The Lost Women of NXIVM (2019) - full transcript

♪

The leader of
an alleged sex cult

Has been arrested in mexico.

He's charged with federal
sex trafficking.

Green: A so-called self-help
guru allegedly coerced women

Into having sex with him

And also branded them as part
of an initiation ceremony.

Narrator: The rise and fall
of keith raniere and nxivm

Is one of the most disturbing
scandals of our age.

What began as a purported
self-help group

Spiraled into a dark, secretive
pit of illicit sex,



Money laundering,
and exploitation.

He wanted to impose his will
on people and control people.

He mandated this
torturing of women.

He branded them.
He scarred them for life.

And I think he took
pleasure in that.

Sometimes desperate situations
require desperate measures.

Narrator: After decades ruling
a criminal enterprise,

Raniere never thought

A whistle-blower
could bring him down.

But frank parlato
did just that.

And he's not finished
exposing raniere's misdeeds.

Parlato has unique access
to victims

And former nxivm members

Who are in charge of hiding
the cult's activities,



Some of whom have
never spoken before.

Now, parlato will shed light

On possibly the darkest
nxivm secret of all --

The deaths of four women.

♪

♪

♪

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪

[ cellphone rings ]

Hello?

Yeah, her family never knew
what happened to her.

But we're going to find out.

♪

♪

My name is frank parlato, and
I'm an investigative journalist.

In 2007 I worked for nxivm
for six months.

One of my jobs
was to refurbish their image

As a legitimate self-help group.

At one time, he was hired
as nxivm's publicist.

Nxivm turned around
and came after frank,

And he became a target
like many others within nxivm.

Parlato: I was abruptly fired
when I began to look into

What happened
to some missing money.

The total was a little bit
more than $90 million.

I suspected that keith raniere
had embezzled the money.

Raniere wanted to destroy me.

It was either me or him.

So I became a journalist.

My goal was to expose nxivm.

On June 5, 2017,
I broke the story

That nxivm was branding women

Under the direction
of keith raniere.

♪

♪

My current investigation
leads me to believe

That raniere could be
responsible for the deaths

Of kristin snyder,
gina hutchinson,

Barbara jeske,
and pam cafritz.

♪

♪

-Whoa, that was an alpine turn.
-That was a beautiful turn.

Snyder:
See, I can -- uh-oh.

♪

Narrator: In 1999,
31-year-old kristin snyder

Moved from kentucky to alaska.

She was pursuing a career
as an environmental consultant.

By all accounts she was
a happy, well-respected

Member of her community.

Snyder was ambitious.

She wanted to improve herself
and her career.

That's when she discovered
executive success programs,

Also known as esp.

♪

Frank parlato is
in anchorage, alaska,

To examine
the mysterious details

Surrounding the disappearance
of kristin snyder.

♪

♪

Parlato has arranged
to get a copy

Of kristin snyder's
police report

From the anchorage
police department.

On February 7, 2003,

They opened a missing-persons
case on snyder.

She was last seen
at a local hotel

Where she was attending
a self-help seminar.

Witnesses stated that snyder was
forcibly removed from the class

Because she was acting
erratically.

When she did not arrive home
later that night,

Her wife, heidi clifford,
reported her missing.

Kristin's pickup truck was found
two days later in seward,

A 2-1/2-hour
drive from anchorage,

At the edge of resurrection bay.

A letter inside the truck
indicated that snyder

Was planning to commit suicide.

And on a separate sheet
of paper,

A note said, "no need
to search for my body."

♪

[ sighs ]

♪

I'm going to meet alan nickell.

He's an officer with
the seward police department.

He was there on patrol
the night she was missing

And he was looking for her.

Nickell: We responded out here,
we looked around.

It was just
incredibly foggy that night.

We could hardly see right off
the hood of the car.

Found her car out here.

Never found the body.

They never found her body?
No.

On the morning of the 8th --
she disappeared on the 6th --

The millers of miller's landing
resort discovered a storage shed

Had been broken into
and an old kayak was missing.

The storage was close to where
the vehicle was located.

The theory would be, right,
that she broke in,

Had a choice of kayaks,
and she took one.

Yeah.

Paddled out on resurrection
bay, deliberately capsized.

There's nothing in this
that even says

That she actually left
in the kayak.

Is it fair to say
it's also hypothetical

That she committed
suicide here?

It is, yeah.
Because it's unsolved.

We don't know
what happened to her.

We're going to
have to get down

And do our own street-level
investigation.

So I'm going to go through
this police report

And I'm going to call
everybody on it.

I'm going to try for this guy,
kenny powers.

He's a friend of kristin snyder.

This is kenny.
Hey, kenny,

Frank parlato calling.

How are you?
Good.

I'm here in anchorage to try
to ascertain a few details

About kristin
marie snyder.

I was hoping
I could talk with you.

Certainly.
Thank you, sir.

♪

Powers: I was the director
of the ski patrol.

Kristin, she expressed
a lot of interest

In search and rescue.
So I was grooming her,

If you will, to be the next
search and rescue leader.

Kris was a great person.

Super nice. Smart.

She's a very
close friend of mine.

She was a stable person.

This was so unbelievably
out of the ordinary

In terms of behavior for her.

What happened the day
that she was last seen?

Heidi called me
that afternoon and said

Kris walked out of the esp
seminar this afternoon,

Said something scary-ish,
and left.

And heidi had not chased after
at the time,

But when she got home
a couple of hours later,

Kris was gone.

The ski patrol, which
is a rescue organization

Is like, "we go to find kris."

30 nordic ski patrollers
out there looking

On top of the alaska
state troopers

And the anchorage
police department.

There's a coast guard cutter,
helicopters in the air.

Hundreds of people
looking for kris.

It was like a police officer
gets shot and the call goes out,

You know,
"police officer down."

And you don't get one police car
that shows up, you get 20.

And it was like that
with kris.

[ exhales sharply ]

[voice breaking]
she's one of us.

And we tried to find her.

♪

Narrator: By 2003, nxivm
training centers for esp,

The executive success program,
had been established

Throughout the united states,
including alaska.

The courses attracted
thousands of members

Who paid $7,000
each for an intensive

16-day self-development
workshop.

Why would kristin snyder,
a successful professional

Who had invested
so much financially,

Suddenly leave the nxivm class.

Snyder took her first nxivm
course in November of 2002.

Three months later, snyder
was already in the middle

Of her second 16-day course.

On the 10th day of training,
she was asked to leave

And never seen again.

♪

♪

♪

It's such a bizarre story.
It doesn't --

Well, so many components
of it sound so unreal, you know?

The details following
the disappearance are strange.

So there's a lot of questions
and not a lot of answers.

I never talked about it
at all until today.

♪

♪

Narrator: Kristin snyder
was 35 years old

When she disappeared
in February of 2003.

Her abandoned truck
was discovered at the edge

Of resurrection bay, alaska,

With what appeared to be
a suicide note inside.

Before she vanished,

Snyder was taking
a self-help course

Called executive
success program,

Or esp.

Later it would be known
simply as nxivm.

A friend of snyder's
who was taking the same course

Has agreed to tell us
what she knows.

Out of fear of retaliation

By followers of nxivm leader,
keith raniere,

She's requested
that we conceal her identity.

Woman: Kristin took the class
in November of 2002.

For her to do this was, like,
a huge undertaking for her

To spend $10,000, $12,000
for the first class.

When kristin brought me in,
it was very intense.

And you're with 15 strangers
that you didn't know at all.

And then, within a day

You're divulging your deepest,
darkest secrets.

Kris started shipping out, being
quite vocal, quite distressed,

And so I went to the leader
of the class

And said, "I'm going
to bring her

To the alaska
psychiatric institute."

I was there trying
to support her,

And they would separate us
intentionally.

They would completely separate
her having support from me.

Whoever would be
watching intently,

They were just making sure
that we were not together.

I can't even remember
anybody's name in that class.

They just kept pulling her
out of the room.

♪

This is the copy
of the suicide note.

"I attended a course called
executive success programs

(aka nxivm)

Based out of anchorage,
alaska, and albany, new york.

I was brainwashed
and my emotional center

Of the brain was killed
and turned off.

I still have feeling
in my external skin

But my internal organs
are rotting.

I'm sorry life,

I didn't know
I was already dead.

No need to search my body."

Was this potential suicide
letter in kris's car coerced?

Was it her willingly writing it?

You don't know.

♪

Raniere: But when I look at
what's going on in the world,

Seriously I feel it's not right
and something needs to be done.

Someone has to do something.

And if you want to take
the next step, you'll need

To take the initiative
and sign up now

To attend one of
our introductory weekends.

Lalich: Thousands of people
took those courses.

They really believed they were
creating a better world.

They were doing all of this
out of the best intent.

And some of the people
who took courses

Maybe got something out of it.

You like to think about justice.

But justice
is something we earn.

They thought of themselves
as humanitarians

And so they were doing all
of this out of the best intent.

Rosales:
Keith raniere's students were
largely educated, you know,

They had jobs, they had
decent careers, families.

But they wanted
to improve themselves.

So what you're going to see

Is how the anger
covers the fear.

Ucci:
I really loved self-development
workshops, schools, programs,

I love that kind
of an exploration.

Rosales: The classes would be
$2,000 or $3,000.

Some members were in debt,
you know,

$200,000, $300,000.

Lyons: The courses themselves
seemed to be built

Like a pyramid scheme.

Where, "oh, that's great.
You finished that training,

But now you need this training,
you need more,

You need more, you need more."

Glazer: In many cases, some
of these young students,

They were going to lose
all their money,

They were going to go into debt.

They were going
to become trapped.

They were going to be forced
into servitude.

They were stuck.

♪

♪

Parlato:
There was a search here.

Two days after she disappeared.

It seems to me
that it's not very likely

That there would not have been
a trace of kristin snyder.

I don't know what the usual
result of these searches are.

I need to find out.

♪

Parlato: How long have you
been harbormaster?

Regis: I've been harbormaster
since 2014.

I've been with
the harbor since '94.

Well, it seems you've had some
history with this water, right?

Yeah.

"no need.
To search for my body."

A search was conducted
and her body was not found.

And that's why
we're looking into this.

You're fairly familiar with
the waters of resurrection bay.

Yes, I am. Yes.

And fairly familiar
with what happens

Evidently to bodies
when they drown.

Pulled a few bodies
out of the water

Since I have been working
for the city.

And how many would you say
you've searched for?

I believe 16.

What's been
your success rate?

So we found everyone.

I would say 100%.

Man: Harbormaster,
seward harbormaster.

You've always
found the bodies.

Kristin snyder is the only body
that hasn't been found.

Correct.

♪

Narrator: In order to get
a better sense of the area,

Frank parlato
has enlisted the help

Of a local helicopter pilot,
a kayak expert,

And the owners
of miller's landing.

We are right here.

This is seward and this
is resurrection bay.

So the coastline here

Is where typically people
go kayaking.

[ speaking indistinctly
over radio ]

♪

So we're approaching
another campground here

On the right, there's
miller's landing right there.

That's where the kayak
was taken from.

Now, you know this land
around here, right, pretty well,

'cause you've been here
since the '50s?

Yeah.
This girl, kristin,

Her vehicle was found here
with a suicide note.

And a kayak
was missing from here.

How did you happen to notice
that the kayak was missing?

I do remember noticing
that the grass where the kayak

Had been sitting,
it was laying there upside down.

On the edge of the yard,
right next to the trees.

It was obvious that
it was missing

Because there was snow
everywhere else

Except where the
kayak had been.

Do you know a bit
about kayaks?

Yeah. Not saying that
it didn't happen.

I'm just saying
I don't -- in my experience,

I've been doing
this for a long --

I'm the old guy
here in town doing this.

The whole story
doesn't make sense to me.

How troubling is the fact
that nothing showed up?

How odd is that, do you
think from your --

Extremely odd.
Extremely odd.

Something would have eventually
showed up in this bay.

Piece of the kayak
or a paddle.

Where's the paddle at?

Paddles don't sink, right?
They're made not to sink.

You don't want them to sink.

Man: I could be at 2,000 feet
and I can see one kayak.

There's no question that
if the kayak or even the paddle

Was visible, if it was around
here, it could be seen?

At first, when I heard
that she committed suicide

My initial reaction was
I didn't believe it.

What you can see
from here, this is why

I really needed
to get up there.

If there was a body visible
they would have seen it.

♪

Narrator:
It's possible that kristin
snyder committed suicide.

But after parlato's
investigation in alaska,

He questions whether
she ended her life

In resurrection bay.

Some local testimonies claim

That if snyder had killed
herself in those waters

She would have left a trace.

They would have found the kayak
or the paddle.

With dozens of people
searching for her,

Someone should have
turned up something.

Frank parlato's investigation
shifts to motive.

Snyder was last seen alive
at a nxivm class.

He believes that those
who knew snyder

Through the nxivm courses
may know more.

♪

♪

Narrator: Kristin snyder left
a nxivm training course

In anchorage, alaska,
on February 6, 2003,

Never to be seen again.

Friends and colleagues
describe snyder as an active,

Happy, and prominent
member of her community

So they find it odd
that she would suddenly leave

The nxivm course,
make it 2-1/2-hour,

127-mile drive to seward,
alaska, and kill herself

By capsizing a kayak
in the middle of the night.

The only piece of physical
evidence that links

Snyder's death to a suicide is
the note found in her truck.

The kayak and her body
have never been found.

Equally strange,
in January 2003,

Just weeks before kristin snyder
disappeared in alaska

She took an unexpected trip
to albany, new york,

The headquarters of nxivm.

♪

Parlato: I'm here to meet up
with susan dones.

For eight years of her life
she was a head trainer

For nxivm in tacoma, washington.

Being a friend
of kristin snyder's

And deeply involved in nxivm,

Susan might be able
to explain to me

If anyone would want
kristin snyder dead.

Going back to
January 2003.

She was in albany.
You absolutely saw her.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

And we chatted.

She wanted to see
the albany center.

Did she seem to you
to be happy?

Yeah.

Was she acting at all
psychotic, fearful, paranoid,

Crazy, anything?
No.

I never saw her that way.

Did she ever meet
keith raniere?

And could she have done
that, do you think?

Yeah, absolutely.

My suspicion is, is that

He might have even
had sex with her.

The other thing is, is
that keith did not

Like women being lesbians.

He did not like women
being lesbians?

No.
Being gay, period,

Was an act of defiance,
especially if you're a woman.

It was an act of defiance,
and I think, for him,

Because he treated women
as objects,

If you're a lesbian then
you're not available to him.

So could he possibly
try to turn her?

You know, it's kind of
like a notch on his belt.

If she was manipulated
somehow into having

Some kind of sexual relationship
with him

We know that this is a guy that
will do evil things to women.

Here's a quick
side question.

Were you there when you said
"I've had people killed"?

I wasn't actually there that
day, but that's my video.

Narrator: In 2009, susan
lent a friend a camera

To record a private conversation
in albany, new york,

Between keith raniere and other
high-ranking nxivm members.

You have accused, at times,
people of ganging up --

Collaborative
ganging up on you.

In some ways the
company isn't as bad --

Or it wasn't
as bad a situation

As you thought it was.
Okay.

But I believe that the way
this was done

Will destroy
the company itself

And it did not have to,
which is the conundrum.

Here's the thing.

I've been shot at
because of my beliefs.

I've had to make choices --
should I have bodyguards,

Should I have them
armed or not.

Right.

I've had people killed
because of my beliefs.

♪

Parlato: Was raniere
exaggerating when he claimed

He had people killed?

Or was he somehow involved
in kristin snyder's death?

Keith raniere positioned
himself as a celibate monk.

He was beginning
to attract wealthy followers.

If it got out that he wasn't
a celibate monk

And that he was even
trying to convert a lesbian

To having sex with him,

This would have imploded
his whole operation.

♪

Nxivm routinely hired
private investigators

To look into anyone
who criticized keith raniere.

One of the things
I'd like to do --

There's a guy named joe o'hara,
and he was working for nxivm

When they began
their internal investigation

Into the disappearance
of kristin snyder.

But strangely, nxivm did not
begin their investigation

Into the disappearance
of kristin snyder

Until one year
after she disappeared.

O'hara: He didn't do anything
for a year, frank.

It was only when
the story came up.

That's the other thing
that's suspicious.

If he was worried
about the fact that

Her suicide was a fake, why not
investigate it when it happened?

Why wait a year?

Why wait a year, indeed.
Why wait a year?

Why would you wait a year?

Because the story
hadn't hit the press.

If you want to find out
what happened

You investigate
as soon as possible

After something
like this.

Okay, so that's a really
big point.

That's a big point.
I mean, another possibility --

A distinct possibility,
she's still alive.

That, you know,

There's no body,
there's no proof she's dead.

There's never been any way
to know that she really is dead.

She could have committed suicide
a different way.

She could have been
an assisted suicide.

We know so much more
about raniere in 2019

Than we did in 2005.

We've learned a lot more
about him.

He's not a monk.
He wasn't a monk.

He wasn't a monk
and he's capable of

Very harmful behavior.

What would your advice be?
Where should I go from here?

So now, you have to go back
and look at every story

And reassess it.

Because now we know
more about him.

Did you ever hear the name
gina hutchinson?

Yeah.
It was another another story

That I heard a little about
during the 15 months

I worked there.

♪

Again a suicide.

An unusual suicide.

What was unusual about it?

It's very unusual
that women

Use a 20-gauge shotgun
to commit suicide.

Narrator: In 2002,

Keith raniere was trying
to gain the trust

Of sara and clare bronfman --

Heirs to the seagrams fortune.

During that same time,

Gina hutchinson began
publicly alleging

That keith raped her

When she was only 14 years old.

♪

Frank believes raniere feared

If sara and clare heard about

The alleged statutory rape
of gina hutchinson,

They would not financially
invest in his business.

♪

In October 2002,

Gina hutchinson's body
was found on the grounds

Of a buddhist monastery

In woodstock, new york --

An hour and a half drive

From nxivm's headquarters
in albany.

♪

We're going to the scene

Where gina hutchinson's body
was found.

Gina had a spiritual attachment

To this monastery

And to buddhism.

The story goes that
gina hutchinson

Bought herself a gun,

Went to the property that
we're there were about to go to,

And shot herself in the head.

♪

♪

This is the death scene.

17 years ago.

♪

At the time,

Police concluded
that it was a suicide,

When, perhaps,
it may not have been.

♪

Did she bring herself here?

Was this her doing?

♪

Hutchinson: Gina hutchinson,
she was my sister.

Gina was always special.

She was always
super intelligent,

Very sensitive.

She always brought in
stray animals

And was always very caring

And compassionate.

She was 33 when she died.

It's all very suspicious.

She was a very gentle soul.

For her to even be that violent,

To choose a method that violent,

That concerns me.

♪

I met keith

The night that I found him

In bed with gina.

♪

Gina was just a baby.

I heard a noise
in gina's bedroom.

You know,
I went down and opened the door.

And remember
the christmas lights

From the tree flashing on the --

The room was kind of dark,

And I see this male figure

Trying to escape out the window.

♪

♪

Narrator: In 1983,

Gina hutchinson was a spiritual

Sensitive teenager.

She met keith raniere

When she was attending
eighth grade

In albany, new york,

Where raniere was living

And running
a marketing business,

The precursor to nxivm.

Not long after they met,

Gina's sister allegedly

Caught raniere climbing out
of gina's bedroom window

In the middle of the night.

I don't think when
I caught him in bed together

It was even the first time

That they'd had sex.

And I think the first thing
she said was, "don't tell mom.

Don't tell mom.

Promise,
you're not gonna tell mom."

She wasn't quite forthcoming
right away.

Eventually, she told me

That she was
having sex with him.

And that he'd talked her
into it.

She was emotionally vulnerable.

What 14 year old

Isn't emotionally vulnerable?

He was preying basically

On all the girls
in the community.

He had a plan.

His plan was to become
a mentor figure,

You know, a teacher

Of these young kids.

Raniere:
Often when you counseled people

Who were, say, children
of what you call abuse --

You know, the little child --

Some little children
are perfectly happy with it

Until they find out
what happened later in life,

And then it's more society
that abuses them

Than, actually, the parent.

Glazer: He's like
the spider in the web,

Pulling people in.

Raniere used to love
giving examples,

Like having sex with children.

"why shouldn't grownups be able
to have sex with children?

Why is the age of consent
16, 17, 18?

Why can't it be 12?"

In other societies in the past,

Like in rome or whatever,

The standards were
completely different.

Glazer: He's trying to
normalize certain things

That he wants to be normalized
in his world.

One of raniere's
longtime followers

Sent an e-mail, in which,

She told raniere,
"you can have my daughter."

She was only 15 years old
at the time.

That to me, like,
shook me to my core.

Like...

I've seen horror upon horror
upon horror in this case,

But, for some reason,

That took things
to a completely different level.

♪

Hutchinson:
What would I say to her?

♪

I would say I'm sorry.

[ voice breaking ]
I would say...

[ sniffles ]

I am so sorry...

That I let...

Once he went out that window

That first night...

He should have
never come back in.

I should have slammed
that window shut.

He should have never been
let back in her life.

You know,
I just didn't recognize him

For the monster that he is.

♪

Keith raniere
has even said...

I've had people killed
for my beliefs,

Or theirs.

♪

In my opinion,

If gina hutchinson
publicly accused keith raniere

Or if it became publicly known

That he was a rapist,
a statutory rapist,

His organization would
have been destroyed.

In my opinion,
he was a sex addict.

He was a perv.

He was a psychopath,

And gina hutchinson
was the one woman

That could expose him

As the fraud that he was.

♪

Raniere: Materialism
and satiation

Are abuses of power...

In themselves.

It's just a matter of finding

Where that abuse is applied,

Because it is
an immoral transaction.

♪

When clare and sara bronfman
were recruited into nxivm,

That was clearly
a pivotal moment

For the organization.

Rosales: The bronfman sisters
come from a very wealthy family.

They're both the heiresses

Of the bronfman liquor fortune.

Without the money
of clare and sarah bronfman,

I mean, the nxivm world
doesn't exist.

♪

I was hired by nxivm in 2006.

I lasted about four months.

Raniere had, like,
a burning intensity,

But, at the same time,
he was arrogant.

He was haughty.

He was a know-it-all.

He liked to pontificate.

He didn't want to hear
what anybody else had to say.

I did think he was evil,

But I thought he was just
financially corrupt.

I specifically remember
that he got $66 million

From the bronfman sisters'
trust fund.

Ross: They believe that
the money was being used

For some higher purpose,

But keith raniere blew through
more than $100 million.

All the buildings,

The facilities, the jet travel,
the private speakers,

All that costs lots of money

Lalich: Having that
amount of money,

They could now buy off people.

They could file lawsuits
against people --

Whatever it is he wanted to do.

♪

Narrator: Gina hutchinson's
autopsy and police report

Indicate that the 33 year old
committed suicide

By placing the muzzle
of a 22-gauge shotgun

In her mouth

And pulling the trigger.

Frank parlato wants to know

If this
extraordinarily brutal act

Is physically possible
for a woman of gina's build.

With the help
of a ballistics expert.

Parlato will,
to the best of his knowledge,

Recreate the last moments

Of gina hutchinson's life

To look for any details

The authorities may have missed.

Parlato:
You've read the autopsy

Report...
Bir: Yep.

...And you read
the police report

It was an apparent suicide
in woodstock.

Did anything strike you
as possibly suspicious?

Both reports went
with the assumption

That it was a suicide.

I think the one thing
that's a little disappointing

Is the lack
of gunshot residue test on her,

Because whenever
you fire a gun,

You get gunshot residue
on your fingers.

And had they swabbed
her fingers,

We would know, for sure,
that she was the one

That fired the gun.

If foul play
was suspected,

What other tests

Do you think
they would have done?

I don't think they did
a wide-scene investigation

Because they assumed
it was a suicide.

That goes back to,
when you have a theory

And you just follow
that one path,

You don't look
at these other things

That might
come into play.

So, they would have
looked, possibly,

For footprints?

Footprints.

Yeah, definitely.

They would have
looked to see,

Was there any evidence
that the gun was

Actually fired
in that location

Versus another location,

Which is why those
crime scene analyses

Are so important
right when they happen.

From what you know,
is it odd that a woman would

Use a gun to commit suicide?

This is kind of
a violent means

For a woman
to commit suicide.

We don't see it as often
as we do with men,

Especially with
a shotgun, right?

This is an example
of a shotgun.

This isn't a real one.

It's the same size.
Same size, same length.

And, like I said,
the length is critical,

'cause we have
to figure out

Whether or not
she would be able

To put this in her mouth
and pull the trigger.

We have a nice person,
who's gonna help us out,

In terms of
same height, same weight,

Wearing similar clothing,
which is great,

Because we really want
to kind of have this

Be exactly
how it happened.

♪

♪

It has to be
under the coat,

Because that's what
she was wearing

And how she was found.

The gun in her jacket.

♪

Can she do it?

Bir: Like that.

And then can you
reach the trigger?

Unh-unh.
Unh-unh.

You can't reach
the trigger.

She could have used a twig
or a branch to do it.

But...On her own,

It doesn't seem
like she can really reach.

It seems unlikely.
In this position.

Yeah, in this position.

Bir: We can go back.
We can try to recreate.

We can speculate,
but you're right.

At the end of the day,
we we don't really

Have hard conclusions,
unfortunately.

Yeah.

♪

♪

Gina hutchinson was a minor

When the 23 year old
keith raniere allegedly

First had sex with her in 1983.

He remained a dark influence
in her life

Until she purportedly
committed suicide

At the age of 33.

If the police hadn't
immediately rule

Gina hutchinson's death
a suicide.

At the very least,
they could have

Interviewed keith raniere,

Who lived an hour and a half's
drive away

In albany, new york.

♪

Albany was nxivm's headquarters,

And it's where many of raniere's
most devoted followers flocked

To be near him.

It's also the next stage

Of frank parlato's
investigation.

Parlato is here to
look into the deaths

Of the final
two lost women of nxivm.

63-year-old barbara jeske...

And 57-year-old pamela cafritz.

Both women lived
with keith raniere

And were part
of his trusted inner circle.

♪

Parlato: We are here at
the border of knox woods,

The subdivision

Where keith raniere lived

For maybe 30 years of his life.

And it was where
all of his followers came.

It's where pam cafritz lived
the last days of her life

And where barbara jeske lived
the last days of her life.

We're here to see if we can
uncover any evidence

Surrounding their deaths.

Unlike gina hutchinson
and kristin snyder,

These women did not die
by an apparent suicide.

These women all developed
some sort of cancer.

♪

Essentially, keith had
created an organization

With an inner circle

Of primarily women around him.

♪

As it grew,
there were different people

Who became part
of the inner circle

And that inner circle
was people,

To my knowledge,
that were sleeping with him.

Stone: They all worked for him

In some capacity.

I saw complete mind control.

I saw a total blind loyalty.

Barb jeske was --

She was more of an enroller

And kept people in,

In regards to going through
curriculum and stuff.

Pam was keith's,
like, number one

And lived with keith
the longest.

Lyons: Some of the women who had
been involved with raniere

Through the years

Had some form of cancer

And some of it fatal.

Raniere was directing what sort
of treatment they could get.

It was endangering these women,

And may have, in some instances,

Cost him their lives.

♪

My name's cindy liberatore.

My sister was barbara jeske.

Barbara was very bubbly,
friendly.

Everybody loved her.

She taught a lot of the courses.

She got a lot of people into it.

She made keith a lot of money.

I don't know where
that money went,

But she made him a lot of money.

In the end, she saw
the way it was spiraling,

And she wanted out,
but by then, it was too late.

She got the diagnosis.

♪

Narrator: Keith raniere's
control

Over the women
in his inner circle

Did not stop with sex.

According to former
nxivm members,

When he got them pregnant,

He instructed them
to have abortions.

He also controlled their diet

And medical treatments
when they fell ill.

Frank parlato has arranged
to meet with a source,

A former inner circle member

At a house she shared
with keith raniere.

Barbara jeske
and pamela cafritz

Also lived here when they both

Developed and died of cancer.

The source has agreed
to meet with parlato

On the condition
that she remain anonymous.

♪

[ doorbell rings ]

♪

Parlato: So, this is the home
of keith raniere?

Woman:
[ distorted ] yes.

♪

This was his headquarters,
right?

Yes.

Now, it's not
really a big house.

No.

So when did you move in here?

In 1988.

Woman: Pam moved in
within a year or so.

Parlato:
And then barbara jeske --

When did she start
living here?

So, that would have
been like early '90s.

It's a bit more of a mess
up here.

♪

Pamela lived in
this room.

♪

This is the master bedroom,
right?

This was
his and my room.

♪

We have obscured
your identity,

Not mentioned your name.

I asked that I not
be identified

For a couple reasons.

There is the people
that are still

Followers of keith.

So there's some danger.
There's some danger there.

And I've talked to people
who have been

Afraid for their lives
even, you know?

Um...

I obviously know
enough of what went on with him

That I think I would be
a danger to them,

Which makes them
a danger to me.

Let's talk about pam
for a minute.

Did you know pam?

Yes.

Pam cafritz...

Could be very sweet,

Very funny,

Uninhibited,

I guess is a nice way
of putting it

But she lived with keith.

Yes.

Do you have
any reason to suspect

Anything suspicious

About pam's death?

♪

There was a lot of cancer

In that group of people
who lived together.

♪

Pamela had kidney cancer.

Barbara jeske
had brain cancer.

Kristen keeffe had
cervical cancer.

So, there was just a cluster
of cancer going on there.

That seemed suspicious.

Do you know
if pamela had a well?

I had heard
that she did.

Do you know who the executor
of pam cafritz's will was?

Believe it was
keith raniere.

♪

Is there any chance that keith
might have tried

To poison you and pam
and barbara,

And then found
a way to do it.

That's a rough question.

You asked me that
a year ago,

I would have said
that's outrageous, ridiculous.

It's against everything
he stands for.

But after everything
we've seen this year,

Anything's possible

Narrator:
After parlato's interview,

The nxivm source reveals
that she kept a lock of hair

From the time she had cancer.

She provides the filmmakers
with the hair sample

In the hopes that it may help
inform parlato's investigation.

♪

This is the hair.

This is my hair.

I had my hair
down to my waist

Since I was --
since I met keith.

And so when I finally
got him to agree

To let me cut it,

It was a big deal,
so I saved the tail.

'cause that hair
could be key for us.

♪

Narrator: Frank parlato needs to
get the hair sample tested.

♪

What I'm gonna do now
is call jason kolowski.

He is a forensic scientist

Who may be able to at least
answer a question or two

About whether or not

An individual may be able

To get another person
to contract cancer.

[ line rings ]

Hello.
This is jason.

Hey, jason.
This is frank parlato calling.

Raniere was a fanatic.

In many ways,

And one of his fanaticisms
was that hair represented

An essential aspect
of a woman's persona.

And he did not
normally permit them

To ever cut their hair.
Okay.

If they did
cut their hair,

For whatever reason,

He would require them
to store that hair

To keep it and preserve it.

One of the women
who survived,

The one that had
the bladder cancer,

Had some of her hair
from that period.

Now this would go back
several years,

But would there be anything
in the hair

That might permit us
to make any kind of a test?

Absolutely. Yeah.

Hair is --
oh, my gosh.

It's a phenomenal time capsule
for toxic exposure,

Environmental exposures.

So if she cut
a portion of some hair off

And saved it during a time

Maybe when
she was exposed

Or even during the time
that she had cancer.

You definitely could
test that hair,

And you'll see
what you could find.

♪

We sent the hair sample
that we got

From a inner circle member
of keith raniere's

To a forensic scientist.

He's been running some tests

To find out if there was
anything in her system

When she was living
with barbara jeske,

Pam cafritz,
and keith raniere.

As far fetched as it sounds,

It is strange to me

That four women living
with keith raniere

Should all come down
with cancer.

Kolowski: Come on in.

Please have a seat.

A lot of what I'm working on
would be missing persons cases,

Advising laboratories
on cases

That they're working on --
cold cases, things like that.

Kolowski: In this case,
we have something

A little bit different.

We received that hair sample
from you,

And we had an opportunity to go
and get it tested.

And with that,

I was able to divide
that section of hair

Into three
different strands.

In an average
number of people,

This is the normal level
of barium and bismuth.

That barium and bismuth level

Is so significantly higher
than the normal

In all three
of these samples

That I'm going to be able
to comfortably say

That she definitely had
some type of a chronic exposure

To these two
heavy metals,

And that look on your face
is exactly right.

How would someone get
bismuth or barium?

Barium is occurring in a variety
of different sources.

Higher concentrations,
it's going to be found in things

Like gunpowder, explosives,
electronic devices,

But also found in rat poison,
believe it or not.

♪

If it is rat poison,
you're talking about a low dose,

Chronic exposure to this

Over 15 to 24 months.

This woman had
bladder cancer

And the other woman
lived with her

Had kidney cancer.
Interesting.

So I would say,
for both barium and bismuth,

There is actually,
within the literature,

Lots of references
to renal system issues

With high-dose exposure.

The other thing
with that is that

We're still thinking about

And we're really trying
to answer the question

From your original
conversation with me

About the cancer

About what caused these women
in this house

At this time
and place in history

To all develop
different forms of cancer,

But we really
just don't know.

♪

Is it possible
that keith raniere

Poisoned these women
over a period of years?

For those who knew him

And the secrecy surrounding him

And his inner circle.

Makes anything possible.

♪

Come check us out.

Let's get this ball in the road.

Pam is the one who went out
and sought people

And set people up for keith.

She was keith's pimp
for decades...

Until she died.

And then allison mack is
the one who took over.

♪

Rosales: Allison mack
was an actress.

She appeared in the television
series "smallville."

She was a very dedicated member
of esp.

She started out
as just someone

Who was recruited through
the vancouver center.

Once she met keith,
became his second in command.

Ross: They then created
keith raniere's

Secret master slave order,
known as "dos",

Headed by lauren salzman,
by allison mack.

But, ultimately, keith raniere
was the ultimate authority

Over this secret group of women

Who became his sex slaves.

Lalich: Dos was the secret
sorority for women

Where the branding took place.

Rosales: Dos was
the elite of the elite,

And it gave some of the women
special access to keith

And vice versa.

But the cost of dos
is the branding

And the humiliation
and the pain.

[ distorted ] most women
were surprised

That the brand was the size

That it was.

Glazer: It can look
like a symbol

Until you know
what to look for.

Once you've seen the photograph,
"oh, yeah. It's k.A.R."

Keith allen raniere.

This is not what you do
to human beings,

Unless you think you own them.

Ross: Suddenly, nxivm became
an international story.

Woman: [ distorted ] so many
people were upset and leaving.

People were coming out,

Validating some
of the accusations

About things that
were happening.

Basically they lied about it.

Then it wasn't just
one person lying.

It seems like it was
a whole group of people

Lying to keep a cover in place.

I think it was interesting
that when women were admitted

To this secret circle
of the cult,

They were required
to give blackmail material

In case they ever got inklings
of leaving the cult.

So, again, a person
who's capable of that

Is capable of anything.

♪

♪

♪

[ whirring ]

Narrator: Frank parlato, the
journalist who first revealed

That nxivm was branding women,

Is deep into the next phase
of his investigation.

Could nxivm founder
keith raniere

Have played a part
in the deaths of kristin snyder,

Gina hutchinson, barbara jeske,
and pamela cafritz?

In the case of kristin snyder,

Although her body
was never found,

Frank continues to search
for new leads

That could hopefully
provide answers

To the questions
surrounding her death.

♪

♪

Woman: Kris is gone.

This amazing person
who is on this planet

With good intention,
doing great things is gone,

And all because of a class.

Around the holidays, she decided
to fly to albany, new york.

So kris came back from albany.

She was very disconnected from
some of the people around her.

Some of her joy
and some of her laughter

And some of what the character
that kris is and was

Seemed dampened.

She was just not the same.

If he has done
what has been reported

And on record of what he's done,

If he invited her
into his little sex den

And this happened to her,

I have no doubt
that it was not --

It would have been
not a consensual situation.

To have sex with him.

♪

Matt, how are you doing?

Malone:
Good. How are you?

I overheard and would be
kind of in the room

And privy
to some conversations

And some documents
and some data

That I don't think a lot
of people had access to.

An important element of this
investigation is to find out

If keith and kristin
had a relationship.

Did they have
an intimate relationship?

And this is what matt
can hopefully

Shed a little bit of light on.

You went to work
for clare bronfman.

I was hired
on a security contract.

So my contract with clare
was basically

To do I.T. Information
technology and security.

It was supposed to be a wireless
sharing network, right.

So the concept and the story
was that we're --

Basically, keith was like,
"hey, I want to be able

To take cellphones,
bond them together,

Have, you know, shared bandwidth
stuff like that."

And they're asking to do

What's called
wireless mesh node networking.

Wireless mesh node
networking

Allows you to basically
create your own internet.

When you're basically building
your own network at your house,

You get to see everything
that goes across, right?

His real motive was
to spy on everybody.

Spy on his people.
That's what I know now.

Crazy, right?

So and then finally

When we started asking
ethical questions,

We got kicked off
the project -- shocker.

Did they ever mention
the name kristin snyder to you?

Yes.

A friend of mine had been asked
to research into kristin snyder

To see where she was.

So they told your friend
that kristin snyder was alive.

Yeah,
the understanding was --

Is that they feel like
she faked her own death

And that she wasn't
really dead.

Maybe he killed her,

Or she faked her own death
and escaped.

Either extreme
goes to show

What kind
of a monster it is.

You know, kristin snyder, he had
gotten her pregnant, right?

Keith raniere?

We had known
that kristin snyder was --

Had been pregnant
with one of his kids.

How do you know
clare bronfman?

From clare's mouth,
from her words.

Clare bronfman told you that
kristin snyder was pregnant?

Yep.

Kristin snyder
was pregnant

Sheds a brand-new light
on this thing.

♪

Narrator: If it's true
that keith raniere

Fathered a child
with kristin snyder,

She could have been a threat,

Especially if she had refused
to have an abortion,

As raniere had allegedly
convinced other women

With whom he'd been intimate.

Snyder's baby
would be physical proof

That raniere was having sex
with his followers

And, even worse, that he could
have been manipulating them

Into unwanted
sexual relationships.

Still, another woman had a child
fathered by keith raniere.

And unlike kristin snyder.
She is very much alive.

She escaped nxivm
and went into hiding.

Her name is kristin keeffe.

♪

[ ringing ]

Keeffe: Hello?
Hey, how you doing?

Hey, good.

♪

Kristin keeffe is a mystery.

No one's ever interviewed her
on the record.

She left raniere and fled
with her son, keith's son,

When he was 7 years old.

Raniere kept kristin keeffe
so skinny

And on such a restricted diet

That nobody knew
she was pregnant,

Including kristin herself,

Until she was
eight months pregnant

And unable to have an abortion.

Now finally, for the first time,
she's ready to talk.

Kristin knew a lot.

She knew of a lot
of illegal activity.

Lyons: Leaving nxivm for many
people was treacherous ground.

If a woman impregnated
by raniere wanted to leave,

You look at the case
of kristin keeffe.

Ultimately, when she saw her
opening, she just went for it.

Narrator:
Now, for the first time,

Kristin keeffe will sit down
for an on-camera interview.

My name is kristin keeffe,

And I was involved with nxivm
for 16 years

And keith raniere for 24 years.

And I became
the primary whistle-blower.

I left my house with nothing
but my pocketbook.

And I took a taxi
to the police station.

And while I was
at the police station,

The nxivm attorneys found out,

And the nxivm attorneys
called there

And said, "we know she's there."

And I said, "that's it.
I can never go back."

I knew they would put millions
of dollars into finding me,

Grabbing me, doing whatever
they could to take my son.

I knew that when I walked into
that police station,

In keith's mind,
that was nuclear war.

No one had ever done anything
like that to him before.

I knew I was being hunted
like an animal.

Okay, let's stop.

No, I don't want
to talk anymore.

Really, I'm done.

I don't want to talk anymore.

♪

♪

Narrator:
Nxivm insider kristin keeffe

Is one of the many women

Nxivm leader keith raniere
impregnated.

Unlike allegedly dozens
of others,

She was not forced
to have an abortion.

When her son was 7 years old,
keeffe escaped.

Due to fears
for her son's safety,

Keeffe is unwilling
to discuss him.

But she agrees to continue
divulging what she knows

About keith raniere and nxivm.

Keeffe:
You know, initially, no one.

Everyone was against me.

All the people that were
against nxivm were against me,

And all the people
that were in nxivm

Or that knew about my departure
were against me.

And here I was coming with all
this evidence and information

And saying, "all right."

And no one would help me.

Producer:
Do you think keith raniere
was gonna kill you?

No, he was gonna kidnap me.

I decided it was time to leave

The moment that I realized
that keith was a psychopath.

And it was eerie.

It was undeniable.
I was certain of it.

Because I think he was

Absolutely deliberately
trying to destroy people.

♪

Ross:
In dos, he did become violent

Because he mandated
this torturing of women

Where he would
brand his initials

Using a cauterizing iron.

It would take 30 minutes.

People would hold them down on
a table, and they would scream.

They had no local anesthetic.

And he would watch.

In the end, keith raniere
thought, you know,

"I am the boss.
I can control women."

You had women who were
basically forced,

Coerced to have sex with keith,
which they didn't want to do.

You had women who were forced to
take naked photos of themselves

Or have others
take photos of themselves.

You had women who were
tied down on a board

And had oral sex
performed on them,

Blindfolded,
not knowing who was doing it.

People get paddled naked.

These weren't like
some polyamorous orgies.

These were, in fact,
terrifying, traumatic instances.

♪

♪

Keeffe: Kristin snider,
when she disappeared,

I was tasked with investigating
what happened.

Parlato: There was an assignment
to go to alaska.

Yes, keith was like,
"I want you to go up there

And talk to everyone."

And when I got up there and
I started interviewing people,

I started to question,
"this just --

This isn't adding up."

Understand, when the first --
the whole thing first happened,

The police didn't think
it was nxivm's responsibility.

There wasn't
a big investigation.

The whole thing
blew over like that.

Do you think the police did
a thorough job in investigating?

The alaska state police?

I don't think that anyone
from kris's family

Represented to the police
at the time

That they felt her disappearance
was a result of the training.

What do you think
is the ultimate truth

About kristin snyder?

Do you think she died?
Do you think she's alive?

Do you think
she committed suicide?

You've had some time
to think about this.

You were deeply involved
investigating this.

Mm-hmm.

I think that she did not
commit suicide at that time.

I think she's alive.

The only thing
I'm pretty sure of is,

The official story
is not real.

Right. Oh, yes.
The official story is not real.

There's a lot of questions
that it would be great

If they were answered.

And I think heidi
knows something.

Heidi clifford.

♪

♪

♪

Narrator:
Perhaps the most vital witness

In kristin snyder's
disappearance

Is heidi clifford,
snyder's wife.

She was present in the nxivm
training course in alaska

When kristin was dragged
out of the room.

Heidi clifford probably knows
why that happened.

She may also be able
to provide a sample

Of kristin snyder's handwriting,

A sample that can be compared to
kristin's alleged suicide note.

Parlato: I've been trying
to reach kristin snyder's wife,

Heidi clifford,
for more than a month.

She finally got back to me.

I want to get a copy
of kristin snyder's handwriting,

Something that we know
she definitely wrote,

So I can compare it
to the purported suicide note.

The only physical piece
of evidence that we have

That links kristin snyder's
death to suicide

Is that one note.

♪

[ speaks indistinctly ]

Yeah.
That all right?

[ clears throat ]

Does it start
to get cold now?

Heidi, I want to thank you
for coming on-camera

And talking to me.

♪

♪

Narrator: Heidi clifford
was kristin snyder's wife

Of two years.

She was in the same nxivm
training course with kristin

Hours before she vanished.

Due to fear of retaliation
by keith raniere's allies,

She has up to this point
only spoken to us

On the condition of anonymity.

Now, for the first time,

Heidi has finally agreed
to appear on-camera.

Yeah, I know you were
a little reticent to appear.

Last week when I first
met with the director,

I didn't even want my voice
to be the same voice.

I didn't want my face
to be on the camera.

I never talked about it at all
until today.

And I'm still scared.

I ran last the 15, 16 years
of my life

Being scared
of these people.

How do you feel now?

I'm still scared.
[ chuckles ]

It's still there.

What do you think
happened to her?

I think keith raniere
had inappropriate sex with her,

Which would have
thrown her off her rocker.

I think if she came home from
new york in December or January

Before the class that we took
and maybe she missed her period,

And then that would have been
like, "oh, I am pregnant,

'cause I didn't
have my period."

So right about that time
would've been about a month

After she left keith
in new york.

And...

I don't remember if it was that
day at lunch or the day before.

We had rings.

And she took her ring off
at lunch.

And she said,
"can you hold this for me?"

And I said,
"I will hold it for you."

And I put it in my pocket.

And again, what we know
about keith raniere and nxivm

Is if you are in a relationship
with keith,

You cannot have a relationship
with anybody else.

Did she ever
tell you directly

That she was pregnant
with keith's child?

When kris was going through
this three or four days

Of just kind of like
a psychotic break,

She reported to me that she was
pregnant with keith's baby.

And I'm like, "what?
What are you talking about?"

And then I heard it more
in the class

When she was
yelling it out.

She actually told that
to the class?

Yelled it.

They just kept pulling her
out of the room,

Pulling her out of the room,
pulling her out of the room.

This is not just one time.

This is three or four times
she is blurting this out.

Did you mention that kris
might have been pregnant

To law enforcement
in the seward police,

State troopers?

No, I was...

I was pretty much
making sure

That they weren't gonna think
I had anything to do with it.

Do you think the police did
a good job investigating this?

Back then,
there's no layers.

Back then, it was just,
"kris is not here.

Kris is gone."
that was it.

Kayak missing.

Kayak missing.
That's it.

Now so much more
information.

There's so many layers
to this.

Then you didn't point a finger
toward raniere.

No. Just --
no, not at all.

Do you have any handwriting
samples of kris?

I was looking through
my stuff today.

I have like one or two notes,
not a lot.

Even something
could help us.

♪

This is one of the handwriting,
very little.

Valentine's day card.

February 14, 2001.

Heidi, this has been
very extremely helpful.

I think
we're getting closer.

It should be tested just to see
if they're the same.

We need to find out.

♪

Chrisman:
My name is beth chrisman.

I am a forensic
document examiner.

I examine documents that
have been called into question

Or have some type
of maybe alteration to them.

Typically looking at
suicide notes,

It's about gathering
enough handwriting

From the person who allegedly
wrote the suicide note

And determining whether or not
the letter formations,

Letter-height proportions,
slant actually match.

[ knock on door ]
parlato: Beth?

Chrisman: Yes. Hi.
Hi. Frank parlato.

Nice to meet you, frank.

Nice to meet you.

Have a seat.
Thank you.

Chrisman: So what I did
in this particular situation

Was I looked first
at this questioned suicide note

To determine, was it written
consistently by one person?

I looked at the card.

The card is in a very beautiful
cursive writing.

I broke down each letter
formation, stroke formation

And attempted to do
the best comparison possible

Between this card
and this alleged suicide note.

And then that's
where we come in

With all the differences
and the similarities.

Can you tell me, was the suicide
note written by kristin snyder?

♪

♪

♪

Narrator:
Kristin snyder was last seen

Leaving a nxivm training course
in anchorage, alaska.

Snyder's wife, heidi, revealed
that kristin was shouting

That she was pregnant
with raniere's child

When the nxivm trainers
pulled her out of the seminar.

Frank parlato believes that
the reality of her pregnancy

Could be the motive
for her disappearance.

Given the scale
of the search for snyder,

The fact that nothing,
her body, the kayak,

Or any other clues were
ever found is deeply suspect.

The only piece
of physical evidence

That seems to suggest
snyder committed suicide

Is the suicide note.

If the note or parts of the note
were written by somebody else,

Law enforcement
may have no choice

But to re-examine the details
surrounding this case.

Can you tell me, was the suicide
note written by kristin snyder?

Chrisman: In the card,
she has a very distinct way

That she writes
her uppercase "I."

It's very unique to her.

This is the way
she makes her cursive "I."

And when she goes
to write --

Or whoever wrote
the alleged suicide note,

They just wrote an uppercase "I"
like we learned in first grade.

I mean, I think
that's very fascinating.

Because we don't have enough
known handwriting samples,

I can't absolutely identify

That the same person
wrote both of these.

You can't say.

You wouldn't say
that they're the same.

I would not say
they're the same.

It leaves the mystery
unsolved.

It does.

♪

Parlato: When kristin snyder
disappeared in 2003,

The authorities quickly assumed
it was a suicide.

But after what I've learned
in my investigation

And the first-person accounts

Of people who were there at
the time of her disappearance,

I have serious doubts

That kristin snyder
took her own life.

My hope is that
this investigation,

Which is not over,

Will assure that
gina hutchinson,

Barbara jeske, pam cafritz,
and kristin snyder

Will not have died in vain

And that everyone whose lives
have been damaged

By nxivm and keith raniere

Will be able
to tell their stories at last.

Narrator: A year and a half
before frank parlato

Began his investigation
into the lost women of nxivm,

Authorities arrested
keith raniere in mexico.

Lyons: After the new york times
published a story,

Keith raniere was arrested,

Along with allison mack,
clare bronfman,

Lauren salzman,
her mother, nancy salzman,

Who is the president of nxivm.

Glazer:
There were six people charged.

Five of them pled guilty.

The leader, keith raniere,
went to trial.

Man:
Keith raniere's been operating

A very dangerous
criminal enterprise

With his partner,
clare bronfman,

For 20 years now.

Lyons: The government's case
was clearly a boiled-down case.

They proved every element
that they went after.

And I remember reading
the testimony

And thinking at one point,

"if this was a heavyweight
fight, they'd stop it."

Self-help guru keith raniere

Has been convicted
of running a sex cult

Where women were kept as virtual
prisoners to service him.

A jury took less than five hours
to decide raniere's fate.

Raniere will be sentenced
on the charges,

Which include racketeering,
sex trafficking,

And child-porn possession,
later this year.

This trial has revealed
that raniere,

Who portrayed himself
as a savant and a genius,

Was, in fact,
a master manipulator, con man,

And the crime boss
of a cult-like organization.

I would say that there is
such a thing as karma.

There are other victims.

Not all of them
have come forward yet.

There are still victims
who don't dare talk about it,

Who are still scared to death,
living with it.

He totally controlled people.
Everybody.

The things that they would do
for him were believable.

Woman:
Whoa, that was an alpine turn.

That one just popped off.

Clifford:
I'm always hoping.

You know, just, like,
knock, knock

And opening the door,
and there she is.

Ross: In the end,
keith raniere thought

"I can dominate any woman."

But in reality, it was women
that brought keith raniere down.

There's part of me
that feels humiliated

About being involved in that.

It's hard to explain, you know,
that this was a bad guy

And this was a bad organization
doing horrible things.

I just didn't know.

Malone:
To find out that maybe some
of the stuff that you were doing

Was helping to hurt
other people is horrible.

Lyons: Even as nxivm has been
brought to its knees,

There are still people

Who are afraid of
what they could still do.

I was very determined at a young
age to understand spirituality.

And, you know, I always thought
that would be walking with god.

I never thought that that might
entail walking with the devil.

♪

♪

♪