Latest / The Burros of Berea Podcast / Episode 328- Of Sashes and Slaves- Part 4

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Episode 328- Of Sashes and Slaves- Part 4 · The Burros of Berea Podcast

0:15
The room was quiet. No music. No candles. Just
0:19
tile floors, fluorescent lights, and a single
0:22
massage table in the center. This wasn't a ritual
0:26
space. It was a townhouse kitchen in Albany,
0:29
New York, rearranged for something darker. The
0:32
women were told to disrobe. Not all at once.
0:36
One at a time. Slowly. Alice and Max stood by
0:40
the table. Calm. Gentle. She smiled. She reassured.
0:46
She told them this was about growth, about choosing
0:50
to be strong, to confront fear, to transcend
0:53
the false self. The woman on the table was Sarah
0:57
Edmondson. She had been told she was joining
1:00
a secret women's group, a sisterhood, a place
1:04
of empowerment where she would work through her
1:06
fears and break through limiting beliefs. She
1:10
had already submitted collateral, nude photos,
1:13
confessions, damaging information about her marriage.
1:17
It was the price of admission. The sign of trust.
1:21
And now, she was told the next step was a small
1:24
symbol. Just a mark. A symbol of strength. But
1:28
the symbol wasn't explained. She was told to
1:33
lie on her side. She was told to be still. And
1:37
then, the cauterizing pin was turned on. It crackled.
1:42
It smoked. It burned. She did not scream out
1:46
of sheer will. Earlier, her friend had told her
1:50
that she needed to be brave to prove to the other
1:53
women how strong she really was. And the pen
1:58
kept burning. No mercy. It took nearly 30 minutes
2:03
to carve the shape into her skin, just above
2:06
the pelvic bone. Flesh sizzled. Nerve endings
2:10
lit up. One woman held Sarah's shoulders. Another
2:14
held her legs. And Allison stood near her head.
2:18
and whispered, Feel the pain. Don't run from
2:22
it. This is what it means to take control. When
2:26
it was done, the room was quiet again. Sarah
2:29
was helped to her feet. She was given a robe.
2:33
And then, slowly, they showed her the mark. At
2:36
first, she didn't understand it. It looked like
2:40
a symbol, intersecting lines and shapes. But
2:44
once they turned the image sideways, she saw
2:46
it. K. R. Keith Ranieri's initials. And hers
3:10
wasn't the only body bearing it. Dozens of women
3:14
had already been branded. Most believed they
3:16
had chosen it freely, but they hadn't been told
3:19
the truth. They weren't part of a sisterhood.
3:22
They were part of a hierarchy. A sexual pyramid.
3:26
A secret project Keith had designed with the
3:28
help of Allison Mack and Lauren Saltzman. Its
3:31
name revealed only after full initiation was
3:34
DOS, for Dominus Obsequius Sororium. which in
3:38
Latin meant master over the slave women. Keith
3:42
was the master. Allison was his slave. But now,
3:47
she was recruiting slaves of her own. Each woman
3:51
inside DOS was told to recruit others. Each was
3:54
expected to submit collateral monthly. Each was
3:57
assigned daily tasks by her master, sometimes
4:00
as simple as affirmations or meal tracking, sometimes
4:04
as invasive as sexual orders. If they hesitated,
4:09
They were reminded of all of the collateral they'd
4:11
already given. Do you want your family to read
4:14
what you wrote? Do you want your boss to see
4:17
those pictures? The threats were never screamed.
4:21
They were smiled, wrapped in language about accountability,
4:25
growth, and ethics. Allison called it a boot
4:29
camp for the soul. She told women they were choosing
4:32
their power, choosing to evolve, choosing to
4:35
serve. But that choice was conditioned. through
4:39
starvation, through shame, and through trauma
4:42
bonds. Members of DOS were put on extreme calorie
4:47
restriction, sometimes fewer than 500 calories
4:50
a day. They were told to look in the mirror and
4:53
photograph their bodies weekly. They were told
4:55
their fat was a sign of moral decay. They were
4:59
told to sleep less, speak less, want less, and
5:03
above all, they were told to obey, obey their
5:06
master, obey the mission, and especially, Obey
5:11
Keith. The women who resisted, who cried, who
5:15
tried to leave were shamed, threatened, or emotionally
5:18
broken down through EMs. What story are you telling
5:22
yourself? Why are you playing victim? Are you
5:26
afraid of your own power? Allison was no longer
5:30
just a recruiter, she was a trainer. She oversaw
5:34
branding ceremonies. She devised readiness drills.
5:37
She gave women written assignments on the nature
5:39
of submission. She monitored their weight, their
5:43
language, and even their sex lives. And all of
5:47
it was recorded. Notes, files, photos, texts.
5:53
A paper trail of pain. This wasn't growth. It
5:57
was ritualized obedience. This wasn't sisterhood.
6:00
It was a pyramid of predators and prey. And inside
6:04
NXIVM, not everyone knew it existed. Not yet.
6:09
DOS was never public. It wasn't listed on the
6:12
Nexium website. It didn't have printed materials
6:15
or classes in the training center. It existed
6:17
behind closed doors, inside homes, inside mines.
6:22
And yet, it was everywhere. By 2015, dozens of
6:26
women across the U .S., Canada, and Mexico were
6:29
involved. Some as recruits, some as masters,
6:33
and others as unwitting victims pulled into a
6:35
system they didn't fully understand. But not
6:38
everyone in Nexium was in on the secret. Even
6:40
inside the inner circle, tensions were building.
6:44
Nancy Salzman, the co -founder and longtime spiritual
6:47
architect of NXIVM, had always been Keith's most
6:49
trusted partner. She built the training system.
6:52
She trained the trainers. She helped design the
6:54
EM technique that allowed Keith to extract secrets
6:57
without violence. But by the time DOS was in
7:00
full swing, Nancy was no longer in full control.
7:04
She knew something had shifted. Keith was meeting
7:07
with Allison Mack and Lauren Salzman in private
7:09
more often. They whispered about the next phase,
7:13
about true commitment, and Nancy, who once held
7:16
court in every session, was being left out of
7:18
the room. She noticed. Lauren had become Keith's
7:23
confidant. She was exhausted, pale, but devoted.
7:27
She confessed to Nancy that she'd been asked
7:29
to do things she didn't understand, that she
7:31
had doubts, that she was afraid to question him.
7:35
Nancy, for all her clinical detachment, didn't
7:37
press. She said, He has his reasons. But in private,
7:43
she actually worried. This was no longer the
7:47
nexium she had co -created. The training center
7:49
was still functioning. Sashes were still handed
7:51
out. Modules were still taught, but something
7:54
unofficial had taken root. Something unspeakable.
7:58
And then there were the Bronfman sisters. Claire
8:01
Bronfman, still bankrolling the mission, remained
8:04
obsessively loyal to Keith. She had no sash.
8:07
No coaching title. but her money made her untouchable.
8:11
She paid the legal fees, bought the homes, hired
8:14
the private investigators who tracked ex -members,
8:17
journalists, and even federal agents. What did
8:20
she know about DOS? Well, that's harder to say.
8:24
Claire claims she had heard rumors but had never
8:26
seen the branding or understood its full scope.
8:29
Still, she funneled money to Allison Mack for
8:31
Women's Empowerment Projects, and when confronted
8:34
by Nancy about the group, Claire refused to intervene.
8:37
She said, quote, If it's his design, it's not
8:41
our place to question it, end quote. Sarah Brompton,
8:45
the more spiritual of the two sisters, had distanced
8:47
herself from Albany by this point, living abroad,
8:50
less involved in daily operations. She later
8:53
claimed to be shocked by the allegations, but
8:55
whether by distance or design, she left Claire
8:58
to protect Keith alone. And protect him, she
9:01
did. The pressure inside Nexium was building.
9:05
Some longtime members had disappeared. Others
9:07
were quietly withdrawing. One senior trainer
9:10
left without a word. Another stopped responding
9:12
to texts. And questions began to circulate. Why
9:16
was Allison losing so much weight? Why was Lauren
9:19
so emotionally volatile? Why had several promising
9:22
young women suddenly gone off -grid? Behind closed
9:26
doors, whispers grew louder. But anyone who asked
9:29
too much was labeled disintegrated. Resistance
9:32
was pathologized. They would say, you're in fear
9:35
or You're attached to comfort, or you're projecting
9:39
your trauma. The system could explain away anything.
9:44
And still, cracks were forming. India Oxenberg,
9:48
one of Allison's newer recruits, and the daughter
9:51
of actress Catherine Oxenberg, had begun pulling
9:53
away emotionally. She still followed orders,
9:56
still checked in, but something was fading in
9:59
her eyes. And Sarah Edmondson, who had once praised
10:02
NXIVM publicly, had now been branded. And the
10:05
pain had lingered, not just on her skin, but
10:09
in her soul. She tried to rationalize it. She
10:13
tried to be a good student. But inside, the questions
10:16
were growing. Why Keith's initials? Why starvation?
10:21
Why fear? And finally, why hadn't anyone stopped
10:25
this? It wasn't one thing that broke Sarah Edmondson.
10:29
It was a thousand small things, each rationalized
10:32
at first, then resisted, then finally... no longer
10:36
ignorable. The branding had left a scar, but
10:39
more than that, it left a rupture, a wound between
10:43
what she had believed and what she now knew.
10:47
She told herself the pain was part of growth,
10:49
that the secrecy was sacred, that her doubts
10:52
were just resistance to change, but the wound
10:55
wouldn't heal. She saw it every morning in the
10:58
mirror, a raised, still -tender KR just above
11:02
her pelvis. She had not consented to Keith Ranieri's
11:06
initials being carved into her body. She had
11:08
not been told, and yet she had obeyed. She had
11:12
disrobed, she had submitted, and she had smiled
11:15
for Allison Mack. And now she was left with shame,
11:19
confusion, and anger. And she wasn't alone. Sarah
11:23
began talking, quietly at first. A call to a
11:26
former coach, a text to Mark Vicente, the filmmaker
11:30
and longtime NXIVM advocate. a whispered conversation
11:33
over coffee. Have you heard about DOS? Do you
11:36
know what they're doing? Do you know who's involved?
11:41
Sarah felt confident that Mark would understand,
11:44
as his wife, Bonnie P .S., had already left the
11:47
group earlier. But Mark was on his way out. This
11:52
time, Mark listened. At first, he didn't believe
11:55
it. Allison? Branding? Slaves? But then he saw
12:02
the scar. and everything inside of him changed.
12:06
His wife, Bonnie PS, had left the group. Because
12:09
Bonnie had been the first to feel the unease,
12:12
and then had distanced herself from her husband,
12:14
it made this very difficult for Mark inside this
12:17
group, especially with the language that was
12:20
tightening around them like a net. But now, with
12:23
Sarah's testimony, it was undeniable, something
12:26
evil had taken root in NXIVM. Sarah began to
12:30
dig, quietly. She started saving emails, screenshots,
12:35
text threads. She reached out to other women
12:38
whom she knew had joined the circle. Most were
12:42
hesitant. Some even refused to speak. Others
12:45
denied everything. But a few of them cracked.
12:49
They admitted they were afraid. They were afraid
12:51
of the collateral, afraid of Keith, afraid of
12:54
Allison, afraid of themselves. And so Sarah did
12:57
the unthinkable. She broke her vow. She reached
13:01
out to a man named Frank Parlato, a former Nexium
13:04
publicist turned outspoken critic. He had started
13:07
publishing a blog called The Frank Report. At
13:10
first, it was fringe, angry, dismissed, but it
13:14
had begun collecting names, documents, and patterns.
13:18
Parlato had been sounding alarms for years. He
13:21
knew about the sashes, the secrets, the lawsuits,
13:24
but DOS was something else entirely. Something
13:28
depraved. When Sarah sent him the details, the
13:31
collateral system, the starvation, the branding,
13:35
parlato, posted it all. Names were redacted,
13:38
but the story was clear. A Hollywood actress
13:41
was branding women with occult leaders' initials.
13:45
The article exploded, quietly at first. Then
13:48
it went viral. Readers didn't want to believe
13:51
it, but behind the scenes, women and docs began
13:54
to panic. Some deleted chats, some destroyed
13:57
records. A few went deeper into denial. Allison
14:01
doubled down. She told her in her circle, quote,
14:05
This is a smear campaign. Sarah is afraid of
14:08
her power. She's trying to sabotage the mission.
14:12
End quote. She contacted women she suspected
14:14
of wavering. Are you still committed? Do you
14:17
still trust me? Do you want to be great or do
14:20
you want to be ordinary? Allison was no longer
14:23
speaking as a coach. She was speaking as a commander.
14:26
and some obeyed. Others, like India Ochsenberg,
14:30
began to fall silent. Their eyes dimmed, their
14:33
voices softened, and inside the world was shifting.
14:38
Meanwhile, Frank Parlato's blog began feeding
14:40
documents to a new source, federal investigators.
14:44
The FBI's Eastern District of New York had opened
14:47
a case, quietly. They read the articles, cross
14:51
-checked names. They started digging into Keith
14:53
Ranieri's past. His financial fraud, his sexual
14:56
relationships with minors, his immigration violations.
15:00
They followed the money. They traced the shell
15:03
companies. They interviewed former members under
15:05
immunity agreements. And still, inside NXIVM
15:09
the outer world was dismissed. One woman said,
15:12
quote, it's just the patriarchy. They're afraid
15:15
of powerful women, end quote. But not everyone
15:18
could hold the line. Mark Vicente had resigned
15:22
and he had done it publicly. He had wrote a letter
15:24
explaining his departure, condemning Keith and
15:27
calling Doss what it truly was, a criminal enterprise
15:30
of abuse masquerading as self -help. This had
15:34
devastated Allison, and she felt betrayed. She
15:37
said to him in a private message, You knew me.
15:40
You knew my heart. How could you think that I
15:43
would hurt people? And Mark never replied. Then
15:47
the New York Times called. They had read the
15:51
Frank Report. They had spoken to Sarah Edmondson.
15:54
They had seen the scar, and now they were ready
15:57
to publish. The headline would change everything.
16:00
Inside, a secretive group where women are branded
16:03
by Barry Meyer, October 2017. And with that story,
16:09
NXIVM's walls began to buckle, from inside and
16:13
out. The article published by the New York Times
16:16
on October 17, 2017, is something that NXIVM
16:21
would never recover from. It was long, thorough,
16:25
and damning. The article detailed Sarah Edmondson's
16:28
experience in DOS, how she had been recruited
16:30
under the pretense of women's empowerment, coerced
16:33
into providing nude photos as collateral, and
16:35
branded above her pubic bone with Keith Ranieri's
16:38
initials. It named Alice and Mac directly, described
16:42
her role in overseeing branding ceremonies, described
16:45
her whispered encouragement as Sarah's skin was
16:47
burning, and it included a photo of Sarah's scar.
16:51
For those outside the group, It was a scandal.
16:54
For those still inside, it was a reckoning. Keith
16:57
tried to contain the damage. He held emergency
17:00
meetings with high ranking members. He denied
17:02
involvement. He claimed DOS was a feminist experiment.
17:06
Completely autonomous. Not his creation. But
17:09
the lie didn't land. Not this time. Too many
17:13
women had text messages. Too many had photos.
17:16
Too many had suffered in silence. And now, the
17:19
silence was breaking. Allison's response was
17:22
fury, then denial, then deeper submission. She
17:26
told remaining DOS members to stay calm. She
17:29
told them Sarah had betrayed their trust. She
17:31
insisted that Keith was being targeted because
17:33
he was a man teaching women how to be strong.
17:36
She said, quote, This is what happens when the
17:39
patriarchy feels threatened, end quote. But behind
17:43
closed doors, she was unraveling. Messages from
17:46
former members flooded her inbox. The press showed
17:49
up outside her home. Her social media accounts
17:52
were bombarded with accusations, disbelief, and
17:55
rage. Still, she clung to the mission. Still,
17:59
she clung to Keith. She tweeted, I'm so incredibly
18:03
grateful to be part of an amazing women's movement.
18:05
I've never been so inspired. That tweet would
18:08
not age well. Inside the inner circle, panic
18:12
was mounting. Lauren Saltzman was growing silent.
18:15
Nancy Saltzman began distancing herself, citing
18:18
health issues. And Nikki Klein remained loyal.
18:21
but her own visa situation made her vulnerable.
18:24
The only one who didn't flinch was Claire Bronkman.
18:27
She mobilized immediately. She deployed Nexium's
18:30
attorneys, sent cease and desist letters, threatened
18:33
lawsuits. She authorized the hiring of new private
18:35
investigators to dig up dirt on Sarah Edmondson,
18:38
Mark Vicente, and Frank Parlato. But it was too
18:42
late. The dam had broken. Inside DOS, things
18:46
were falling apart. Recruits stopped answering
18:48
texts. Some vanished. Others began seeking lawyers.
18:52
A few, quietly, shamefully, approached the FBI.
18:56
They brought receipts, photos, emails, branding
18:59
diagrams, testimony. And while Allison still
19:02
preached loyalty, the house she helped build
19:05
was burning from the inside. Even longtime believers
19:08
began doubting her. Why did she never speak out
19:11
against the branding? Why did she keep pushing
19:14
for more collateral? Why did she seem more focused
19:16
on control than healing? The truth is, by then,
19:21
Allison had become indistinguishable from the
19:24
doctrine. There was no separation between who
19:26
she had once been and who Keith had shaped her
19:29
to be. She was his mouthpiece, his enforcer,
19:33
and in the eyes of the law, soon to be, his accomplice.
19:37
In the final months of 2017, Claire Brompman
19:40
was running the defense machine, Nancy Saltzman
19:43
had withdrawn, Lauren was cracking, and Keith
19:46
was hiding. He issued fewer messages, appeared
19:50
less frequently, but still his followers sent
19:53
him tributes. Still, Allison called him the most
19:57
ethical man I've ever known. Even as the walls
20:00
closed in, she didn't run. She obeyed. By early
20:05
2018, Doss was evaporating. The lines of loyalty
20:10
were splintering. Women who once obeyed without
20:12
hesitation now ask dangerous questions, and at
20:15
the top, Alice and Mac was losing control of
20:18
her chain. Some of her slaves had already defected,
20:22
others had gone dark. A few were cooperating
20:24
with law enforcement, and every day new victims
20:27
were coming forward, outside of the cult's reach,
20:30
away from its scripts, finally speaking. Inside
20:34
the inner sanctum, Keith Ranieri was unraveling
20:36
too, but not publicly. He still projected serenity,
20:40
wisdom, sovereignty. But behind closed doors,
20:44
he was paranoid. He asked whether phones had
20:47
been tapped, whether his mail was being read,
20:50
whether Allison was truly loyal. He demanded
20:53
daily updates. He shuffled SIM cards. He made
20:56
Lauren Saltzman vet every communication. And
20:59
then, he disappeared. In February, Keith left
21:03
the United States. Officially, he was attending
21:06
a retreat in Mexico. Unofficially, he was on
21:09
the run. He flew into Puerto Vallarta, a coastal
21:12
city far from the reach of American law. with
21:15
them when a skeleton crew, Nikki Klein, Lauren,
21:18
and a handful of others who still believed or
21:20
pretended to. Allison remained in New York at
21:24
first, but her messages to Keith continued, encrypted,
21:27
adoring, and unwavering. They discussed weathering
21:31
the storm. They discussed preserving the mission.
21:34
They even discussed starting over. In Clifton
21:38
Park, the once bustling homes went dark. Coaching
21:41
sessions stopped. Doors were shuttered. Trainers
21:44
went silent. The rainbow sash system collapsed
21:47
like a broken spine. Nancy Salzman, once revered
21:51
as the Prefect, claimed ignorance. She told those
21:53
on the inside that she never sanctioned Doss,
21:56
that Keith kept her in the dark, that she didn't
21:58
know her daughter, Lauren, had even been branded.
22:02
It may have been true, or it may not have been.
22:05
What's certain is this. Nancy saw something,
22:09
but she looked away. Lauren, now fully aware
22:12
of what she had enabled, was breaking down. Her
22:15
once stoic demeanor gave way to panic attacks,
22:19
tears, long absences. She was still loyal to
22:22
Keith, but the guilt was bleeding through. Her
22:26
journals, which were later seized, told the story.
22:29
I hate what I've done. He said it would make
22:31
me strong, and I thought this was love. By contrast,
22:37
Allison remained rigid. She sent affirmations
22:39
to her remaining slaves. She recorded voice memos
22:42
praising Keith. She coached them through fear
22:45
by reciting the same lines she had once heard
22:47
herself. What story are you telling yourself?
22:51
Are you in your feelings or in your truth? Do
22:53
you trust the process? But even she had started
22:57
to sound unsure. Keith stopped replying as often.
23:00
The center was empty, the brand was no longer
23:02
a symbol. Now it was evidence. And the world
23:06
had turned from whisper to thunder. Frank Parlato
23:09
published new documents every week. Sarah Edmondson
23:12
gave her first national television interview.
23:15
And India Oxenberg's mother, Catherine, was on
23:18
a full -blown media crusade. She had gone to
23:21
the FBI. She had appeared on Megyn Kelly Today.
23:25
She had written a book. She was naming names,
23:28
showing scars, begging for her daughter to be
23:31
freed. And behind the scenes, India, still inside
23:35
DOS, was just starting to hear her. The once
23:39
invisible cult of control was dissolving, not
23:42
with a scream but with quiet exits, breaking
23:45
eyes, deleted texts. They were still watching,
23:49
still waiting, but they weren't believing anymore.
23:53
The system wasn't dead yet, but it was a haunted
23:57
shell of itself. Alice and Mac was still sending
24:00
messages to her remaining DOS slaves, and so
24:03
she spoke to them of courage, of the mission,
24:06
and of purification. But now her words rang hollow.
24:11
Even the most loyal among them had stopped responding,
24:14
or were responding out of fear, not devotion.
24:18
The branding ceremonies had ceased, the new collateral
24:21
requests had slowed, but the psychological control
24:24
mechanisms, those were still intact. Women still
24:27
worried about what might be released, still held
24:30
onto vows, still asked themselves whether they
24:32
were the ones who had failed. Some believed leaving
24:36
meant betraying something sacred. Others believed
24:38
it meant saving their lives. In a townhouse in
24:42
upstate New York, India Oxenberg sat with the
24:45
weight of both possibilities. Her mother, Katherine,
24:48
who had gone public, loudly, tearfully, and relentlessly,
24:52
and had appeared on the Megyn Kelly Today show,
24:54
published her memoir. She spoke to anyone who
24:57
would listen. She named Keith Ranieri. She named
25:00
Allison. And yes, she even named her daughter.
25:05
Not to shame her, but to reach her. India was
25:09
still in Doss at the time. She was still calling
25:12
Allison her master. She was even tracking her
25:16
weight, still waking up every morning to a schedule
25:19
designed to suppress autonomy and desire. But
25:22
Catherine's voice had gotten through. India was
25:25
quiet and watchful, no longer recruiting, no
25:29
longer delivering. She hadn't defected yet, but
25:32
she had begun to ask, what am I still doing here?
25:37
Elsewhere, Lauren Sulzman was collapsing, emotionally,
25:41
psychologically, but Keith still relied heavily
25:44
on her. Still whispered to her that she was chosen,
25:48
but her body was giving out. She wasn't sleeping.
25:51
She journaled constantly. She told friends she
25:54
didn't know who she was anymore. She knew what
25:57
she had done. Branding women, disciplining them,
26:01
helping Keith recruit. But she had believed it
26:04
was right. Now. She was cracking under the weight
26:07
of that belief. One journal entry read, I feel
26:11
sick. I feel like a ghost. I still love him and
26:15
I don't know why. End quote. And her mother Nancy
26:19
Salzman was watching it all unravel. She kept
26:22
to herself, citing migraines and health issues.
26:25
Publicly, she had maintained distance from it
26:28
all. Privately, she knew something had gone horribly
26:31
wrong. She had helped build Nexium's psychological
26:33
core. She had trained the language into people's
26:36
bones. She had taught them to disassociate, to
26:39
reframe, to detach. Now those tools have been
26:42
used to destroy. Was she complicit or just blind?
26:47
Even Nancy wasn't sure anymore. She stopped holding
26:51
sessions. She withdrew from the inner circle.
26:53
She knew what was coming, even if the arrest
26:56
hadn't yet arrived. Meanwhile, Claire Bronfen
26:59
was still throwing money at the problem, still
27:01
paying Keith's legal consultants. Still wiring
27:04
funds to shell accounts. Still believing, somehow,
27:07
that this storm could be managed. She hired a
27:10
new PR firm. She tried to spin the narrative.
27:13
This is a smear job. This is a feminist experiment
27:16
gone misunderstood. And this is a witch hunt.
27:20
But no one was listening anymore. The New York
27:23
Times published follow -ups. 2020 aired a full
27:26
segment. CBC, A &E, CNN. All of the headlines
27:31
were multiplying. And then there were the voices.
27:34
Sarah Edmondson, now the public face of NXIVM's
27:37
survivors. Mark Vicente, once Keith's documentarian,
27:40
now his loudest critic. And Frank Parlato, publishing
27:44
more leaks than the group could plug. Their faces
27:47
were everywhere, their words were piercing, and
27:51
their stories, once unthinkable, were now being
27:54
believed. Inside NXIVM, the faithful were outnumbered
27:57
by ghosts. Most had left, and some had gone quiet.
28:01
A few still clung to the scripts, waiting for
28:03
Vanguard to lead them again, but Keith was still
28:07
missing. He was still in Mexico, still receiving
28:10
reports, still holding volleyball games with
28:13
his loyal few. He told Lauren and Allison to
28:16
remain steady, he told Claire to keep the money
28:18
flowing, and he promised they would rebuild.
28:22
But his voice was growing thin, detached, drifting.
28:27
One former member said, quote, It was like watching
28:29
a king rule from exile, pretending the empire
28:33
hadn't fallen yet." End quote. And Allison? She
28:37
kept writing, kept recording messages of hope,
28:40
kept asking her few remaining followers, are
28:43
you ready to serve, no matter the cost? From
28:47
the gated villa in Porto Vallarta Keith Ranieri
28:50
was still giving orders. The villa wasn't much,
28:53
three bedrooms, a modest pool, stucco walls,
28:56
but it was remote enough, quiet enough. surrounded
28:59
by loyal enough company to create the illusion
29:01
that he was still in control. He spent his days
29:04
pacing, his nights writing. Occasionally he played
29:07
volleyball on the beach with Nikki Klein, Lauren
29:09
Saltzman, and the handful of women who had followed
29:11
him across the border. They all still called
29:14
him vanguard. Still, even now. He told them he
29:19
was fine, that the legal threats were overblown,
29:22
that the women coming forward were bitter, disintegrated,
29:25
lost. He said the world wasn't ready for what
29:28
they were building. But his actions told another
29:30
story. He stopped answering certain calls. He
29:33
stopped using traceable devices. He moved locations
29:36
more than once, paranoid about drones and surveillance.
29:40
He was watching his world slip through his fingers.
29:43
And back in New York, Alice and Mac was still
29:45
holding the line. She stayed in Clifton Park.
29:48
She kept writing to the women who remained under
29:50
her command. She organized weekly check -ins,
29:53
spiritual exercises, messages of perseverance.
29:56
She said, This is when the real work begins.
29:59
Let them call us names. We know who we are. Stay
30:03
the course." But there was no course left. Just
30:06
loyalty. As a cage. One former DOS member who
30:10
had served under Allison later said, quote, It
30:13
felt like I was standing in the ashes of a church
30:15
that had burned down. And she was still giving
30:18
sermons. End quote. Nancy Saltzman had nearly
30:21
vanished now. Friends said she was rarely seen.
30:25
She spoke only to her daughters. She refused
30:27
to give interviews. She told former colleagues
30:29
that her work was finished. But her name was
30:32
now in the press, and the work she had helped
30:35
architect was being called what it truly was.
30:38
A cult. Claire Brompman was furious. The heiress
30:42
who had once quietly written checks from the
30:44
shadows now found herself center stage in a national
30:47
scandal. She denied the existence of DOS. She
30:50
denied knowing about the branding. She claimed
30:52
the women were willing participants in a radical
30:55
growth experiment. She hired new attorneys. She
30:58
threatened to sue Sarah Edmondson, Mark Vicente,
31:00
and even Catherine Oxenberg. She funded international
31:03
consultants to fix Nexium's image. Strangely
31:06
enough, she had done that earlier for Keith when
31:09
she worked out the opportunity for him to meet
31:13
the Dalai Lama. Now, all of that was backfiring
31:17
on them. The image was shattered. More women
31:20
had come forward, not just from the U .S., but
31:23
from Canada, from Mexico, and from Europe. They
31:26
told stories of starvation, of blackmail, of
31:29
being told when to sleep, who to text, how to
31:32
eat, how to dress, how to serve Keith sexually
31:35
without hesitation or complaint. One woman described
31:38
being kept on fewer than 400 calories a day for
31:41
three months. Another admitted she had given
31:43
over her bank account, her passwords, her legal
31:46
identity. These weren't testimonies of empowerment.
31:50
They were evidence of a system built to consume
31:52
women's autonomy in the name of a spiritual transformation.
31:55
And Allison's name was on every thread. Emails,
31:59
task lists, voice memos. You are to text me at
32:03
6 .30am and ask permission to eat. You must provide
32:06
new collateral this week or you are not showing
32:08
honor. I want you to write an essay on the joy
32:10
of surrender. Even within the group's final defenders,
32:14
there were fractures. Nikki Klein, though still
32:17
loyal to Keith, began distancing herself from
32:19
Allison. She insisted Doss was voluntary, that
32:22
the branding was symbolic, but when pressed,
32:25
She offered only vague platitudes about freedom
32:27
through structure. And Lauren Saltzman was fading
32:30
fast. She stopped attending meetings, stopped
32:33
eating. She told her sister she felt like a ghost.
32:35
She confessed that Keith had once told her, Your
32:38
purpose is to serve me until you have nothing
32:40
left. She thought he meant spiritually. Now she
32:44
wasn't so sure. And India Oxenberg, after months
32:48
of silence, cut contact. She left Clifton Park.
32:52
She stopped responding to Allison. She stopped
32:55
obeying the orders. When asked later what finally
32:58
made her walk away, she said, I realized the
33:01
person I trusted was no longer real. Allison
33:03
had become the message. There was no Allison
33:06
left. Outside Nexium, the public had made up
33:09
its mind. It was a cult. Keith was a predator.
33:13
Allison was his second -in -command. And yet,
33:16
the group still believed they could survive it.
33:18
One email from Allison to her few remaining loyalists
33:20
read, This is a time of fire. Let the fire burn
33:24
away the uncommitted. We will rise from this.
33:27
We are chosen. She believed it. Or needed to.
33:32
Because by then, she had nothing else left to
33:35
believe in. Now it had grown eerily quiet in
33:39
Puerto Vallarta. Not the kind of quiet that comforts,
33:42
but the kind that presses on the walls. The kind
33:45
that knows what's coming. Keith Ranieri hadn't
33:49
left the villa in days. His volleyball court
33:52
sat empty. his notebooks untouched. His voice,
33:56
once a current of endless philosophy, was now
33:58
just a murmur, cautious and distant. He was still
34:03
surrounded by loyal women, Lauren and Nikki and
34:05
a few others. And they brought him food, and
34:08
they checked on him. They told him the world
34:11
didn't understand, but their smiles were thinner
34:13
now, their eyes heavier. They were waiting, too.
34:18
Back in Clifton Park, Alice and Mac stayed inside.
34:21
She no longer coached, no longer recruited, no
34:25
longer telling anyone anything. She was writing.
34:29
Pages and pages. Letters. Voice notes. Affirmations
34:34
for an audience that no longer existed. In one
34:38
audio message, later recovered, she said quote,
34:51
That's what Keith taught us. That's what I believe."
34:56
It was a faith forged in pain and now held together
34:59
by nothing at all. In the background her life
35:02
was vanishing, her acting career gone, her followers
35:06
scattered, her name now a warning. DOS was over,
35:11
Nexium was fractured, and the only thing left
35:13
was the narrative she had given her soul to.
35:16
Lauren was barely functioning, she stopped speaking
35:19
to friends, She told her mother she didn't want
35:22
to wake up. She walked into the bathroom mirror
35:24
each morning and whispered, You did this. Nancy
35:28
said little. Claire said too much. And the rest
35:32
said nothing at all. The prosecutors were ready.
35:36
The investigators were watching. And the press
35:39
was circling. And inside the villa, Keith gathered
35:42
the women and told them a story. Quote, The world
35:45
fears what it doesn't understand. The Greeks
35:48
killed Socrates. The Romans crucified Christ,
35:52
and now they're coming for me." Not one of them
35:56
responded. Back in Albany, a former DOS member
35:59
woke to a notification, a message from another
36:02
survivor. All it said was, it's happening soon.
36:07
No one knew the exact hour. No one knew what
36:10
would come first. But everyone felt it. The breath
36:13
before the plunge. There were no more meetings,
36:17
no more ceremonies, no more brands. Just a quiet,
36:20
collective tremble through the bones of a cult
36:22
that had consumed itself. And in that silence,
36:25
where there had been sermons, slogans, sashes,
36:28
and scripts, the sound of something was breaking.
36:32
A system. A trust. A woman. A man. And a movement.
36:46
Next time, the knock on the door. The agents.
36:51
The warrants. The handcuffs. The fall. You've
36:55
heard the sermon. Now, we'll follow the sting.
36:59
I'm Rick Welch, and this is Up Sashes and Slaves.