they were being helped. They were being documented.
• 13:44
  Those reports informed everything. Promotions,
• 13:46
  access, corrective action. They also made leaving
• 13:49
  the organization harder. The more you revealed
• 13:51
  about yourself, the more the system knew you,
• 13:54
  and used that knowledge to bind you tighter.
• 13:56
  Keith called it accountability, but it was control.
• 13:59
  Inside the Albany Center, a new kind of day -to
• 14:02
  -day emerged. Students were encouraged to move
• 14:04
  closer, live communally, work part -time jobs
• 14:07
  that allowed them to attend more trainings. Rent
• 14:09
  was shared. Meals were structured. Sleep was
• 14:12
  reduced. Some called it commitment. Others, later,
• 14:15
  would call it conditioning. Staff were discouraged
• 14:17
  from forming exclusive relationships, emotional
• 14:20
  or romantic. Keith said, and so friendships blurred.
• 14:29
  Affection became communal. Private thought became
• 14:31
  rare. Meanwhile, the language grew more complex.
• 14:35
  Keith introduced new modules on noble purposes,
• 14:38
  human entropy, and the Stripe Path, a metaphorical
• 14:41
  journey of growth marked by sash color. You advanced
• 14:44
  not just by paying for courses, but by proving
• 14:46
  that you were worthy of trust. Trust and NXIVM
• 14:50
  meant alignment. No deviation, no contradiction,
• 14:54
  no critique. And yet, students loved it. Not
• 14:57
  all, but many. They felt focused, energized,
• 15:01
  alive. They were being challenged intellectually
• 15:04
  and emotionally. They had goals. They had meaning.
• 15:08
  And that's what made it work. Nexium didn't control
• 15:11
  through fear, at least not at first. It controlled
• 15:14
  through hope. At a glance, Nexium was a personal
• 15:18
  development company. A place where people came
• 15:20
  to learn, grow, evolve. But inside its walls,
• 15:24
  something else was happening. Something designed
• 15:26
  not just to change people, but to track, rank,
• 15:29
  and control them. It started with the ethics
• 15:32
  department. a small but powerful branch of the
• 15:34
  organization created to monitor behavior and
• 15:36
  maintain order. Its purpose was two -fold, resolve
• 15:40
  interpersonal conflicts among members and identify
• 15:42
  ethical breaches. But what counted as an ethical
• 15:46
  breach? The list was vague and ever -changing.
• 15:49
  Missing a scheduled session without permission,
• 15:51
  failing to promote a workshop, expressing doubt
• 15:54
  about the teachings, spending too much time with
• 15:56
  someone deemed disintegrated, even skipping meals
• 15:59
  without notifying your coach. Infractions were
• 16:02
  tracked through ethics reports, which were written
• 16:04
  by coaches and sometimes even fellow students.
• 16:07
  The reports followed a standard template. Who
• 16:09
  committed the breach? What was the context? What
• 16:13
  negative impact did it have on the mission? What
• 16:15
  tech could be applied to correct it? Every report
• 16:18
  was logged. Patterns were monitored. Repeat offenders
• 16:21
  were pulled aside for a process known as an EM,
• 16:24
  Exploration of Meaning. The EM was a core NXIVM
• 16:28
  practice. first taught by Nancy Saltzman. It
• 16:31
  was designed to help students uncover the emotional
• 16:33
  meaning behind their behavior. In theory, it
• 16:36
  resembled therapeutic dialogue. In practice,
• 16:39
  it became a tool of submission. You'd sit across
• 16:42
  from your coach, eyes locked, voice calm, and
• 16:45
  hear something like, you say you're tired, but
• 16:48
  is that fatigue or fear? What story are you using
• 16:51
  to avoid accountability? What part of you enjoys
• 16:54
  being a victim? The longer the EM went, the more
• 16:58
  likely it was to crack something open. People
• 17:01
  cried, confessed, begged, believed. One former
• 17:05
  member said, quote, After a few EMs, you start
• 17:08
  to wonder if any of your thoughts are your own,
• 17:11
  end quote. And that was by design. At NXIVM's
• 17:14
  core was a belief that the self was fundamentally
• 17:16
  flawed, and that flaw could only be corrected
• 17:19
  through rigorous self -examination guided by
• 17:21
  the tech. So students submitted. They shared
• 17:24
  their fears, their traumas, their histories.
• 17:27
  and those disclosures were logged, first in reports,
• 17:30
  then in evaluations, and eventually, in Keith
• 17:33
  Ranieri's mental catalog. Keith didn't read every
• 17:36
  ethics report, but he read enough. Coaches were
• 17:39
  encouraged to relay summaries to him, especially
• 17:41
  when a student was struggling or resisting. The
• 17:44
  most personal information, sexual abuse, family
• 17:47
  estrangement, financial distress, became data
• 17:50
  points. This wasn't punishment, it was framed
• 17:52
  as protection. Nancy would say, quote, We want
• 17:55
  to help you become your most ethical self, but
• 17:58
  we can't help what we don't see." End quote.
• 18:01
  So students volunteered their inner lives, not
• 18:04
  just once, but often. Weekly check -ins, self
• 18:07
  -reflection essays, confession -style mission
• 18:09
  statements. Mission statements were a unique
• 18:12
  NXIVM tool. At first, they seemed motivational.
• 18:15
  Students wrote out their goals, values, and what
• 18:17
  they were committed to in the community. But
• 18:19
  as the system evolved, those statements became
• 18:22
  pledges of loyalty. They included lines like
• 18:24
  I commit to upholding the ethical standards of
• 18:27
  vanguard. I will confront my fears instead of
• 18:29
  hiding in comfort. I will not seek status through
• 18:32
  victimhood or attention. I understand that all
• 18:35
  feedback is love." Members were encouraged to
• 18:38
  read their statements aloud to others to post
• 18:40
  them near their beds to recite them before sessions.
• 18:43
  The line between identity and doctrine began
• 18:45
  to blur. This was reinforced through the feedback
• 18:48
  chain. Everyone in NXIVM had someone above them,
• 18:51
  a coach or mentor responsible for monitoring
• 18:53
  progress. They were expected to report your struggles,
• 18:56
  your doubts, your wins, and your failures. And
• 18:59
  in turn, you reported on others. The system was
• 19:02
  wrapped in positivity. Feedback wasn't criticism,
• 19:05
  it was compassion. Corrections weren't punishment,
• 19:08
  they were support. But the message was clear.
• 19:11
  There is always someone watching you. And those
• 19:14
  who showed exceptional growth were celebrated
• 19:16
  in front of the group. They were given praise,
• 19:18
  applause, and sometimes the opportunity to speak.
• 19:21
  Those who resisted were ignored, not overtly
• 19:24
  shamed, just removed, left off group invites,
• 19:28
  spoken about in past tense. It was a form of
• 19:31
  social conditioning, rewarded presence, punished
• 19:33
  absence. You either climbed or you disappeared.
• 19:37
  This created what psychologists call dependent
• 19:39
  compliance. Members weren't just following rules,
• 19:42
  they were shaping themselves into people who
• 19:44
  couldn't imagine breaking them. Even laughter
• 19:46
  changed. In training sessions, laughter that
• 19:49
  wasn't on mission was corrected. A coach might
• 19:52
  say, quote, that's social signaling. Is your
• 19:54
  laughter authentic, or is it manipulative?" Over
• 19:58
  time, spontaneity vanished. Members became fluent
• 20:02
  in the script, pausing before they spoke, scanning
• 20:05
  their words for disintegration, adjusting their
• 20:07
  tone to match what was expected. And in that
• 20:09
  careful silence, Keith's influence deepened.
• 20:12
  He didn't demand obedience, he made obedience
• 20:15
  feel like freedom. One former coach said, quote,
• 20:18
  the best students weren't afraid of punishment,
• 20:21
  they were afraid of disappointing the mission.
• 20:23
  End quote. That was the genius of the ethics
• 20:26
  system. It outsourced enforcement. You didn't
• 20:29
  need guards when the prisoners policed themselves.
• 20:32
  By 2005, NXIVM was no longer a simple self -help
• 20:35
  program. It was a layered society, carefully
• 20:38
  structured from the inside out, with Keith Ranieri
• 20:41
  at its silent center. While the public still
• 20:44
  saw a personal development company, insiders
• 20:46
  began speaking of it in different terms. Not
• 20:49
  a company, a mission, a pathway, a cause. and
• 20:53
  causes have core believers. Keith had long understood
• 20:56
  the importance of an inner circle, a group of
• 20:58
  trusted individuals who could protect, promote,
• 21:01
  and execute his vision. He referred to this group
• 21:03
  as his proctors. It was a term lifted from academic
• 21:06
  and spiritual traditions. Guardians, teachers,
• 21:10
  enforcers. The proctors weren't always the highest
• 21:12
  ranked by sash color, but they were always those
• 21:14
  who demonstrated unwavering allegiance. They
• 21:17
  lived near Keith in Clifton Park. They attended
• 21:19
  private sessions. They followed protocols without
• 21:22
  question, and most of them were women. Among
• 21:25
  them was Karen Unterreiner, still handling logistics
• 21:28
  and record keeping with near total loyalty. Lauren
• 21:31
  Saltzman had become a central figure in training
• 21:33
  and coaching. Others included Ivy Navarez, a
• 21:37
  creative director of sorts, and Nikki Klein,
• 21:40
  a new recruit from Canada who was rising quickly
• 21:42
  through the ranks. These women didn't just run
• 21:45
  programs, they were in Keith's world, managing
• 21:48
  his schedule, recruiting high value students.
• 21:50
  filtering who could speak with him. Their days
• 21:53
  revolved around the mission, their nights revolved
• 21:55
  around Keith. Most lived in properties near 21
• 21:58
  Oregon Trail, Keith's unofficial headquarters
• 22:00
  in a quiet Albany suburb. The home was nondescript,
• 22:04
  beige siding, a fenced -in yard, no obvious markings,
• 22:08
  but inside, it was a hub of strategy, study,
• 22:11
  and surveillance. Meetings were held at odd hours,
• 22:15
  often late at night. Keith preferred it that
• 22:18
  way. He claimed that waking hours were social
• 22:20
  programming, but night was when true thoughts
• 22:22
  rise. Inside the circle, Keith was both approachable
• 22:26
  and absolute. He asked questions with deep intensity,
• 22:29
  challenging members to articulate their values.
• 22:32
  He'd ask, quote, If you had to choose between
• 22:34
  love and ethics, which would you choose? Are
• 22:37
  your instincts more trustworthy than your principles?
• 22:40
  End quote. These weren't rhetorical games. They
• 22:42
  were filters. The way someone answered determined
• 22:45
  whether they were fit for deeper responsibilities.
• 22:47
  or destined to remain on the outer ring. One
• 22:51
  former insider said, quote, It felt like passing
• 22:53
  through layers of air pressure. The deeper in
• 22:56
  you went, the harder it was to breathe. But the
• 22:59
  more you believed, the pressure meant you were
• 23:01
  special, end quote. And for those who passed
• 23:03
  the tests, new roles emerged. Nexium began creating
• 23:07
  micro communities within a larger organization,
• 23:10
  each with its own language, leadership, and culture.
• 23:13
  There was Jeunesse, a women's group co -founded
• 23:15
  by Nancy Saltzman, and later curated by Keith,
• 23:19
  its stated goal was to help women explore the
• 23:21
  nature of femininity and relationships. There
• 23:23
  was the Society of Protectors, a parallel group
• 23:26
  for men, founded by NXIVM coaches like Jim Del
• 23:29
  Negro, and endorsed by Keith. It was marketed
• 23:31
  as a fraternity of honorable masculinity. In
• 23:34
  reality, it reinforced obedience to Keith's hierarchy.
• 23:38
  Each group had its own workshops, readings, protocols,
• 23:41
  and pledges. They created bonding, but also separation.
• 23:46
  If you were in Jeunesse, you didn't question
• 23:48
  SOP. If you were in SOP, you didn't criticize
• 23:52
  Jeunesse. And at the top of both? Keith Raniere.
• 23:56
  Always Keith. He presented himself as above gender,
• 24:00
  beyond emotion, the master of logic, the philosopher
• 24:04
  king who could help women embrace surrender and
• 24:06
  men embrace honor. He told his followers that
• 24:09
  society was broken because people pursued comfort
• 24:12
  over character, that ethics was the only true
• 24:14
  path. that self -denial was a higher form of
• 24:17
  self -love. And people believed him. Because
• 24:21
  belief wasn't just mental, it was relational.
• 24:25
  The deeper you went, the more of your community
• 24:27
  existed inside Nexium. The more hours you spent
• 24:30
  at intensives, the fewer friends you had outside
• 24:32
  them. The more goals you set with your coach,
• 24:35
  the less likely you were to imagine a life without
• 24:38
  the work. Some members moved across the country
• 24:41
  to be closer to Albany. They found apartments
• 24:43
  with other Nexium members. They worked jobs that
• 24:45
  were NXIVM affiliated. They gave up relationships.
• 24:49
  Some gave up families. All in the name of the
• 24:52
  mission. And for those who stayed in their cities
• 24:54
  like Los Angeles or Mexico City, Keith implemented
• 24:57
  a system of remote coaching and video intensives.
• 25:00
  Members would submit videos of their trainings
• 25:02
  for review. Coaches received weekly check -ins.
• 25:05
  The standards never slipped. Even across borders,
• 25:09
  Keith remained the axis of authority. He also
• 25:12
  began assigning value assessments. Personality
• 25:14
  tests combined with ethics evaluations. These
• 25:17
  were used to determine placement in the organization.
• 25:20
  Keith claimed they were scientific. In truth,
• 25:23
  they were tools of classification. If you were
• 25:26
  low entropy, you were trusted. If you were high
• 25:29
  reactivity, you were warned. This language was
• 25:32
  subtle, sterile, and effective. It turned human
• 25:35
  behavior into math. Math could be ranked. Ranked
• 25:38
  behavior could be managed. Managed people could
• 25:41
  be controlled. By 2006, Nexium had become a lattice
• 25:45
  of coded relationships. Each person logged, scored,
• 25:49
  observed. Some thought they were in a company.
• 25:52
  Others believed they were in a movement. A few
• 25:54
  had begun to realize they were in something much
• 25:57
  deeper. Something that could no longer be walked
• 25:59
  away from without a cost. Power doesn't just
• 26:03
  grow from persuasion. It requires protection.
• 26:06
  For Keith Ranieri, that protection came in the
• 26:09
  form of Claire Bronfman. More than any other
• 26:11
  member of Nexium, Claire gave Keith the one thing
• 26:14
  no ideology could provide on its own. Money.
• 26:18
  And not just wealth. Weaponized wealth. Claire
• 26:21
  wasn't always the architect of Keith's legal
• 26:23
  empire. At first, she was just another high -ranking
• 26:26
  student, sassily tied, no books full of Keith's
• 26:29
  teachings. She joined alongside her sister, Sarah
• 26:33
  Bronfman, and quickly rose through the ranks
• 26:35
  by demonstrating discipline, consistency, and
• 26:37
  complete trust. But where Sarah preferred spiritual
• 26:40
  exploration, Claire was tactical. She asked for
• 26:44
  tasks, audits, assignments. Keith saw that and
• 26:47
  gave her what she wanted. Authority. By 2004,
• 26:51
  Claire had taken on significant roles with the
• 26:53
  Nextium's finances, first overseeing training
• 26:56
  center expenses, then managing Keith's properties,
• 26:59
  then writing checks to cover shortfalls across
• 27:01
  the organization. One insider recalled, quote,
• 27:04
  If something was broken, the tech, real estate,
• 27:07
  people, Claire would fix it with cash, end quote.
• 27:11
  and there was always more cash. As heiresses
• 27:15
  to the Seagram's liquor fortune, Claire and Sarah
• 27:17
  had inherited hundreds of millions of dollars.
• 27:20
  Keith encouraged them to use their resources
• 27:22
  ethically, a phrase that sounded noble but became
• 27:26
  justification for nearly any request. Need to
• 27:29
  sue a former member for breach of confidentiality?
• 27:32
  Ethical defense. Need to purchase multiple properties
• 27:35
  in Clifton Park under shell names? Mission housing.
• 27:38
  Need to spend $65 ,000 on a private investigator
• 27:41
  to track a whistleblower? Preserving organizational
• 27:45
  integrity. Claire funded it all. And when critics
• 27:49
  began to emerge, former students, disillusioned
• 27:52
  coaches, estranged family members, NXIVM turned
• 27:55
  its wealth into a legal battering ram. Lawsuits
• 27:58
  were filed with startling speed, subpoenas were
• 28:01
  served, motions were buried in paperwork so dense
• 28:03
  it would take years to untangle. Most people
• 28:06
  couldn't afford to fight back. And that was the
• 28:08
  point. The message was clear. Speak out, and
• 28:12
  we will ruin you. Keith called this ethical litigation.
• 28:16
  In training, he told students, quote, if someone
• 28:19
  spreads lies, they're committing an ethical breach,
• 28:22
  and they must be held accountable, legally, if
• 28:25
  necessary. End quote. To outsiders, this was
• 28:28
  just another eccentric claim from a self -help
• 28:30
  group. To insiders, it was a warning. And yet,
• 28:35
  Claire believed she was doing good. She believed
• 28:37
  in Keith's mission. She would tell one reporter
• 28:40
  years later, quote, I've never felt more certain
• 28:42
  about anything in my life. This work is the most
• 28:45
  noble thing I've ever been a part of, end quote.
• 28:49
  That belief translated into an empire of protection.
• 28:53
  Claire purchased multiple homes in Albany and
• 28:55
  Clifton Park to house top level members and coaches.
• 28:58
  Some were modest townhomes. Others were large
• 29:00
  estates with surveillance systems, home offices,
• 29:03
  and space for late night meetings. She funded
• 29:05
  computer systems to track students' progress.
• 29:08
  She paid for private security consultants to
• 29:10
  vet new recruits. She even underwrote international
• 29:12
  travel for special training intensives in Vancouver,
• 29:15
  Mexico, and Europe. One particularly strange
• 29:18
  investment was a failed multi -million dollar
• 29:20
  venture to turn Keith's theories into a patentable
• 29:24
  software, a psychometric profiling system that
• 29:27
  claimed it could detect lying, manipulation,
• 29:30
  and hidden desires through subtle verbal cues.
• 29:32
  It didn't work. But the point wasn't success,
• 29:36
  it was loyalty. Claire's money allowed NXIVM
• 29:39
  to make mistakes without consequences. Other
• 29:42
  cults withered under financial stress. NXIVM
• 29:45
  expanded. It bought time, bought silence, bought
• 29:49
  illusions. Meanwhile, Keith lived with almost
• 29:51
  no assets in his name. His cars, homes, travel,
• 29:55
  and even his food were paid for by others. Mainly
• 29:58
  Claire. He called this non -attachment to material
• 30:01
  things. Others might call it strategic invisibility.
• 30:06
  And in that invisibility, Keith thrived. Because
• 30:10
  money didn't just shield him, it enabled new
• 30:12
  layers of control. In 2005, Nexium began encouraging
• 30:16
  high -level students to borrow money from one
• 30:18
  another, always under the guise of supporting
• 30:20
  the mission. But the loans were rarely repaid,
• 30:23
  and when repayment was requested, the response
• 30:26
  was emotional, not financial. Is your concern
• 30:29
  for money more important than your growth? Is
• 30:32
  this attachment to fairness holding you back
• 30:34
  from real freedom? Keith reframed financial dependency
• 30:38
  as spiritual training, and Claire reinforced
• 30:41
  that message. One student later said, quote,
• 30:44
  I stopped asking for my money back. I thought
• 30:47
  maybe it was my ego holding on, end quote. This
• 30:51
  was the world Claire's funding built, one where
• 30:53
  loss could be painted as liberation, where power
• 30:56
  could be framed as purity. And as long as she
• 30:59
  kept signing checks, the structure held. Even
• 31:02
  as questions began to arise outside the bubble,
• 31:04
  questions from journalists, from family members,
• 31:06
  from former friends, Claire kept the gates locked.
• 31:10
  She'd respond with cease and desist letters,
• 31:12
  or silence, or sometimes with invitations to
• 31:15
  take a course and see for yourself. That offer
• 31:18
  always came with a smile, but behind it, it was
• 31:21
  an army of lawyers, consultants, and trained
• 31:23
  loyalists, all paid for by one woman who believed
• 31:27
  she was saving the world. And Keith knew exactly
• 31:30
  how to keep her believing. He told Claire that
• 31:32
  she was part of a rare lineage, that few women
• 31:35
  in history had ever held such ethical responsibility,
• 31:38
  that her destiny was to protect the future of
• 31:41
  civilization. He didn't say it often. Just enough.
• 31:46
  By 2006, NXIVM had evolved into a self -contained
• 31:49
  world, a lattice of sashes, titles, curriculum,
• 31:53
  finances, and belief. The outside world still
• 31:56
  saw a leadership organization, a bit eccentric
• 31:58
  maybe, but polished, purposeful. and backed by
• 32:02
  powerful names. Inside, it was different. Inside,
• 32:06
  the air felt dense, charged, controlled. Students
• 32:10
  didn't think they were trapped. They thought
• 32:12
  they were chosen. The more you gave, emotionally,
• 32:15
  financially, physically, the more you were praised.
• 32:18
  Keith Ranieri often said, quote, the best students
• 32:20
  are the ones who surrender to the work, end quote.
• 32:24
  Surrender looked like loyalty, but it often meant
• 32:26
  loss. Members gave up time with family. gave
• 32:30
  up jobs, gave up friendships, not because they
• 32:32
  were told to, but because the system reframed
• 32:35
  those relationships as distractions, or worse,
• 32:38
  evidence of disintegration. One former student
• 32:41
  said, quote, Every time I made a decision outside
• 32:44
  Nexium, I was asked, was that your choice, or
• 32:48
  your programming? Eventually, I stopped making
• 32:51
  decisions at all. End quote. That's how control
• 32:54
  worked in Nexium, not through brute force, but
• 32:57
  through doubt. through the slow erosion of self
• 33:00
  -trust. And when someone tried to leave, the
• 33:03
  organization didn't beg them to stay. It studied
• 33:05
  them, watched, measured, calculated the risk.
• 33:10
  Some were allowed to drift quietly away, especially
• 33:12
  those who posed no threat. Others, particularly
• 33:15
  those who knew too much or asked too loudly,
• 33:18
  were met with resistance. Not always direct,
• 33:21
  often bureaucratic. A sudden drop in rank, a
• 33:24
  call from ethics, a legal warning. Leaving became
• 33:28
  a moral failure. Keith would ask, quote, why
• 33:31
  would someone abandon a mission this important?
• 33:34
  What kind of person walks away from saving the
• 33:36
  world? End quote. And no one wanted to be that
• 33:40
  person. The fear of leaving became more powerful
• 33:43
  than the discomfort of staying. That's when you
• 33:45
  know a group has transformed. When exit isn't
• 33:48
  forbidden, but unthinkable. By this point, the
• 33:52
  Bronfman money had made NXIVM legally untouchable.
• 33:54
  The hierarchy made it socially airtight. and
• 33:57
  the philosophy made it emotionally inescapable.
• 34:00
  It wasn't a company. It wasn't a school. It wasn't
• 34:03
  a movement. It was a system, one that no longer
• 34:06
  needed to recruit in the traditional sense. It
• 34:09
  drew people in by magnetism, status, and imitation.
• 34:13
  And at the center, always, Keith Ranieri. He
• 34:17
  rarely issued commands. He didn't need to. His
• 34:20
  coaches, his proctors, his inner circle, they
• 34:23
  enforced his vision with more discipline than
• 34:25
  any handbook could teach. Students began referring
• 34:28
  to themselves not just by sash color, but by
• 34:30
  function. I'm an orange, specializing in executive
• 34:34
  coaching, or I'm a green, building curriculum.
• 34:38
  Identity fused with role, role fused with purpose,
• 34:42
  purpose fused with obedience. The most committed
• 34:45
  moved to Albany. They filled apartments on quiet
• 34:48
  residential streets. They walked to trainings,
• 34:51
  ate meals together, slept in homes owned by the
• 34:53
  organization. Some went days without seeing anyone
• 34:56
  outside the mission, and they liked it. To them,
• 34:59
  it was an isolation. It was clarity. The outside
• 35:03
  world was chaos. Nexium had rules, structure,
• 35:07
  purpose. But within those rules, darker dynamics
• 35:10
  were beginning to take shape. Relationships became
• 35:12
  increasingly asymmetrical. Power flowed upward,
• 35:16
  never down. Sashes were less about growth, and
• 35:19
  more about control. And Keith, though rarely
• 35:21
  visible, became the object of ritual behavior.
• 35:25
  Some members meditated on his teachings daily,
• 35:28
  others consulted with higher ranks before making
• 35:30
  personal decisions. Even clothing choices, dating
• 35:33
  preferences, and financial goals were increasingly
• 35:35
  filtered through what Vanguard would advise.
• 35:38
  This wasn't accidental. Keith had slowly introduced
• 35:41
  new language into the modules, terms like ethical
• 35:44
  polyamory, sacred trust, and vow of presence.
• 35:49
  He wasn't just teaching a belief, He was preparing
• 35:51
  a culture, a sub -society that would soon be
• 35:54
  called on to do much more. But at the close of
• 35:57
  2006, few inside Nexium knew what was coming.
• 36:01
  They wore the sashes, they memorized their modules,
• 36:04
  they believed. And then, she walked in. An actress
• 36:08
  from a hit TV show. Bright, talented, seeking
• 36:12
  purpose, seeking truth. She wasn't recruited
• 36:15
  by force, she came by invitation, like everyone
• 36:19
  else. But her arrival would change everything.
• 36:24
  Next time on Of Sashes and Slaves, she was a
• 36:27
  star when she walked through the door. Within
• 36:29
  months, she was calling Keith her teacher. Within
• 36:32
  a year, she was helping him recruit women into
• 36:34
  a secret project that would define Nexium's darkest
• 36:37
  chapter. We begin the story of Allison Mack and
• 36:40
  the creation of a group known only to its members
• 36:43
  as DOS. I'm Rick Welch and this is Of Sashes
• 36:47
  and Slaves.