Editing NXIVM (section)

===Founding and initial success===
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]].<ref name="auto2">{{cite web |url=https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/the-making-of-the-vanguard |title=Escaping NXIVM: Inside the secretive world of leader Keith Raniere |first1=Josh |last1=Bloch |first2=Kathleen |last2=Goldhar |first3=Anita |last3=Elash |first4=Dave |last4=Pizer |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref><ref name="Newsweek20180328">{{cite news |url=https://www.newsweek.com/who-keith-raniere-self-help-guru-accused-sex-trafficking-and-branding-slave-863816 |title=Who is Keith Raniere? Self-help guru accused of sex trafficking |date=March 28, 2018 |work=[[Newsweek]] |access-date=April 22, 2018}}</ref><ref name="NYT20180530">{{cite web |title=The 'Sex Cult' That Preached Empowerment |date=May 30, 2018 |access-date=May 30, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/magazine/sex-cult-empowerment-nxivm-keith-raniere.html}}</ref> Raniere claimed that its "main emphasis is to have people experience more joy in their lives".<ref name="AECEB">''A&E Cults and Extreme Belief'' [https://www.aetv.com/shows/cults-and-extreme-belief/season-1/episode-1 S1E1], aired May 28, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2018.</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Edmonson |first=Sarah |author-link= |date=2019 |title=Scarred: The True Story of How I Escaped NXIVM, the Cult that Bound My Life |location=San Francisco |publisher=Chronicle Prism |page=25 |isbn=978-1-4521-8426-5}}</ref> The 2002 registration with [[United States Patent and Trademark Office]] for the NXIVM [[trademark]] states that "The foreign wording in the mark translates into English as 'the next millennium{{'"}}.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2002-02-19 |title=Mark: NXIVM, U.S. Serial Number: 78109670 |url=https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=78109670&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch |access-date=2022-12-11 |website=Trademark Status & Document Retrieval}}</ref>

During NXIVM seminars, students would call Raniere and Salzman "Vanguard" and "Prefect", respectively.<ref name="TimesUnion20120210">{{cite news |last1=Odato |first1=James |last2=Gish |first2=Jennifer |date=February 11, 2012 |title=Secrets of NXIVM |url=https://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Secrets-of-NXIVM-2880885.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214211129/http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Secrets-of-NXIVM-2880885.php#media-23728 |archive-date=February 14, 2012 |access-date=February 10, 2018 |work=[[Albany Times Union]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Barcella |first=Laura |date=November 21, 2017 |url= https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/is-nxivm-a-cult-what-we-know-w512261 |title=Is NXIVM a Cult? What We Know |magazine= Rolling Stone |access-date=February 10, 2018}}</ref><ref name="VF1">{{cite web |last=Andrews |first=Suzanna |date=October 13, 2010 |url= https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2010/11/bronfman-201011 |title=The Heiresses and the Cult |work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|access-date= February 10, 2018}}</ref> ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' wrote that Raniere adopted the title from the 1981 video game ''[[Vanguard (video game)|Vanguard]]'', "in which the destruction of one's enemies increased one's own power".<ref name="THR201805">{{cite magazine|title=Her Darkest Role: Actress Allison Mack's Descent From 'Smallville' to Sex Cult |access-date=May 18, 2018 |date=May 16, 2018 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/how-smallvilles-allison-mack-went-actress-sex-cult-slaver-1112107|magazine=[[Hollywood Reporter]]}}</ref> Within the organization, the reasoning for the titles was that Raniere was the leader of a philosophical movement and Salzman was his first student.<ref name="NYT20180530"/>

By 2003, 3,700 people had taken part in ESP classes. Reported participants included businesswoman [[Sheila Johnson]], former [[Surgeon General of the United States|Surgeon General]] [[Antonia Novello]], [[Enron]] executive Stephen Cooper, Ana Cristina Fox (daughter of former [[President of Mexico|Mexican president]] [[Vicente Fox]]),<ref name="Forbes20031013">{{cite news |title=Cult of Personality |first=Michael |last= Freedman |url= https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/1013/088.html |work=[[Forbes]] |location=New York City |access-date=April 24, 2018 |date= October 13, 2003}}</ref> entrepreneur [[Richard Branson]] (who denied having taken the classes),<ref name="VF20180420">{{cite magazine |title=This Keith Raniere Sex-Cult Story Is Much Deeper Than Allison Mack's Arrest |access-date=March 30, 2018 |date=April 20, 2018 |magazine=Vanity Fair |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/04/allison-mack-arrested-in-connection-to-keith-raniere}}</ref><ref name="TDB20180526">{{cite web |title=A Top NXIVM Sex Cult Recruiter Comes Forward, Says Founder 'Messed With the Wrong Person' |access-date=March 30, 2018 |date=March 26, 2018 |work=[[The Daily Beast]] |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-top-nxivm-sex-cult-recruiter-comes-forward-he-messed-with-the-wrong-person}}</ref> businessman [[Edgar Bronfman Sr.]],<ref name="Forbes20031013" /> and actresses [[Linda Evans]], [[Grace Park (actress)|Grace Park]], and [[Nicki Clyne]].<ref name="Kohler">{{cite news |title=How to Lose $100 Million |first=Nicholas |last=Köhler |url=http://www.macleans.ca/2010/09/09/how-to-lose-100-million |newspaper=[[Maclean's]] |date=September 13, 2010 |access-date=March 22, 2011 |archive-date=February 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201184159/http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/09/09/how-to-lose-100-million/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=VF1/> In the early 2000s, [[Seagram]] heiresses [[Clare Bronfman|Clare]] and [[Sara Bronfman]], daughters of Edgar Bronfman Sr., became attached to the organization.<ref name=VF1/><ref name="NYT20180530"/>

==== Cult allegations in early 2000s ====
{{Main|NXIVM Corp. v. Ross Institute}}
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. In 2003, NXIVM sued the Ross Institute in the case known as ''[[NXIVM Corp. v. Ross Institute]]'', alleging [[copyright infringement]] for publishing excerpts of content from its manual in three critical articles commissioned by cult investigator [[Rick Alan Ross]] and posted on his website.<ref name=Hochman>{{citation |title=A Forensic Psychiatrist Evaluates ESP |date=February 2003 |publisher=Cult Education Institute |url=https://culteducation.com/group/907-nxivm/6047-a-forensic-psychiatrist-evaluates-esp.html}}</ref><ref name=Martin1>{{citation |title=A Critical Analysis of the Executive Success Programs Inc. |date=February 2003 |publisher=Cult Education Institute |url=https://culteducation.com/group/907-nxivm/5969-a-critical-analysis-of-the-executive-success-programs-inc.html}}</ref><ref name=Martin2>{{citation |title= Robert Jay Lifton's eight criteria of thought reform as applied to the Executive Success Programs |date=February 2003 |publisher=Cult Education Institute |url= https://culteducation.com/group/907-nxivm/5980-robert-jay-liftons-eight-criteria-of-thought-reform-as-applied-to-the-executive-success-programs.html}}</ref> Ross posted a psychiatrist's assessment of NXIVM's "secret" manual on his website that called the regimen "expensive [[brainwashing]]".<ref name="Kohler"/><ref name="auto6">{{cite web |title=NXIVM Corp. v. Ross |url=http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/nxivm-corp-v-ross |work=legal case |publisher=Citizen media law company |access-date=February 10, 2012}}</ref>

Ross obtained the manual from former member Stephanie Franco, a co-[[defendant]] in the trial, who had signed a [[non-disclosure agreement]] not to divulge information from the manual to others. NXIVM filed suits in New York and New Jersey, but both were dismissed.<ref name="Kohler"/><ref name="auto6"/> On appeal, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]] affirmed the dismissal, ruling that the defendant's critical analysis was [[fair use]] since the secondary use was [[transformative]] as criticism and was not a potential replacement for the original on the market.<ref name="Casenotes2007">{{cite book|author=Aspen Publishers|title=Copyright. Keyed to Keyed to Course Using Gorman and Ginsburg's Copyright: Cases and Materials Seventh Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I6gWONBoXpIC&pg=PA95|year=2007|publisher=Wolters Kluwer|isbn=978-0735561762|pages=95–96|series=Casenote Legal Briefs}}</ref><ref name="MeinersRingleb2006">{{cite book|author1=Roger E. Meiners|author2=Al H. Ringleb|author3=Frances L. Edwards|title=The legal environment of business|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ZvaVXT1n3IC&pg=PA230|year=2006|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0324204858|page=230}}</ref><ref name=justia>{{cite court |litigants=NXIVM Corp. v. Ross Institute|reporter=F.3d |opinion=471 |court=2d Cir. |date=2004 |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/364/471/532988/ |access-date=February 24, 2018 }}</ref>

In October 2003, ''[[Forbes]]'' published a critical article on NXIVM and Raniere.<ref name="Forbes20031013"/> According to ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]],'' NXIVM leadership, who had spoken to ''Forbes'', had expected a positive story. They were especially upset by remarks made by Bronfman, who told ''Forbes'' that he believed NXIVM was a cult and that he was troubled by his daughters' "emotional and financial investment" in it.<ref name="Forbes20031013"/> In 2006, ''Forbes'' published an article about the Bronfman sisters, stating that they had taken out a [[line of credit]] to loan NXIVM $2&nbsp;million, repayable through personal training sessions and phone consultations with Salzman.<ref name= "Forbes20060724">{{cite news |url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/0724/044a.html |title=The Bronfmans and the Cult |last1=Berman |first1=Phyllis |date=June 24, 2006 |work=Forbes |access-date=July 24, 2006 |last2=Gillies |first2=Andrew T. |last3=Novack |first3= Janet |last4=Egan |first4=Mary Ellen |last5=Blakeley |first5=Kiri}}</ref> Another ''Forbes'' article in 2010 discussed the failures of commodities and real estate deals by the Bronfmans made on Raniere's advice.<ref name="Forbes20100329">{{cite web |url= https://www.forbes.com/sites/docket/2010/03/29/the-bronfmans-and-the-cult/ |title=The Bronfmans and The 'Cult' |last=Vardi |first=Nathan |date= March 29, 2010 |work=Forbes |access-date= February 11, 2018}}</ref>

==== Recruitment in Vancouver ====
After actress [[Kristin Kreuk]] became involved with NXIVM in 2006, Salzman and her daughter Lauren, a junior NXIVM leader,<ref name="NYT20180530" /> went to Vancouver to recruit Kreuk's ''[[Smallville]]'' co-star [[Allison Mack]].<ref name="THR201805"/> Lauren bonded with Mack (the two women eventually became Raniere's inner circle and his sexual partners). Kreuk, however, left NXIVM in 2013.<ref name="TDB201803">{{cite web |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/smallville-actress-kristin-kreuk-horrified-and-disgusted-by-nxivm-cult-she-left |title='Smallville' Actress Kristin Kreuk 'Horrified and Disgusted' by Nxivm Cult She Left |website=[[The Daily Beast]] |date=March 30, 2018 |access-date=May 18, 2018}}</ref> Mack became "an enthusiastic proselytizer" for NXIVM, persuading her parents to take courses, and after wrapping production of ''Smallville'' in 2011, moved to [[Clifton Park, New York]], to be near NXIVM's home base in [[Albany, New York|Albany]].<ref name="THR201805"/>

==== 2008–2010 ====
In 2008, the Bronfman sisters allegedly pressured Stephen Herbits, a confidant of their father, to ask [[Albany County, New York|Albany County]] [[District Attorney]] David Soares, [[Governor of New York|New York Governor]] [[Eliot Spitzer]], and [[Attorney General of New Jersey|New Jersey Attorney General]] [[Anne Milgram]] to begin criminal investigations into NXIVM's critics. NXIVM reportedly kept dossiers on Soares, Spitzer, political consultants [[Roger Stone]] and [[Steve Pigeon]], U.S. Senator [[Chuck Schumer]], and Albany ''[[Times Union (Albany)|Times Union]]'' publisher [[George Randolph Hearst III]] in a box in the basement of Nancy Salzman's home.<ref>{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Gavin |title=NXIVM's files on 'enemies' debated in court
|url=https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/NXIVM-s-files-on-enemies-debated-in-court-13844301.php
|date=May 14, 2019|access-date=January 22, 2022|newspaper=Times Union}}</ref><ref>Gavin, Robert (May 16, 2019). [https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/NXIVM-13851004.php "Witness: Bronfmans tried to apply political pressure"]. ''Times Union''.</ref> According to the ''Times Union'', NXIVM "developed a reputation for aggressively pursuing critics and defectors who broke from its ranks, including using litigation to punish critics of Raniere, the organization, or its training methods."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/FBI-shifts-mountain-of-data-in-NXIVM-s-seized-13254160.php |title=FBI shifts mountain of data in NXIVM's seized computers |first=Brendan J. |last=Lyons |date=September 24, 2018 |website=Times Union}}</ref>

The World Ethical Foundations Consortium, an organization co-founded by Raniere and the Bronfman sisters, sponsored a visit to Albany by the [[14th Dalai Lama|Dalai Lama]] in 2009. The visit was initially canceled by the Dalai Lama owing to negative press about NXIVM,<ref>{{cite news |last=Ettkin |first=Brian |date=April 6, 2009 |url=http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Dalai-Lama-cancels-his-visit-to-Albany-118447.php |title=Dalai Lama Cancels His Visit to Albany |work=[[The News-Times]] |access-date=November 2, 2011}}</ref> but was rescheduled; the Dalai Lama spoke at the Hart Theater at [[The Egg, Albany|the Egg]] in Albany in May 2009.<ref>{{cite web |last=Caprood |first=Tom |date=May 7, 2009 |url=https://www.troyrecord.com/article/TR/20090507/NEWS/305079979 |title=Dalai Lama fills Palace with message of compassion |work=Troy Record |access-date=February 10, 2018}}</ref> The Bronfman sisters announced at the talk that they were broke and could not pay him.  He said that he gives talks to spread dharma, not for money.{{cn|date=November 2025}} In 2017, [[Lama]] Tenzin Dhonden, the self-styled "Personal Emissary for Peace for the Dalai Lama" who had arranged the appearance, was suspended from his position amid corruption charges; the investigation also revealed a personal relationship between Dhonden and Sara Bronfman, which began in 2009.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Suspended Lama Tenzin Dhonden Had A Lover Too! |url=https://www.tibetanjournal.com/suspended-lama-tenzin-lover/ |work=Tibetan Journal |date=November 1, 2017 |access-date=August 13, 2018}}</ref>

NXIVM has been described as a [[pyramid scheme]],<ref name="TimesUnion20171113">{{cite web |last=Odato |first=James |title=Lawyer attacks NXIVM 'scheme' |url=http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Lawyer-attacks-NXIVM-scheme-1032548.php |website=TimesUnion.com |date=February 27, 2011 |publisher=The Hearst Corporation |access-date=November 13, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Slate201803">{{cite web |title=The Only (Alleged) Sex-Slave Cult Story You Need to Understand: Kirsten Gillibrand's Weakness as a 2020 Candidate |website=Slate |date=March 28, 2018 |access-date=May 18, 2018 |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/03/kirsten-gillibrand-alleged-sex-slavery-and-the-2020-primary.html}}</ref><ref name="NYT18Oct">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/nyregion/nxivm-women-branded-albany.html?pagewanted=all |title=Inside a Secretive Group Where Women Are Branded |last=Meier |first=Barry |work=The New York Times|date=October 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221207013003/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/nyregion/nxivm-women-branded-albany.html?pagewanted=all|archive-date=December 7, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Newsweek20180328"/> a sex-trafficking operation,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47563045 |title=Associate pleads guilty in 'sex cult' case |date=March 13, 2019 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> a cult,<ref name="TheNation20141118">{{Cite news |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/190881/how-strange-secretive-cult-company-waging-legal-war-against-journalists |title=How a Strange, Secretive, Cult-like Company Is Waging Legal War Against Journalists |last=Cohan |first=William D. |date=November 18, 2014 |work=[[The Nation]] |access-date=May 27, 2015}}</ref><ref name = TUBronf>{{cite web |url=https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Bronfman-Russell-to-plead-guilty-in-NXIVM-case-13780718.php |title=Bronfman, Russell plead guilty in NXIVM case |date=April 19, 2019 |website=timesunion.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/members-alleged-sex-cult-nxivm-federal-court/story?id=60645426 |title=Members of alleged sex cult NXIVM appear in federal court |website=ABC News}}</ref> and a sex cult.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44946059 |title=Heiress among four arrested in 'sex cult' |date=July 25, 2018 |publisher=BBC |access-date=January 14, 2019}}</ref> In a 2010 ''Times Union'' article, former NXIVM coaches characterized students as "prey" for Raniere's sexual or gambling-related proclivities.<ref name="TimesUnion20101122">{{cite web |last=Odato |first=James |title=Ex-NXIVM trainer: Students are prey |url=http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Ex-NXIVM-trainer-Students-are-prey-824046.php |newspaper=[[Times Union (Albany)|Times Union]] |date=November 22, 2010}}</ref> Kristin Keeffe, a longtime partner of Raniere and mother of his child, left the group in 2014 and called Raniere "dangerous", saying, "All the worst things you know about NXIVM are true."<ref name="TimesUnion20140512">{{cite web |last=Odato |first=James |title=A split from NXIVM |url=http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/A-split-from-NXIVM-5468731.php |location=Albany, New York |newspaper=[[Times Union (Albany)|Times Union]] |date=May 12, 2014}}</ref>

==== Related organizations ====
NXIVM has been associated with several related organizations. '''Jness''' was a society aimed at women, while the '''Society of Protectors''' was aimed primarily at men.<ref name="rollingstone.com" /> A third group was known by the acronym DOS, short for "'''Dominus Obsequious Sororium'''", which, according to one member, means "master over slave women".<ref>{{cite news |last=Bellamy-Walker |first=Tatyana |date=March 27, 2018 |title=Feds: 'Self-Help' Guru Kept Women as Sex 'Slaves,' Branded Them With His Initials |newspaper=The Daily Beast |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/feds-self-help-guru-kept-women-as-sex-slaves-branded-them-with-his-initials |access-date=June 20, 2019 |via=thedailybeast.com}}</ref> In 2006, Raniere founded '''Rainbow Cultural Garden''', an international chain of childcare organizations in which children were to be exposed to seven different languages.<ref>{{cite web |last=Iannelli |first=Jerry |date=April 27, 2018 |title=State Closes Midtown Miami School Tied to NXIVM 'Sex Cult' Leader |url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/alejandro-sanzs-wifes-miami-school-closed-by-state-tied-to-nxivm-sex-cult-founder-10295903 |website=Miami New Times}}</ref>

In 2014, Raniere founded the NXIVM-affiliated news organization ''The Knife of Aristotle'', to identify and measure media bias.<ref name="ny-pyramid">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/nyregion/nxivm-lawsuit-keith-raniere.html |title=Nxivm 'Sex Cult' Was Also a Huge Pyramid Scheme, Lawsuit Says |last=Hong |first=Nicole |date= January 29, 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=April 27, 2020 }}</ref>