NXIVM

NXIVM (/ˈnɛksiəm/ NEKS-ee-əm) is a self-proclaimed American multi-level marketing company[2] based in Clifton Park, New York, a suburb of Albany, which has offered personal and professional development seminars through its "Executive Success Programs" of large-group awareness training.[3] The company has been widely described as a cult,[4] and was shown in court to have been a recruiting platform for a secret society called "DOS" in which women were branded and forced into sexual slavery.

In early 2018, NXIVM's founder, Keith Raniere, and his associate, actress Allison Mack, were arrested and indicted on federal charges related to DOS, including sex trafficking.[5] Others associated with NXIVM were also charged with federal crimes. As of April 2019, five people associated with NXIVM—Mack, NXIVM co-founder Nancy Salzman, Lauren Salzman, Seagram heiress Clare Bronfman, and bookkeeper Kathy Russell—had pleaded guilty to various charges.[6][7] Raniere was convicted in federal court of sex trafficking and racketeering on June 19, 2019.[8][9] On September 30, 2020, Clare Bronfman became the first defendant sentenced in the case, when she was ordered to serve six years and nine months in federal prison.[10]

After Raniere's conviction, he continued to direct loyalists from behind bars, encouraging continued recruitment.[11][12] At his direction, members of the group have regularly danced outside Raniere's jail and staged coordinated protests of individual prosecutors. In September 2020, it was estimated about 50 to 60 people remained "very loyal" to Raniere, who was sentenced to 120 years in prison in October 2020.[13][14] [[Category:A]]