The Vow (2020) s01e05 Episode Script

1
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
CATHERINE: Within NXIVM,
there's a secret sisterhood.
They have to sign a
lifetime vow of obedience,
and they have to
provide blackmail,
and they're branding girls.
I just spoke to India,
and she did admit
to being branded.
She thought it was wonderful.
I will do whatever I
can to get India out.
MARK: We knew there was
another branding ceremony
that was about to happen,
and it was like
"We have to get this story
out and Frank will report it."
And when he came
out with the news,
it set the whole
organization into a panic.
The idea was not just to
expose what was going on.
It was about getting
people away from danger.
This organization
has taken my child.
I will do whatever it
takes to get her back.
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
(camera beeps)
Mark Vicente: And
whenever you're ready.
You know, like, here we're doing this,
you know, wonderful,
idealistic movement,
and we're trying to
create something,
and we have created something
that just produces value.
Enhances people's lives.
And we're just minding our own
business and doing this great thing,
and we're just being attacked.
So, I just feel determined.
You know, like,
"Motherfucker." You know?
Like,
how could they do this to us?
When I think of how
destructive that is,
I think, "Oh,
my God. That is just heinous."
We're gonna uncover
all these things,
and then people are gonna say,
"Don't fuck with those people,
because, you know,
they'll come after you."
You know? "They will,
they will figure it out.
"They will They
won't let it go.
They're not They
don't let things slide."
(Kristin Keeffe continues)
(laughs)
Yeah!
("Dream State" by
Son Lux playing)
Days we were young ♪
We took photographs of
everything we could see ♪
We had to run from it ♪
Priest and prophetess ♪
We were nothing
we would defy ♪
Oh, invisible skin ♪
Where is the world within ♪
Invincible skin ♪
It's how we all begin ♪
(birds chirping)
(baby babbling)
Sarah Edmondson:
He asks about Albany.
He's like, "Mommy,
when are we going back to Albany?"
- I wanna get down. I wanna get down.
- What about your sweatshirt?
- I wanna get I want
- Ooh.
What about your sweatshirt?
You wanna put it on like a cape?
- Troy: Yeah.
- Put it on like a cape.
I'm gonna give you this
jacket in case (indistinct).
- Troy: Superman!
- Edmondson: Good?
Bye, Troy. Love you!
Edmondson: So I got a
call from the police officer
from the financial
crimes unit in Vancouver
saying that they were trying to
get me arrested on three fronts:
fraud, mischief, and theft.
I knew this was coming,
because I'd heard
through someone who was
kind of playing both sides
that they were preparing
a legal case against me.
That's when I called Jim,
because he was one of
the main leaders of SOP,
and also,
I considered him to be a friend.
Jim Del Negro: Yeah.
(Edmondson speaking)
- Del Negro: Mm-hmm.
- (Edmondson speaking)
Edmondson: I really don't.
(Edmondson speaking)
Nippy Ames: I'm not angry at
the people still in. I understand it.
I've been on that side of it.
Jim and a couple other
friends are the ones that, like,
as I'm sitting here,
I'm struggling to
you know, I, I still feel
I still feel like they're my buddies,
you know?
And I feel
You know,
I spoke to him and Mark,
you know,
almost every other day.
And he showed me
a level of compassion that,
you know, from a guy,
you might even think is
somewhat uncomfortable.
But, you know,
he showed me love,
uh, in a way that, you know,
another guy hadn't.
He, he hung in there with me,
and he really helped me,
where I just didn't have
certain skill sets
in certain areas,
and he goes,
"I know you to want these things,
"and when you behave like this,
you undermine the
things that you want."
You know, he was the kind
of guy who could tell me that,
much like a brother could.
Del Negro: I think a lot of times,
we're doers.
And men,
we like to accomplish things.
And sometimes,
that gets in the way
of our relationships
with each other
and standing up for each other.
And there's nobody that I know
that does that and
represents that more
than Keith Raniere.
So, I give you Keith Raniere.
(applauding)
Ames: And that's the
hard part of this whole thing.
He's, you know, loyal to Keith,
I think to a fault.
♪
Vicente: We kept getting
information through people that were
on the inside,
straddling things,
that realized things were bad,
but didn't wanna,
y ou know, make a big fuss.
That basically said, you know,
message is the legal
dogs have been released,
and that I am going to
be considered the enemy.
Well,
he's gonna find a way to get us.
He has an army of people,
about a hundred strong,
who are so devoted.
They will sell us out.
They will lie about us.
They will make
up stuff about us.
They will do everything
they possibly can
to try to convince the
world that we're criminals.
So we're up
against not only him,
but all of his agents, as well.
When other people
were leaving
Bonnie Piesse: It was like he
didn't want to get contaminated
- by the evil, right? - Yeah.
At that point,
I trusted Keith completely.
You think they're, like,
the most ethical
- Completely.
- noble people in the world.
(line ringing)
Vicente: Hello?
- Keeffe (over phone): Hey.
- How's it going?
Keeffe (over phone): Good.
Vicente: Mm-hmm.
♪
Vicente: Kristin Keeffe
was a proctor in ESP.
And she was the legal
liaison for a long time.
In fact, she worked with the
lawyers on all of the lawsuits.
"I'm thinking of sit, like, doing,
like, belts, like martial arts,
but instead of judo, sashes."
And I was like, "Keith,
you can't do that. That's so queer."
But like,
that I remember that very specifically.
You were like
(laughs) Yeah.
Vicente: She seemed very
close to Keith Raniere, as well.
But then she suddenly
just disappeared,
and I didn't know why.
And I found out later she ran,
because she had a
baby with Keith Raniere.
Keith Raniere: Anywhere in
your body that there's a sensation
that you try to try to ignore,
or try to suppress,
it just gets stronger
and stronger.
And perhaps there are areas in
your body you haven't noticed before.
Like certainly you've noticed your stomach,
at times.
And maybe the sensation
in your stomach now
is changing,
but not going away.
Maybe intensifying.
Maybe not. But
probably intensifying.
You may even be
coming less comfortable.
But that's okay.
I guess you're not gonna
let me finish my report.
- No, you're almost done.
- I'm, I'm trying to read.
- Yeah, that's okay. You can finish your report.
- Can you can you stop?
I, I can stop,
and you wanna know what else?
I will stop.
Right.
Sorta.
(typing)
- Vicente: Right.
- (Keeffe continues)
- Vicente: Yeah.
- (Keeffe continues)
Vicente: Mm-hmm.
♪
Vicente: What I was told was,
when you officially resign,
give it a few weeks.
She'll reach out to you.
It's fuckin' full
espionage shit.
And she does.
And it's burner phones, man.
Fuckin' different
numbers every week.
Just fuckin' never know where she is,
and like,
we're talking all the time.
Vicente: And so that's
when she says to me,
"I can help you." And a few days later,
we called Sarah.
Vicente: Hmm.
Vicente: Clare Bronfman,
heir to the Seagram's fortune,
is the financier of NXIVM.
But when I first came in,
she was a coach.
Vicente: Right.
Vicente: But,
she eventually took control of legal.
She's on the executive board.
So she had more and more power,
you know, as the years went on.
At this point, in essence,
she's funding a lot of the lawsuits
against the perceived
enemies of ESP.
She was probably told it
was the ethical thing to do.
Okay,
so a number of things were happening
in ESP and the company
that weren't necessarily good.
Did you guys have a chance
to do any research on NXIVM?
Edmondson: This
is like Scientology.
It is a cult, where the leader
is keeping people through
fear and dependency
and now, blackmail.
I can't spell NXIVM
for the life of me.
Vicente: ESP has had about
15,000 people go through it.
In terms of permanent members,
it's probably 700 to 800 people.
What happened was,
I was invited into this women's group
The secret society
is called DOS.
DOS. D-O-S.
Edmondson: Dominus
obsequious sororium.
Which I believe means "dominant
over submissive" or something like that.
By the way, DOS does not stand
for "dominant over submissive."
I made one error.
That means "dominant
submissive sorority."
I think there are about at least
50 women in this secret society.
You are aware, I'm sure, that my
daughter is a DOS slave at this point.
The girls were branded
in a branding ceremony.
Man (over phone): This business was ESP,
right?
- Woman (over phone): N-X-I-V-M?
- Yes.
Just point me in the right direction. I'm,
like, a distraught mom.
I will I will knock
on anybody's door.
I don't care anymore if I'm prepared,
not prepared.
I've been living with this for
months now. I can't take it.
♪
Vicente: This morning
Sarah contacted
the head of victim services in Latham,
New York.
Uh, she referred Sarah to an
investigator in the police department.
So, Sarah spoke to him and
I'm waiting to hear from her.
(laptop jingling)
- Vicente: Hey.
- Edmondson (over laptop): Hi.
Vicente: I have, uh, Catherine here,
and Bonnie here, as well.
Hi.
Women: Hey, Sarah.
Vicente: So, the investigator.
- Edmondson: Yeah.
- Vicente: What was his conclusion so far?
Edmondson: Um,
that it's definitely fucked up.
He's not totally sure
where the crimes are. Um
Yeah.
You look like you need a rest.
Catherine Oxenberg: I'm
sending you love from here.
I feel it. Thank you.
♪
Oxenberg: What else can we do?
Vicente: Speak. I mean,
how do you get
law enforcement to
move in this country?
You fuckin' blow
it up in the press.
♪
Barry Meier (over phone): Uh
Okay.
(Meier speaking)
Vicente: Twelve years.
I was one of the highest-ranking
male members
that's ever defected.
(Meier speaking)
Well, there is no, there is no
good way to leave this organization.
You are usually harassed,
spied on, et cetera, et cetera.
(Meier speaking)
Vicente: There are members
in our group of people
that have left that
have had threats.
Now,
we have spoken to law enforcement.
Uh,
there is this Frank Report thing out,
but it's a very
marginal website.
And we began thinking, you know,
what needs to happen
is a reputable source
needs to look at this,
and, and I'll tell you,
there's a lot of reading you can do
to understand the
larger story. And in fact,
there was an article
in "Forbes" magazine.
There were many articles
from the "Times Union."
There were many sort of
breaking news-type stories about
different women that
left the organization.
(Meier speaking)
Pretty much all of it. I was sleeping very,
very little.
I was dedicating my time to
constantly solving different problems.
I put my career on hold.
My first year that I was kind of around,
in and out,
I went to Keith
Raniere and I said,
"This bad press
is a real problem."
And he's like, "Eh,
not really." I'm like, "What?"
Vicente: Right.
(line ringing)
Vicente: He said to me,
"Fearful people that
can't think critically
"hear something, and freak out.
"We don't want those people.
"We want the people
that can reason things out.
"The ones that just,
don't just freak out over nothing.
We want the critical thinkers."
And I was like,
"That is brilliant."
(line ringing)
(Vicente speaking)
- (beeps) -Vicente: And I would
say it with such confidence.
Because, like, in some ways,
it's the guardian at the gate
to make sure that
we get the best.
Camera. Marker.
Vicente: From the
moment I get there,
they want me to figure
out how to make the film
to exonerate Keith of
all this terrible press.
And me and Keith and Kristin
Keeffe and a bunch of people
begin having a discussion about,
like,
how do we show that what's
been done to Keith in the press
is horrible,
and this is the very
problem in civilization.
That when somebody tries
to do extraordinary things,
they get suppressed.
And we start shooting
this pro-Raniere
anti-cult film,
and it was basically
to vindicate him.
To think that Keith and Nancy's
names would go down as
They would go down
in history as schmucks,
when in my opinion they're both,
you know,
intellectual and humanitarian giants.
Uh, I can't live with that.
'Cause I understand that,
you know,
reality isn't what it looks like.
And I understand that
justice doesn't happen.
You got to make justice happen.
So, I just feel determined.
Vicente: We spent years
and years planning this film,
but never made it, because the
bad press just kept on coming out,
and we had to keep on coming
up with different strategies,
which we never could.
So, this is when the story
gets even more interesting.
So, Raniere tells me that the,
the issue is
all the negative press
is written by journalists who,
in essence, are being paid off,
funded in extremely
high level in the world,
with billions of
dollars behind it.
Because, you know, you have young,
fairly open-minded children
from very powerful
families come to take ESP,
as apparently happened
with the Bronfmans,
who came in 2002.
And suddenly saw
the world differently.
♪
Vicente: So what happens
if they stop responding
to the parental pressures
that they used to respond to?
And Keith would explain,
"Their family's extremely powerful,
and they see this as a threat,
and they come after me."
I was told that Clare
Bronfman got upset one day,
told her father something,
and her father tried to
destroy ESP and the mission.
He was behind
the "Forbes" article.
She was basically responsible
for a lot of the bad press.
That was considered her breach.
Vicente: And so it seemed
like she was gonna spend
the rest of her life fixing it,
at Raniere's behest, I guess.
Oxenberg: I really
struggled with
the idea of going to the press.
That being said,
I'd been speaking with Barry Meier.
And I said to him,
"I want this to be
"a piece that could impact
"a broader range of people
into really understanding
the danger of this."
♪
I'm coming to pick up my mother.
Because she's coming to give me
some emotional support right now,
because I was feeling
particularly alone in this fight,
as far as my family's concerned.
(indistinct chatter)
- Hello, Mama. Oh. - (kisses)
- You made it! - (indistinct)
(laughs) That's cute.
- Princess Elizabeth: No. No, I don't think so.
- Oxenberg: You don't.
To the girl
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Oxenberg: Yes,
this is a slightly
It's ghastly.
Princess Elizabeth:
Yes. She will.
♪
Oxenberg: I mean,
there are people in that organization
that don't have relationships
with their families anymore,
and they're not young
anymore like her.
They've dedicated
their entire life to
upholding this ideology.
I think that the whole idea about
having him come was to basically
vindicate Raniere.
And then what happened is,
that event got canceled.
Because there was a
lot of negative press,
the Dalai Lama was pressured,
and he said something to the effect of,
you know,
"We need to examine these
things before we take the next step."
That's when myself,
Nancy Salzman, Sara Bronfman,
and Keith Raniere
went to Dharamsala
to try to convince
the Dalai Lama
that, you know,
Keith Raniere was a good guy,
and to please come.
And so,
I went to document the whole meeting.
- Raniere: It's that way.
- Nancy Salzman: Which way?
There it is.
(motorcycle rumbling)
♪
- (Dalai Lama speaking)
- Raniere: Good morning.
Yes.
I guess first and foremost,
I wanted to apologize.
I The things written
about me are not true.
To the best of my knowledge,
the factual
information is not true.
But it is my responsibility,
and I do want to change that.
(speaking English)
Man: Precautions.
Advisor: The different
things proven against him
and he has lawsuits
against others.
These are going on, right?
Are they all settled?
All lawsuits are settled?
Advisor: There's no lawsuit
Don't you have lawsuits against, uh
We've actually
Yeah. Can I give you
a little bit of the history?
- Advisor: Sure. - Um
It It is my belief that all of
the accusations against us
are not true.
- Advisor: Okay. - Um
- And there's never Now
- Advisor: Yes.
Um
The things that
are said are not only
just opinion,
but the facts that
they use are incorrect
to propagate that we are cult,
we are a cult, we are cult
with no evidence.
(laughing) Right?
(indistinct chatter)
Dalai Lama: And he's
dedicated for some good things.
- Isn't it? - Advisor: Okay.
- So, thank you.
- Dalai Lama: Okay.
Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
See you again tomorrow.
Vicente: And at the very end
of the tail end of the meeting,
um, somehow, he said yes.
You know,
and this was the moment that Raniere
would be finally vindicated.
Yes.
♪
Vicente: But despite our
win with the Dalai Lama,
the bad press just
kept on coming.
Jim Odato: He has been
involved with several women
younger than 16 years old.
The girl pictured here lost
her virginity to Keith Raniere
at age 15 or 16.
Her older sister says,
"He had told her that
she was a bodhisattva,
whose soul could be much
older than her biological age."
Hutchinson killed herself
outside a Buddhist monastery
a t age 33.
Vicente: When 2012 rolled around
and the "Times Union" article came out,
I read the whole thing.
That disturbed
the hell out of me.
That was a lot to take in.
♪
But we were trained for years
to think that the
most honorable thing
is to maintain silence.
To hold this position of
nobility against these
terrible things in the media.
And at that time,
as a fervent believer,
of course one of my first calls
was to Keith Raniere saying,
you know,
"I think we should talk."
But he was very
well-prepared for these things.
He had answers for everything.
You know,
we get the negative press,
- and I, I think I know where it comes from.
- Mm-hmm.
But the good side of it is,
in learning about it and
watching how it's done,
and watching how
it's done to me,
I was able to come up with
a useful tool set
that can really transform media,
and transform how
people interact with media,
and with the data within media.
Vicente: So 2014,
"The Knife" was born.
I was one of the founding
members of "The Knife."
So in essence,
it was a media company,
and the idea was
to analyze the news
for objectivity,
or lack of objectivity.
So, I trained a group of people,
what we called analysts,
on logic and a series
of Raniere's ideas.
There was Rosa Laura Junco,
whose father owns
one of the largest
papers in Mexico,
Nicki Clyne,
Allison Mack,
and Jens Erik Gould,
who used to be with "Bloomberg."
We would talk about the
kind of bias in the article.
The slant, the skew, the use of,
you know, adjectives.
Basically talk about how
objective something was,
versus, you know,
very subjective.
The idea was to give every
newspaper article a rating.
Joining us now to analyze
is the editor-in-chief
of "The Knife" media,
Jens Erik Gould.
Your rating of the
coverage in three outlets
of the Trump Presidency
in the first six months.
Jens Erik Gould: The
language used in their stories
have some sort of vagueness.
Some sort of sensationalism.
Let me give you an example.
Words like "constant chaos,"
"in-fighting,"
"abrupt and angry,"
"warring factions,"
"floundering."
These are words that
are not measurable.
They're not based
on data or facts.
They're emotional,
and they get us riled up,
and we get into that.
But they're not helping
us be more informed.
News host: So when the
President says it's fake news,
what you're here to tell me is,
a lot of it,
if it's not fake,
it's heavily spun
and very biased.
It's an important distinction,
because something can be a fact,
but it can be distorted in
how it's presented to you.
News host: Very interesting.
"Knife Media" is what it's called.
Jens Erik Gould,
thank you for being here today.
Vicente: At the time,
I understood "The Knife"
was a way to
analyze the accuracy
of media outlets
which I now understand
was literally to prepare people
for any negative press that
would come against ESP,
because they would,
in essence, discard it
for its emotionality.
You know, if you reduce
everything down to the simplest thing,
you know, you go from,
a man raped a woman to
a man did something.
There was a woman involved.
When you, when you basically
take all the emotionality out,
you have no idea
what actually happened.
Vicente: Hello.
Mm-hmm.
(Meier speaking)
Yeah. Here's the
deal. I cannot
A year ago, I could not imagine
that I would be talking to you,
taking the position
I'm taking. I couldn't.
Because I have a lot to lose
if, if it's public that we're
having this conversation.
This,
this thing is a ligation machine
funded,
funded by a lot of wealth.
(Meier speaking)
- Yeah. - (Meier continues)
- Vicente: Yeah.
- (Meier speaking)
Vicente: All my paranoia
Literally my 20s in South Africa
for seven years were
watching my back,
looking to see who's following me,
you know.
Being, being, you know,
really espionage-minded,
'cause my father was a spy.
I now feel like I'm
back there again,
doing all the same things.
Walking through a space,
memorizing faces.
Watching cars,
looking for tails.
It's all like,
the same shit I went through.
And it's hard on Bonnie,
you know.
So, Mark started this thing,
like, two years ago
where he wanted to have
cameras in our house.
And at first it felt like,
like that was a good, protective,
you know, safe thing.
So he put a camera here. And,
uh
(laughs) At first,
that was good.
Now, when I quit, um,
I didn't trust him completely.
I was very paranoid,
and I had called a cult counselor.
And I literally tried
to avoid the camera
so he wouldn't see
me making a phone call.
And I'm, like,
talking in the corner of the kitchen
calling the counselor, paranoid,
saying, like,
"I'm so afraid to call you."
Um,
luckily he didn't rat me out.
So that's fine.
Now,
it feels like we're on the same page,
which is, like,
the most important thing.
We know what we're standing for.
We know what happened to us.
Now we're talking to "The New York Times,"
and
none of us know
what's gonna happen.
Vicente: Basically,
we've been laying low.
Not a lot of people have
known we were here,
and actually the reason
we're okay with shooting here
is 'cause we're
about to leave here.
What we'd made a decision about
was applying for the
government safe address program.
To basically go off the grid,
so that nobody can find
out where we really are.
A nd all, all mail and all
everything points to Sacramento.
Piesse: It would be
good if we're moved in,
and then "The New
York Times" comes out,
and the address
protection thing will happen
in the next, like,
two weeks. I think.
And then we can be
pretty much off the radar.
If they want to serve us papers,
they can't find us.
(phone bloops)
Oxenberg: All right,
so I got correspondence
from a lawyer,
and a document from what
appears to be NXIVM Mexico,
the letter and notice from
the State Attorney in Mexico
that's notarized.
"I hereby request
the compliance of
the following
restraining measures."
"Failure to comply with such
measures shall bring along
"the imposition of
urgency measures.
"Such measures
vary from a warning,
"up to an arrest for 36 hours,
alongside criminal
responsibilities that shall arrive."
Are you serious?
Vicente: I heard that
Barry went up to Albany
to try to get a statement
from NXIVM so I think
I think that's what tipped
them off about the article.
Oxenberg: So I think
they're trying to attack
anyone that they think might
be speaking to the press.
Yeah. I think so, too.
So I immediately sent the letter
to Barry Meier at
"The New York Times,"
because I wanted his reaction.
Actually,
my thought was if he gets this letter,
maybe he will push for the
article to come out sooner.
But he basically sent me back
an email this morning saying,
"Welcome to the club."
He said he got the same letter,
so I'm baffled why
they are doing this.
(phone jingling)
Hold on one sec. What's going on,
Troy?
Hi, buddy.
Are you gonna go to the park?
I couldn't talk about it 'cause I didn't
want my collateral to be released.
The biggest fear,
I think, is my family,
and, like,
the videos of me trash-talking
all my important relationships.
Those are my biggest things.
And also,
I just don't want a legal battle.
- You know, I know what ESP does.
- Ames: Yeah.
Edmondson: They go after
anyone who speaks against them.
Ames: We have a
three-year-old son.
I don't want to make this
his backdrop to his childhood.
(Keeffe speaking)
Edmondson: Jesus.
(Keefe speaking)
♪
Edmondson: Putting
myself out there
and being the face of this
is terrifying.
But, like, when I was in ESP,
there were always allegations,
but there was no proof,
or as they say,
"class one data."
You know,
if anyone's gonna say anything about it,
it has to be someone
who's willing to say,
"Hey, here's the proof."
So now I have class one data,
and it's on my body.
And you cannot deny it.
So,
I've decided to go on the record,
and expose this.
I was reluctant to talk to
"The New York Times." Scared.
And I don't want to be associated
with these things, you know?
I'm embarrassed.
You know. And then I was like,
if embarrassment is the
only price to do the right thing,
I'm just gonna go on the record,
and do what I can to
expose this. Take this out.
You'll be surprised how
many times I can say
"Keith Raniere and Allison Mack's
initials are on people's vaginas."
I will put that in every
single statement I can,
and if you leave
reading that article
supporting that,
and you're in that camp,
it's gonna be obvious
that the problem is you,
and not people who are
standing against that stuff.
Spin it however you want.
That's the problem.
That's the bad thing.
I tap out at that.
(camera shutter clicking)
Photographer: I'm doing a very slow,
low depth of field,
just on your eyes. That looks great,
Mark.
Tilt your head a
little bit that way.
And now, chin down every so
slightly Right there. That's good.
- Good.
- Vicente: I said to Barry,
"I don't know if I can go
on the record with this."
I wanted to back away.
And he said to me, "I,
I, I just want to tell you,
"the reason this shit
keeps going on is because
people don't want
to go on the record."
I was like,
"Fuck you. That's so true."
Photographer: Oh,
that's good. Straight ahead.
Just into the camera,
just there.
Vicente: They are gonna
look for us more and more,
'cause we're talking about
people that have a lot of resources.
No.
Vicente: So Bonnie
and I spoke about it,
and said, "Okay." And it was like,
it was like a suicide mission.
Just, like,
we can't live with ourselves.
(camera shutter clicking)
What do I do with myself?
- Yeah.
- (photographer speaking)
- That is true.
- Photographer: You can even put it up
a little bit higher,
if you want.
All right,
you guys. Look over here at me.
- (camera shutter
clicking) - Good.
(phone jingling)
Vicente: Hello.
Vicente: So there's, uh,
Catherine on the record,
there's Sarah on the record,
there's Sarah's husband,
as well, on the record.
And then, myself and Bonnie.
Um, there are
a number of other
girls that are coming out.
But I don't know their status,
whether they'd want
to talk about this or not.
- (Meier speaking)
- Vicente: Mm-hmm.
(Meier continues)
Okay.
- Vicente: I'm gonna talk to a few different people.
- Meier: Right.
Vicente: But I think
in about 3 or 4 days,
I'll probably have a pretty
clear list of who would talk.
(Meier speaking)
(line ringing)
Vicente: I wanted to just go
back to the question you had
about that article.
Vicente: Um, what did you hear?
(line ringing)
♪
Oxenberg: I wasn't 100% sure,
her level of involvement,
but (sighs)
my daughter India,
she's a ringleader.
She's a slave,
and she's a master.
I don't think I'm
gonna get her out
until the organization
is taken down.
(line ringing)
- Do you think it's too late to call?
- (line ringing)
Oxenberg: Hey, Barry.
- Obviously, you know why I'm calling.
- (Meier speaking)
India's still in
the clutches of
that in that madman.
And being subjected
to more mind control,
so that's really hard on me.
- Yeah. We're, we're
- What tell What do you know?
(Meier speaking)
Keep the faith. Keep the faith.
- Okay, and so you can't
- Meier: Keep the faith.
Can you give me, like,
a vague ballpark?
- (Meier speaking) - Well,
like, how about a
day. Not the time,
but just the day.
(both laughing)
(Meier speaking)
Oxenberg: Mm.
Yeah.
Oxenberg: Mm-hmm.
God.
This is nerve-wracking.
♪
Edmondson: He's
ruining people's lives.
People's lives that I
brought into the company.
That is terrifying to me.
How do I reconcile that?
And my friends in Albany,
my close friends,
people who were
at our wedding say,
"Oh, you seem really fearful
"and you're making
a rash decision.
It seems like you're
having a tantrum."
I'm not having a
fucking tantrum.
I'm the most principled I've
ever been in my fucking life.
That's why I knew that
I had to do the article,
because I had to
reach them somehow.
And Frank Parlato The Frank
Report isn't the way to do it.
It's too sensationalized.
If we expose this,
then, then they have
the opportunity to
leave if they want to.
If they want to keep going,
go ahead.
(phone ringing)
Oxenberg: Sarah?
- Edmondson (over phone): Yeah.
- Hey, sorry to bother you,
but I just found
out some bad news.
- Edmondson: Okay.
- Oxenberg: So,
"The New York Times" doesn't
consider this story urgent,
and there's a chance that
they may postpone
it indefinitely.
Basically,
the story is considered evergreen.
There is no They don't think
there's any urgency to this story.
But they don't have a kid
in there that's wasting away.
Edmondson: You just to talk
to him. You need to move this.
This isn't the gossip column.
People's lives are being ruined.
Oxenberg: I'm desperate.
I don't know if you know
what's going on inside my body,
but I am desperate.
Because I don't know what
else we can do at this point.
I really don't. Like,
somebody tell us give us an option.
♪
Meier: I don't think that
someone signing up for
self-improvement or
self-help is a horrible thing
or a bad thing.
I'm so incapable of self-improvement,
okay,
that it just doesn't appeal to me,
straight up.
Right? It's like
there's no hope for me.
There's just no Nothing
that could be done.
Even if there was some
self-improvement program
that actually worked,
it wouldn't work on me.
It's that simple.
So, I'm, like,
protected from this shit.
Because I'm fucking helpless.
I would guess the central
thing that I took away from it
was how extraordinarily
vulnerable we are,
as people.
And how even people who,
on the surface,
are bright, are capable,
talented, successful,
in many ways,
have this intense vulnerability.
And that vulnerability
is available for
someone to exploit.
The idea that in 2017,
when we think of
ourselves as living in
an advanced,
culturally enlightened society,
where there's hope for equality
between men and women,
that this type of
unspeakable cruelty
can persist.
And that people can partake
and be subjected to practices
that could only be
described as barbaric.
But,
from the standpoint of publication,
it's important to have as
many people as possible
speaking on the record.
And throughout the
reporting of the story,
the greatest fear that
everyone was expressing to me
was the fear of
legal retaliation.
And they had a
basis to believe that,
because there was this other group
of women who had left the group,
and in fact had been the
subject of numerous lawsuits.
Barbara Bouchey: I was
the first significant person
in the entire
organization to ever leave.
Over the years,
I heard from members
and ex-members and the media
that people were terrified
to be the next Barbara Bouchey.
They needed to make
an example out of me,
in order to instill
in the community:
This can happen to you, too.
Buckle your seat belt,
and get ready.
'Cause they're comin' for you.
("You Better Be Careful"
by The Golliwogs playing)
You better be careful, girl ♪
You're all alone ♪
You better be careful, girl ♪
You're on your own ♪
I see the tears begin ♪
There in your eyes ♪
WOMAN: I'm front page
of The New York Times.
Holy shit,
the whole world knows.
MAN: (OVER PHONE)
WOMAN: Every now and then I'm getting, "What
the fuck? How could you let that happen?"
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
WOMAN 2: (OVER PHONE)
WOMAN: Now that I'm out
and I'm looking back,
it was all for a man's pleasure.
And these women feel it's
a beautiful, noble attempt
to teach women strength
and empowerment
and I am fucking that up
for them.
WOMAN 3: I found out
the board was all the women
Keith had been sleeping with.
I held a forum
to confront Keith.
KEITH RANIERE:
This is extortion.
So, we are filing
criminal charges.
WOMAN 3: They were
bombarding the court.
WOMAN: It was like
a horror show.
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪