Prosecutors revealed a decades-long pattern of grooming, sexual abuse of girls and women, physical and psychological punishments against dissenters, and hacking and vexatious litigation against enemies.

[37] In 1998, Raniere and Nancy Salzman founded NXIVM, a personal development company offering "Executive Success Programs" (ESP) and a range of techniques for self-improvement.

[40] In one account cited by former NXIVM member Sarah Edmondson, Raniere chose the name based on the ancient Roman system of debt bondage known as nexum.

[43][44][13] The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Raniere adopted the title from the 1981 video game Vanguard, "in which the destruction of one's enemies increased one's own power".

Reported participants included businesswoman Sheila Johnson, former Surgeon General Antonia Novello, Enron executive Stephen Cooper, Ana Cristina Fox (daughter of former Mexican president Vicente Fox),[46] entrepreneur Richard Branson (who denied having taken the classes),[47][48] businessman Edgar Bronfman Sr.,[46] and actresses Linda Evans, Grace Park, and Nicki Clyne.

[13][6] NXIVM claimed its training was a trade secret, subject to non-disclosure agreements, but reportedly used a technique the organization called "rational inquiry" to facilitate personal and professional development.

[46] In 2006, Forbes published an article about the Bronfman sisters, stating that they had taken out a line of credit to loan NXIVM $2 million, repayable through personal training sessions and phone consultations with Salzman.

Senator Chuck Schumer, and Albany Times Union publisher George Randolph Hearst III in a box in the basement of Nancy Salzman's home.

[79] Starting with reports by Frank Parlato in June 2017[80] and bolstered by an October 2017 article in The New York Times,[68] details began to emerge about "DOS", a secret society of women that started in 2015 within NXIVM in which female members were allegedly called slaves, branded with the initials of Raniere and Mack, subjected to corporal punishment from their "masters", and required to provide nude photos or other potentially damaging information about themselves as "collateral".

Edmondson alleged that DOS participants were blindfolded naked, held down by Mack and three other women, and branded on the lower abdomen with a cauterizing pen by NXIVM-affiliated doctor Danielle Roberts.

[86] Seven socially prominent Mexican citizens, including Emiliano Salinas (son of former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari) and Ana Cristina Fox (daughter of former president Vicente Fox), Rosa Laura Junco, Loreta Garza Dávila (a business leader from Nuevo Leon), Daniela Padilla, and Mónica Durán, have been accused of involvement.

[108][109][110] She agreed, as nominal owner, not to contest forfeiture of NXIVM-related assets including real estate as well as corporations that owned Keith Raniere and NXIVM's trademark and patent portfolio.

[27] From a supplemental sentencing statement & order, filed July 20, 2021, by Judge Garaufis: The assets of NXIVM were held by Nancy Salzman, including several corporate entities and titles to intellectual property.

[140] In January 2020, Sarah Edmondson became lead plaintiff in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act civil suit filed in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York accusing Raniere and 14 associates (including Nancy Salzman, Clare Bronfman, Sara Bronfman, Lauren Salzman, Allison Mack, Kathy Russell, Karen Unterreiner, Brandon Porter, Danielle Roberts, and Nicki Clyne) of conducting illegal psychological experiments on members of the company and abusing them physically, emotionally and financially.

[141][142] In summer 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic preventing in-person visitation to the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, Raniere's remaining followers, including actress Nicki Clyne, began assembling to dance near the jail.

A July 16, 2020, intelligence analysis memorandum from the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Counter Terrorism Unit states that Raniere instructed his follower Suneel Chakravorty to get more women to dance "erotically" outside of the MDC.

A frustrated Raniere instructed his followers to help get him moved back by ingratiating themselves to prison staff, including offering coffee and donuts as they left their shifts.

[146] Ahead of his sentencing, prosecutors submitted a number of Raniere's communications and disciplinary issues in prison as evidence of remorselessness and that he continues to control his followers.

The sentence was more severe than those recommended by guidelines, with Garaufis stating that, "Raniere and his adherents appear to understand Ms. Bronfman’s continued loyalty—even after his trial and conviction, during which all the details of his sexual abuse and exploitation became known to the world.

[165] The court dismissed the lawsuit and ordered Elliot to pay Lions Gate Entertainment's attorneys' fees and costs, finding that the documentary "impl[ied] that Plaintiff was a devoted member of an organization whose leader has been implicated in a range of serious sexual crimes, but this assertion – however unflattering – is substantially true.

[167] The Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons and authorities at USP Tucson argued the injunction should be denied because Chakravorty was not a paralegal but merely "an ardent former ESP and NXIVM coach with whom [Raniere] is banned from associating.

"[168] Judge Raner Collins granted the Department of Justice's motion to dismiss the suit on grounds that Raniere failed to exhaust administrative remedies (in line with the Prison Litigation Reform Act), and his lawyer's insufficient service of process.

[176][177] Although the MEGA test has been widely criticized as not having been properly validated, the 1989 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records (the last to include a category for highest IQ[178]) described the Hoeflin Research Group as "the most exclusive ultrahigh IQ society", and the 1989 Australian edition identified Raniere, Marilyn vos Savant, and Eric Hart as the highest-scoring members of the group.

The Mission Statement also labeled students who shared Executive Success Programs materials as "breaking a promise and breaching my contract" and compromising "inner honesty and integrity.

Clare Bronfman was arrested by federal agents on July 24, 2018, in New York City and charged with money laundering and identity theft in connection with NXIVM activities.

[218] On April 19, 2019, Clare Bronfman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conceal and harbor illegal immigrants for financial gain and fraudulent use of identification; she faced 21 to 27 months in prison and agreed to forfeit $6 million.

[228] Marc Elliot, an author, claims taking courses through NXIVM and working with Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman have helped him overcome his Tourette syndrome.

However, on July 15, 2019, the Senior U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis postponed the sentencing until further notice to allow federal probation officials to conduct presentencing investigations.

[268] His wife Bonnie Piesse, an actress best known for her role as the young Beru Lars in the Star Wars franchise, was also a member before she left the group in 2017, the same year in which Vicente would leave.

In October 2013, Odato was named in a lawsuit filed by NXIVM, along with Suzanna Andrews of Vanity Fair and blogger John J. Tighe; all had written critically of the group.